Gal friend wants to trade jetta for tacoma!!What to look for?

like the title said. my gf wants to trade her jetta gli in for a 2002 silver 2.4l 5 spd base 5lug tacoma. it has 140000 miles on it and from pics it looks beautiful. From anyones experience what do i need to look for to indicate it will be a good reliable truck. and specific things such as parts or problems i need to look for in it. i am pretty well off with making a good call on it i just wanted to swing it by yall. Thanks

 

Oh and she plans to mod it so if we get it her build will be under mine shortly.

 

I don't know if those models have a history with bad frame rust but that would be something to look for.

 

There was one year in there with the 2.4 that had bad valves. I don't remember if it was 02 or 01. A little searching on here or on Google may give results. We had one at work that dropped a cylinder due to the valves "tuliping" and sinking into their seats. If it idles rough at all, suspect valve problems. If you get a used car inspection done at a shop, it's not unreasonable to pull the valve cover and check the clearances.

 

cant find anything on this hope someone has some info but do the 2.4 hold up just as good as the 2.7?

 

From what I have heard and seen, the 2.4 is a strong, long lasting engine overall. The 2004 we have at work is around 155K now. The manual trans is whining a bit, but that's relatively cheap to fix if the time comes. We had one other one that was an 01 or 02, can't remember. It had 185K on it when it was sold. It was an automatic. Other than being slow, it ran fine and gave no trouble. None of these trucks were particularly well maintained.

 

ha ha and by slow you mean just the lack of power? they will go 80mph right?

 

Well, the 2004 5 speed 2.4 that my boss still owns used to be my service truck. I drove it from 84K to 127K and passed it on to the new guy. During that same time period, one of the other guys had the automatic truck with the 2.4 and maybe 175K or so on it. We have a 2.5 mile long, 7% grade at the north end of our town. One day I passed my coworker on that hill. I was going 70 with the 5 speed trans in 3rd (noisy, but truck seemed to not mind too much). I went by him like he was standing still. Asked him about it later and he said the fastest it would go on that hill was 60MPH. On flat ground, no problems turning 80MPH on either truck, but needed to downshift out of overdrive on any kind of minor uphill.

 

ok cool well we are in Charleston SC so no hills but thanks for your info i hope this wprks out for her. she has it all planned out too...fatbob lift, new stereo, afe with the deckplate, new dash lights, etc. hopefully somme more people chime in also just so i can hear some more and be prepared.

 

They are nice little trucks. Feels like a go cart if you're used to a 4x4 Xtracab.

 

dropped a cylinder? these motors don't have cylinder sleeves. I second the bad valves at rough idle as my motor experienced a rough idle when two valves burnt up and shrunk.

Best way to check this is to a compression/leakdown test when you check out the vehicle.

Great handling little truck though, frames suck so check for rust and check the steering rack for leakage.

 

I would look at a 2nd gen 5 Lugger . better frame, more powerful engine,better bed, more roomy, and you can score a used one very cheap.

 

The 2.4 is proven never to fail if u keep up with maint...just oil changes mostly. Find a clean frame and since its manual, shouldnt have problems with tranny. Uses timing chain so should be okay still. Starter should be changed already. Water pump still good. Radiator okay. Alternator ok. Your catalytic converter might go out btw. These gen trucks love throwing p0420 errors. New cat is 300 bucks or less.

Dont expect to win races but it is light years ahead of her jetta in terms of reliability

 

Thanks so much guys we have an appointment with the guy tm. so if i take a compression gauge how do you do it? i have the gauge and i know you have to take the plugs out but how to you keep the motor from fireing up on the other cylinders? oh and what psi should it be

 

ha nevermind you take the plug wires off duhhh! but ya what the psi supposed to be? if the valves are bad whats the price for fix?