Gen 1 Tacoma 4 cylinder reliability

I Have had a Gen 2 (2015) and Gen 3 (2017) tacoma 4 door and loved them both but sadly parted with the 17 several months ago. Can't without my Tacoma's so I am looking at Gen 1 or Gen 2 2dr models. Does anyone know of any issues that I should be aware of? I am in Florida so rusty frames "shouldn't" be an issue but I will inspect them. Any other issues? The 4 cyl looks to be bullet proof. Thanks in advance.

 

Limited towing capacity

 

2rz and 3rz are both great reliable motors that love to eat RPM's. Limited towing as above, dont be afraid to get above 3k rpms, and shoot for a MT to be happy.


P.s.

check valve clearances on them every ~50k miles. Some people forget and that's their only reason for the engines to fail (other than overheating)

 

I got a V6 over a 4 cylinder for the extra towing capacity but if I didn't need to be able to tow I definitely would've gotten a 4, they tend to last much longer. Both the 2.4 and 2.7 (2rz and 3rz) are great motors that last many hundreds of thousands of miles with the right diligence.
I'm in Jacksonville as well, cool to see someone else from Jax on here!

 

My 02 has been owned by me and my dad since new. Outside of oil changes, brakes, and tires we have had to replace the cats, evap canister, struts, tie rods, ball joints, coil packs, rack and pinion, both bumpers, and exhaust. All she needs now is ac condenser and front seat belts. Not bad for 19 years and 187k. My 06 Subaru Forester was way worse.

 

As a four cylinder owner, get the v6.

Source: me, wasting several stacks of money supercharging my four cylinder to simply match the power of a v6

 

No matter How good the engine when it left the dealer!

Lack of or poor maintenance will do any mechanical device in early.

Not everyone lives and breathes to give there Truck tender loving care.

After having many of the older 22R series 4 cylinder engines I like the 3.4 just personal

 

All the Tacoma engines and trucks in general (with the exception of the 05 and early 06 v6's having a higher head gasket failure rate and engine mount failure) seem to be very good providing they are maintained properly. Even with sub par maintenance they tend to go well over 100k without any major issues, with proper maintenance 200-400k can be achieved.

 

My 3rz has 225k on it. No issues at all. It's slow but it works for me.

 

I own a 1 st gen 2 door 4 cylinder 4 wheel drive.

Going to any local stores or doing random non xway driving it's a ball!

After 50 mph it falls on its face. 80mph? Eventually.

I've driven Florida xways. No thank you.

It does turn around in its own circle, but that really doesn't help on the xway.

Maintanance? You will put gas in it. It doesn't have enough power to hurt itself.

Visibility? Wonderful! You will easily see that Tesla smoking up your ass, passing your left or right and of course out the wind shield.

 

I have two 95.5 ext cab 4x4s, one with 2.7 and one with 3.4L. The 2.7 has 4:10 and the 3.4 has the 3:91 gears. The 3.4 one also has manual lockouts. It gets about 1-2 mpg better than the 4 cyl.

3.4L has 260,000 and the 2.7 about 165,000. 2.7 needs injectors rebuilt, but both will run a long time yet. 3.4 is the smoothest engine I have ever owned. I feel it's a great match for the truck.

I prefer my 3.4 just due to the fact I do some light towing with it. In a basically flat state like Florida, I think I'd be fine with the 2.7 IF it had at least the 4:10, but preferably the 4:56 gear set. Of course tire diameter will also affect that, but I have 15" (Winter A/Ts) and 16" (Summer street) for both my trucks.

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