My experience with a '02 Tacoma V6 4x4 manual

I debated whether I should create this post - but what is a forum without sharing personal stories?

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I worked at a Toyota dealership when I was 19. Oddly, I was hired to promote and sell the yet to be launched Scion brand, but since we hadn't started receiving inventory, I also sold Toyotas. I started in summer 2003 and my manager wanted me to understand selling by the Scion launch on 02/03/04. Throughout my time, my favorite vehicle in the Toyota/Scion line-up was a 2003 Toyota Tacoma Extended Cab V6 4x4 manual TRD package - Imperial Jade Metallic with Oak interior. I thought it was the coolest vehicle we had on the lot and hated it when it was traded out to another dealer in a dealer swap.

I have always been a ‘car guy’ and growing up in mostly the country - it was a dream truck that I didn't know I wanted and certainly didn’t have the budget for. My first car was a 1989 Oldsmobile 98 I purchased for $1,500 working as a restaurant bus-boy in high school. This truck was in a completely different league of something I could own. I stopped working at a dealership in 2005 but always yearned for this truck.

Fast forward 15 years to 2020 and I noticed a 2002 Tacoma V6 4x4 manual at a dealer near me. I went to see the truck and a couple of days later, completely fell for the ‘someone else is interested’ line the salesman told me. I knew that it was a line, but I really wanted the truck and didn't want someone actually looking at it to get it before me. I bought it a couple of days later. Normally I am on the side of the dealer having worked for a couple, but they were pretty rude once they found out I was paying cash. They wanted my SSN and I refused because it was cash under $10k. That got them even more mad. It wasn’t the best buying experience and I haven't been back to that dealership - but that’s beside the point.

I didn’t ‘need’ the truck - but man am I glad that I bought it! Sure it wasn’t green with oak interior, sure it wasn’t perfect, but it was mostly well taken care of and I have certainly put it to use! I spent the first couple of months figuring out what needed to be replaced, what needed to be cleaned, and what was good to keep left alone. I will say that this forum has helped me out greatly on either how to do my own maintenance on the truck, or best recommendations on the best mechanics in the area - and I thank the entire group for that!

The following are several photos of the truck on the day I got it, when I took it to a Toyota dealer to go through the truck and give it a thorough look over, and then some of it being cleaned and put to work.

 

Mechanically the truck was great - but it had been a long time since someone had really gone through the truck and cleaned it thoroughly. I wouldn't consider the process FUN, but it was rewarding pulling it apart, cleaning, and putting it all back together again.

The last photo of the headliner is a little difficult to tell, but scrubbing that down with a microfiber towel easily cleaned it up. Hopefully you can see the difference between left and right.

 

After a full clean - I ended up adding some sound deadening to the floor and the roof. I highly doubt that this helped a fairly loud interior to begin with, but it was left over from a previous project and made me feel like it helped.

I was going to change the speakers, but after swapping them out, I was more impressed with the factory speakers and put them back in.

 

Love my xtra cab 4x4 v6 manual trans, the supercharger gives it a little extra oomph too but...I wouldn't recommend unless you're prepared for that particular rabbit hole. They are great trucks as-is

 

Once it was cleaned up - it was put to quick use hauling plants, mulch (one photo is a screenshot of a video) and serving several times as a seating platform during some backyard fires!

 

Love my 01 Extra Cab. Getting a little small for a single dad and 2 growing kids, but it's mine, it's paid for and me and the kids enjoy it. We do enough camping and it gets us everywhere we want to go.

It's a great truck, glad to see you cleaned it up. My next project is the interior and I'm going to be adding the sound dampening and giving the carpets a good cleaning while I'm in there.

Keep enjoying the Taco.

 

Nice work! Looks great! Thanks for sharing!

 

I bought the truck with 187,535 miles. Since then, I have driven to Chicago, IL, Atlanta, GA, and Austin, TX several times and I currently sitting JUST under 200k miles right now. I am planning a LONG road trip this summer so I have a fair amount of reconditioning to do to make sure there are no mishaps along the way. Again, because of this forum, I have a long list to review or replace before I start in the beginning of June.

Here are my outlined stops and the map:

Austin
Chicago,
Minneapolis,
Big Old Viking Statue,
World's Largest Booming Prairie Chicken,
World's Largest Buffalo Monument,
World's Largest Sandhill Crane,
Salem Sue (I am guessing she isn't the 'largest' cow?),
Theodore Roosevelt National Park,
Badlands Overlook,
Dinosaur Park,
Badlands National Park,
Devils Tower National Monument,
Bighorn National Forest,
Yellowstone National Park (3 days),
Glacier National Park (3 days),
Mount Stuart,
Whidbey Island (my grandfather who I never met lived here),
Portland,
Mendocino National Forest,
Monterey,
Las Vegas,
Moab,
Austin

Las Vegas to Austin hasn't been built out. Honestly, I am attempting to visit as many western states as possible this year and that route allows me to get a couple that I haven't visited.

 

Nice truck.

 

I would try and add a couple places in the Sierra Nevada mountains when you're in CA, central coast is amazing (particularly Big Sur) but the Sierra are something else. Kings Canyon, Sequoia National Park, Yosemite etc

A lot of 4x4 trails and accessible forest service roads for exploring too in that area

 

beautiful truck and that clean you did makes me want to give mine a whole scrub down, i've been considering doing sound dampening as well b ut i'm kinda at a junction where i love the bejeezus outta my truck but also wish it was a manual. between the $ and time to do the dampening, plus dreams of a supercharger down the road i'm vigilantly watching for a deal on a v6 4x4 trd manual extra cab to put those new add ons onto.

also i just ordered new weatherstripping for the windows, thanks for the inspiration and reminder, mine are cracked and peeled after near 200k

thanks for sharing!

also seconded for the sierras. i've spent time in colorado as well but there's something about the granite of the sierras that is a whole nother feeling (and absolutely love CO too, apples and oranges and both are delightful)

 

I love when people love their trucks/cars. Keep up the good work!

 

I have heard of people supercharging them - I can’t imagine how much fun that truck must be with more power! A good majority of my driving with the truck is Highway but having a little more power to get around ‘moving chicanes’ would be nice! Enjoy it - I imagine there aren’t many that have that!

 

I feel like it is a great size just for one or two people, once you have two people and a 70 pit bull, it gets tight! Can’t imagine kids and all their stuff! I don’t have a camper top or tonneau cover - but hopefully you do. I have been looking because that would greatly help on the upcoming road trip.

Good luck in the cleanup. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. In addition to the carpet vac, I also used a circular brush attachment on a drill. That certainly sped things up. Again, not sure the sound proofing helped, so go in with lowered expectations. If you are taking apart the interior at all, go ahead and replace the dash bulbs and the air control bulbs - a dash bulb went out two months after putting it all back together, smh. Let me know if I can help!

 

Thank you! I have been to Big Sur, Sequoia, and Yosemite - beautiful places! Nothing makes you feel small like places like those!

I will have to do some research on the 4x4 trails - although this part of the trip I’ll be taking alone, so I’d prefer nothing more than easy trails and backroads. I’d love your suggestions or best places to start the research!

 

I didn’t mind the age and look of the weatherstripping, but I did mind the black flakes clinging to my arm after driving around on a hot day! lol

I took a high school senior trip with my friends to a buddy’s cabin in Colorado (that was my first road trip) and that trip was what gave me the exploration bug. Beautiful state and hope to spend more time there.

 

what steam cleaner do you have / did you use and would you recommend it? i'm trying to pick between the many many options (don't want to break the bank but also don't want a POS)

 

This looks fantastic- good work! I had a similar story with a 98 manual 4R. The one suggestion I’d have is to pull up the plastic bed liner and inspect for rust, if you got anything you may clean it up and bedline it. Those plastic inserts are killers

 

Excellent job on refreshing the truck and wish you many smiles per gallon. I love my truck and went through a similar process upon acquiring it.

 

Great detailing work and nice truck! I knew it was serious when I saw the dome light picture haha.

I envy when I walk past a 1st gen and see a stick on the floor, but at least I have a 1st gen. These trucks get harder to come by (in good shape) every day