My Taco is in trouble

Hi T World,

I bought a used 2005 DCSB Off Road manual with ~146k miles last year and have loved every second of owning it. I had it checked out by 2 different shops and they all said it looked okay.

Fast forward 8 months later and two different shops are saying the transmission needs a replacement. Also the exhaust system will have to come out to repair the tranny and it is very rusted and this may damage the catalytic converter which can get very expensive.

This was at a dealership so the prices will likely be higher. I am going to ask around for more quotes.

Money is tight, do I try to sell it now? Worth putting the money into it? I love my truck, saddened to hear the news.

Thanks for any tips or advice. Small pic of my baby:

 

Scary situation, especially with what is a smaller amount of miles on a Toyota. IMO it depends, if you want to sell you will need to account for the fact that it is in need of repair and that will bring down the value pretty significantly. Almost more worth while to do the repair then sell if your short on money.

I will tell you I don't know how much their quote was but my cats went out on my last Toyota and it cost $1200 for used replacement alone... And with a tranny, you looking at maybe double

 

Dealership said $3.2k.

Local shop $1.8k, they also said some rust on the pulleys and tensioners that need replacing for $1k.

Thanks for your input. I would really hate to let this truck go.

 

What is the tranny doing?

 

Lot of chirping, some rusting. Going to pick it up with the diagnostic sheet in a sec.

 

I would do it. 2k for potentially years left on a truck, no question for me. I think its worth the investment, have them do a deep inspection and assess damages, and if that's it I would go for it.

 

Curious as well to how the tranny is acting.

 

Chirping is a $30 pulley

 

Just saw the chirping. Could it be a throw out bearing?

 

Where are you located

 

If the truck is drivable get the f out of there. Now

 

Seattle, WA. Replaced the serpentine, some chirping went away. Now there's another chirp that goes away when I push in the clutch. I am going to grab the truck now with the full diagnostic sheet, will report back in an hour.

 

Nevermind, not the throw out bearing then. If the whole tranny has to be replaced anyway, say screw it and keep driving that shit into the ground. Then replace it.

 

Chirping that changes when the clutch is actuated really makes me think throw out bearing? I'm really curious how the dealership is justifying replacing the whole transmission because of that hopefully the diagnostic tells you more.

 

From what I just read, with the TOB it will chirp, but stop chirping when the clutch is depressed. The opposite of what OP is saying.

 

Same here.

 

If I read his post right that's what he's describing though right?

 

Oh my bad, you're right.

OP, this sounds like your throw out bearing. There is a TSB for it, but you're out of warranty so good luck getting Toyota to fix it.

 

If money is tight "right now" but you think you'll have some room in a year or so I'd strongly suggest getting a zero interest credit card (I just got the Citi Diamond Preferred card which I think has 18 or 21 months interest free. AS LONG AS YOU PAY AT LEAST THE MINIMUM PAYMENT EVERY MONTH, and pay it off in FULL before the promo expires it won't cost you a dime of interest and the card has no annual fee!

Just make sure you stay on top of that and I'd suggest setting up automatic payments to make sure you don't miss one of your minimum payments and end up incurring interest charges. Also if you have decent credit you can always sign up for another card after the 18/21 months are up on the first card and transfer the balance (sometimes a 2-3% fee is incurred but others are free during the first few months after card opening) giving you a three year interest free loan. I have a budget in excel that I use to help me keep track of my finances and make sure I'm on target to be able to pay off my interest free cards before I start incurring interest. Also it is tempting to overspend when you get a card like this so just be careful not to overspend. Even if you have the cash right now to pay for it, why not use an interest free card and keep you cash in the bank (earning at least a tiny bit of interest) until you have to pay it. I work in finance so I love the idea of an interest free loan but some people aren't comfortable with carrying debt but I just wanted to give you another option.

This would allow you to fix your truck, not feel burdened by the immediate cost, and be able to enjoy your Taco for a long time.

 

That would be great news if it is the TOB though, much cheaper than a whole new transmission. Plus the transmission in the 2nd gen is pretty easy to R&R IMO. Doesn't URD sell something to correct the common throw out bearing issues the OEM parts have?