New Guy Here! (Some direction needed...)

Hey guys,

I just bought an 06 Taco regular cab 4 cylinder with 104k miles on it. It seems to be in great shape and only had one previous owner, no accidents, and no frame rust. Even the body is in great condition... the guy that owned it got it repo'd and the dealer that sold it to me had just picked it up at an auction.

Anyway, I know pretty much the bare minimum a guy in america can know about cars without getting made fun of by his friends. I can check and change my oil, change my tires, and do most bare minimum basic maintenance... further from that, I really don't know too much. I know the basic parts of the vehicle under the hood and how they all theoretically interact to make the vehicle work, but not a whole lot more than that. My dad wasn't very involved with me when I was a kid so I never got brought up into stuff like football and cars as much as other kids did.

I really want to take good care of this truck but would like to take this opportunity to learn about general car care, maintenance, etc, and how to do a lot of it on my own. I don't have a lot of money to spare so I need to take the best care of this vehicle possible to make it last as long as possible in good condition. Are there are websites or youtube channels or video series that gives a crash course in car stuff for someone like me? I'm not really interested in modding it out a whole lot, just things that would make it run more efficiently or would be truly helpful.

Thanks a lot

 

WELCOME. THIS IS THE RIGHT PLACE.

 

You are in the right house now.

Now you just need to come up with some decent questions to do searches off of.

When I have an issue with a vehicle, I l ike to start simple with a google search.

For example: I'm thinking of buying a second gen Tacoma.

I just type in "Toyota Tacoma general issues".

The results that show up will overwhealm you. Start clicking on listings and read up on the results. I'm not gonna surgar coat it, there will be lots of repeated info, but there will be lots of valuable information. When you come to a statement that you don't know what it means, do a search on that as well.

I tell everyone I know, there is absolutely no reason for younger people today to be clueless on how their vehicle operates and in most cases, fix it when you have issues.

With the power of the internet and vehicle specific chatrooms, you will become all powerful when talking to professionals about repairing your car.

If you spend enough time on a vehicle specific chatroom, you could end up knowing more about your vehicle than a professional that is trained to work on your brand of vehicle. After all, a professional needs to know how to repair all the different vehicles a manufacturer produces. Not just one specific model. There is no way a pro can experince repairing all the issues on one model. On these chatrooms, if there is a vehicle specific problem, chances are, someone here has dealt with it. With that info, you can decide if you feel conficent enough to tackle the job or just let the pro's deal with it.

One of my favorite examples is the changing of CV joints. Many dealerships have to charge in excess of $400 to change out the half shaft/CV joint. You can buy the parts yourself for less than $200 and get the proper tools to do the job.

I can tell you have the correct attatude, now you just need to work on your searching skills to find the answers you need.

Welcome to the show. We are all here to help.

KO

 

Welcome to TW from Oxford, Mississippi.

Something about the quoted statements above don't work for me....

One owner of a 7 year old truck that still had a loan and it got repo'd? I guess it could happen but, I've never known anyone that owns/owned a 7 year old vehicle, who bought it new and still had a loan on it. Is the dealer reputable?

Not sure it matters now....

On the other stuff, as noted above, do some searching & if you don't have any luck come & ask away.

BTW, it helps if you're like me and not afraid to make a fool of yourself!

 

Thanks!

Thanks so much, I feel exactly this way and I'm glad you understand. I'm looking forward to educating myself on all of this and becoming proficient in doing all the work I can.

I really appreciate the warm welcome.

It seemed completely odd to me too, but I ran the carfax on it before I purchased it and it confirmed that this is what happened.

Poor guy. It was probably almost paid off.