New to me 2nd Gen

After lurking around for a bit, I finally got my hands on a decent 2nd Gen. I had been searching for a 1st Gen. for a while, but all of the ones in SoCal were either beat to hell or had prices that were close to 2nd Gen. Some of the nice 2nd Gens. were also commanding price premiums close to 3rd's.

A good friend of mine just bought a brand new Jeep Grand Cherokee, which left his 2nd Gen. sitting in the drive way. He was nice enough to selling it to me without a huge mark-up.



Here she is in all her glory. 2009 2wd TRD Sport with 143k miles on the clock. I paid $9,000, which I thought was a deal I couldn't refuse. Drove the truck 40 miles home and it felt smooth. The paint is sort of beat up and starting to fade on the hood.

My first order of business is to get the oil and spark plugs changed, along with window tint. With that mileage, is there anything else pressing I need to change? Thanks

 

I’d change all the fluids, unless your buddy has records showing recent work.
Truck looks good!

 

Thank you. I'm going to bring it in for an oil change this week. Any other fluid I should be concerned about?

Also, this is my first Toyota. When I first hopped into the truck, the truck wouldn't crank with the key. I asked my buddy and he said it was a security feature from Toyota, and that I had to hit turn signal first before the truck would start? Sure enough, I hit the blinker the truck started up. Anyone know if this an factory or aftermarket security system?

 

Congrats, 9k is a steal, usually same truck goes for around 15-17 in so cal when I was searching a year ago

 

Cool feature. Definitely not factory.

 

I'm not a huge fan. Other than fluids, my first mod might be removing this "feature".

 

Definitely, after- market security.
Truck should serve you well. Welcome to the less-than-perfect world of Toyota paint.

 

Yeah, definitely happy with the truck, I'm already looking to buy a bunch of stuff for it. The paint is only fading around the back of the hood. The clear coat around the front of the hood is started to lift as well but I attribute that more to rock chips than paint defects. The paint of the rest of the truck is like a 6/10.

 

Great looking truck, and great color. Congrats!

 

Congratulations on your new purchase - nice rig! Can I suggest once you check the fluids, plugs, brakes that you also replace the PVC value. Often forgotten to be changed out as well cleaning of MAF sensor.

 

I’d do the same thing OP.

An ignition switch / a feature like this is something I’d do if I owned a 1’st gen 4Runner, 86 pick-up etc... that would be easy to by-pass the ignition I’d have one for sure.

My ‘85 Hilux had a feature similar to this.

 

Is wrenching on the 2nd Gen. pretty easy? Anyone recommend a Tacoma specialist in the SoCal area?

 

Congratulations and Welcome to TW.
She looks good

I'd change the engine oil, and do a drain and fill on the tranny a few times, and change the fluid in the rear differential (if not done). Plus check the condition of the brake fluid, power steeing fluid and coolant.

See what maintenence your buddy can show you with records that he did to the Tacoma.

Performing maintenance on the Tacoma isn't that hard. There's tons on instructional tips here, and videos online to help you.

 

In order:

Engine oil and filter
Engine air filter
Serpentine belt
Diff and t-case oil
Transmission fluid swap and pan drop/screen change
Brake fluid flush
Power steering fluid flush
Engine coolant flush

Enjoy the truck for the next hundred thousand or more.

 

Cabin filter located behind the glove compartment

 

Nah, the leaves and dead mice help with the filtration.

 

My buddy has only done regular oil changes on the truck. None of the other fluids have been changed. There is a good probability the spark plugs are original also.

 

Thank you, that is a very helpful list. I'm going to see realistically what I can knock out and have a shop do the rest

 

All of that can be done with a basic set of hand tools. How-tos with pictures for all of those items can be found here on TW. It’s literally as easy as follow the pictures. If you can use a ratchet and sockets you can do all of it. Best of all it’s a truck so you don’t need a lift or even a jack. Chock it and go.

You could knock it all out in a couple weekends if you wanted.

 

I think it's a great purchase, I bought a 2008 Sport truck 3 weeks ago with 149k and am quite pleased with it.