Possessed 2018 Tacoma

I recently bought a Tacoma to use as my daily driver. Is been a nightmare! Whoever owned it before lifted it and put 20s on it. They spliced all the abs harnesses she probably got rid of it because it can be scary as hell to drive.

So I replaced the three abs harnesses that were spliced but I am still intermittently having my traction control light come on site driving. 70% of the time it'll blink a couple times then stop. Other times it will blink then go solid and I lose control of the steering and brakes. This meaning that the steering wheel fights me like the lane hold is trying to keep you in your lane because you didn't signal, which I turned that feature off for now. Also, the brake pedal doesn't want to stop the truck and no matter how hard you try it just has a pulsating feeling that's fighting you.
Is happened multiple times and I have to be extremely careful of my driving and following as I never know when it's going to happen. Is been in the shop multiple times but has no codes in it so the mechanics can't do anything and the dealer I bought it from thinks I'm crazy.
Prior to getting all the harnesses replaced the abs and traction control would come on center of the dash, now it's only the traction control light on the left side of the dash. Then a couple days ago it was 28 when I left the house and got about a mile from home and it did this but I also started hearing this noise from somewhere in front of the glove box best I can tell. It has done this new noise a few times since then.
The only way I have found to make the truck drivable is to pull over asap and pull the key and restart the truck. That for whatever reason resets the problem and I can usually drive it safely from there.
Any help greatly appreciated!

 

Holy shit show brother! I don't know what to tell you here other than good luck.

 

Did the truck drive with good with the abs harnesses spliced?
If yes, put it back that way.
I don’t know how long you have had the truck, but most dealers have a 30 day return policy. I would take it back.
You could take the service writer out for a drive until it acts up. I did that with a local shop one time. As soon as the problem happened, he know what was wrong and was able to fix it.

 

No, the problem has actually improved. And I'm talking to the mom and pop about trading for another, but I know they will just send this to auction and not say anything so it'll be a death trap to some unsuspecting buyer. I bought it in September but have had to rely on my Jeep most of the time because it's been sitting in the shop.
Is totally random, the front harnesses got replaced and it drives perfect for 500 miles, until I was trying to make a turn and couldn't. Since then it's usually like once a day.

 

Correct me if I’m wrong, but the 3rd gen doesn’t have lane centering assist, it just beeps. The steering is normal power steering.

 

I was thinking the same thing. It has a warning, which can be turned off, but no correction. If there were correction we would have a 500+ page thread going, steering rack damages would be blamed on it etc

 

I turned off the lane thing a while ago, I hate those things. My daughter's Subaru has it and it drove me crazy.

 

Start it up and turn the wheel lock to lock and see if you can get the light to pop up. We had a gmc at work that was having similar issues, locking up one wheel while driving along because the traction control was freaking out. The steering angle sensor was bad, and my workaround was just to turn the wheel lock to lock to deactivate the stability control before it had the chance to freak out. After the shop replaced it, the issue hasn't come back. Could be unrelated, but also could be a place to look besides just the abs sensors.

 

Did you remove the lift and put some normal wheels/tires on the truck?

 

Did you buy it from a dealer or private party? If from a dealer, sometimes they will let you return it and get a different vehicle from them. This sounds like a headache that might not go away.

 

I'm so glad it doesn't. It's common for new cars to have electric power steering which takes away so much of the steering feel and feedback. On top of that the safety interventions can be intrusive and annoying.

 

I hope you find your issue.

Your story is why I am so leery of buying ANY newer vehicle that has been modded, especially if it involved wiring [yours sounds like it had spliced in wire to extend the harness] and steering. Few people actually spend the money to to it right start to finish and often end up finding out what they made is, frankly, a hazard to drive on the road.

And never, EVER, believe someone selling a modded [or regular] vehicle that just needs some small issues fixed to be perfect. They don't or they would have done it, they are usually far worse then people will admit.

Your steering issue is probably because the sensor can't read the road properly due to the modded height.

 

IMHO you have two options put the truck back to stock condition or sale/trade it.

Did you not notice any issues during the test drive?

 

Take it back to where you purchased it from . Sorry for the nightmare ….

 

and, in some states dealers are required to make sure a vehicle passes safety and emissions inspection,,, this doesn't sound like one that passes. IF this is the case, there is recourse through your states inspection process,,, they often don't have a sense of humor when it comes to pencil-whipping a suspect vehicle through and the dealers and shops know this.

 

I am looking at swapping it out for another Tacoma on there lot, but the one they currently has is a white 2017 with the really ugly red on the door panels.
The truck has about a 2in lift on it with 20in rims. There is no way for me to go back to stock as it was bought at auction by the dealer like that.
I'll give the string wheel lock to lock a try, Lord knows I've been trying everything!
The dealer has been trying to be good about getting it repaired, they like I am totally frustrated at this point. They replaced the front abs harnesses and a bad abs sensor. I myself have dumped another thousand into the truck trying to correct it as well.
I paid cash for the truck and the one they have on the lot is 2500 less and they don't appear to want to give me money back on the deal.

 

I guarantee the owner that had it before it was bought at auction knew about the issue! The truck is in excellent condition inside and out for being 6 years old.

 

Would'a been my first clue to keep walking.

Best of luck with resolution.

 

So nearly everyone is critical and has no constructive answers. That's just great!

 

That’s pretty much how it goes around here. And we get into fights about every type of oil and fluid, whether or not adults should play with children’s toys, and some needful things that we all purchase.