Rear turn signal bulb replacement: shop time 4 hours

Greetings all! Aside from my "Hello TacomaWorld, my name is Jim and I have a Problem-- er, I mean,Tacoma" message, this is my first. The first repair/maintenance item on my new-to-me 2002 Tacoma was replacing the left rear turn signal bulb. A Phillips (or fancy JIS, in my case) screwdriver, new 1156 bulb, some bulb grease and 5 minutes at lunchtime, right? Haha! Even the simplest things sometimes become major fiascos, and this was one. I hope it does not portend bad tidings in future, actually-complex maintenance/repair items. The bulb holder/socket was so rusted it wouldn't turn by hand. Had to apply Genuine Toyota SST (channel locks) to turn the socket. Even then, it was *STUCK.* And remains stuck despite much jiggling and cursing. Sigh. First maintenance item: fail. Rather than destroy the housing, I opted to put it all back together for the time being & ordered a new 1156 socket w/ pigtail off the fleabays. My new plan is to cut the rusty socket off and mangle it out of the plastic housing. On the bright side, I disconnected the entire lens housing from the harness and got the crusty connector pins all cleaned up and slathered with dielectric grease. One less thing, right?
Next 2 simple service items: repair parking brake (new cable assy is on the way) and figure out why the hood latch doesn't reset/ latch without manual persuasion to its innards.
I've also ordered a Haynes service manual. The real FSM is far too rich for my blood. Anyone have an opinion on the quality of the Haynes? Years ago, I had a Chilton manual which instructed me IN BOLD PRINT WITH EXCLAMATION MARKS AND ARROWS to install the head gasket on a Corolla upside down. Would have blocked off the oil passages and made me very angry if I had chosen to follow their emphatic directions...
Thanks all for having me, looking forward to gleaning some knowledge and (hopefully) managing to share my own embarrassing mistakes with y'all.
Cheers!
Jim B.
Grove City, OH

 

http://web.archive.org/web/20080731033603/http://www.ncttora.com/fsm/

enjoy. or not. the choice to click is yours

 

Phenomenal! Thank you!!!

J

 

i recommend getting the haynes manual as well. between the FSM which i have on a thumb drive, and the haynes manual you have all you need right there. the haynes manual has tork specs and fluid capacities listed in the beginning of each chapter which is a good reference to have on you while in your "shop".

dont feel too bad about the bulb swap nightmare. my first project on my 04 was to replace the driver side door handle and it took me about 4 hours because stuff was rusted and all fuct up in there. there will be many more headaches to come should you decide to tackle truck projects yourself, but the good outweighs the bad. Ive saved at least a couple thousand already doing shit myself.

please share your experience with the parking brake cable as thats on my list as well. TW is an invaluable site, and the first gen section is the cream of the crop.

 

Thanks guys, my parking cable assy evidently took Amazon's slow boat-- ordered 2/21, ETA 3/03. I'll do a writeup for sure. I have a lingering suspicion that I'll begin the process and discover I need new brake shoes, which will lead to discovery that the wheel cylinders need replacing too, which will lead to a complete brake bleed, etc. etc. That's the way of the road, I guess.
I intend to actually use this truck for camping, towing a popup camper, etc., but its other purpose is to keep me entertained. I'm a dangerous man without a project to keep me busy, like the time I got to mess with a potato cannon and said to myself, "if Right Guard deodorant can propel a potato 75 yards, just think what a can of ether might do!" Chaos ensues.

Be safe out there & have a good one!
Jim B.
Grove City, OH