Trying to help a friend with a recent '04 Tacoma Purchase..Conclusion

A little background....
About 2 weeks ago, a friend of mine purchased an '04 Tacoma PreRunner 3.4 Automatic for his son that is turning 16. Purchased from an elderly woman who's husband use to drive it and he passed away last year. Truck has approximately 215,000 miles.
He purchased the truck knowing that I have a '03 PreRunner 3.4 and how dependable it's been.
I told him to look for frame rust and to make sure the timing belt/water pump had been replaced (2x with that many miles).
I looked at the truck the day they purchased it, and besides having the normal oil seeping from the valve covers and cam plug, it appeared in decent shape.
Fast Forward to last night.......
Received a call from my friend stating that the truck had no power, stumbling, and the check engine light was on. He managed to get it home, but said it was misfiring, had no power and it felt like the transmission was going out.
I explained to him that I had an experience in mine like that when the Toyota Dealership over tightened a spark plug and cracked the ceramic top.
I went over at lunch today to check and see if maybe the pcv valve hose come off, etc. He cranked the truck up and ran fine (sitting over night / cold start), but check engine light is still on.

He is taking it to the dealership tomorrow. I told him at least the check engine light is on so they should be able to pull a code.
I realize it's a guessing game at this point, but based on some experience what do you think it could be???
I'll definitely follow up once the dealer looks at it.
Thanks guys.

 

Until we find out the code, I'm guessing spark plugs and wires.

 

That's actually what we're hoping.

 

I told him I wasn't sure if it was that or a bad coil pack or maybe even an injector.

 

could just be coils, plugs, and dirty MAF sensor with those miles...

 

Toyota service rep call my friend this morning and stated the mechanic thinks the plugs need to be changed. Service rep also told him that he needed to be aware that if that didn't fix it, he may have to replace the throttle body (drive by wire throttle body).
He's going to call back and ask what code the check engine light is showing. I'll post an update when I hear back.

 

Yes, it had.

 

This happened to my yukon with 10 month old gas. Threw some new gas and some seafoam in it. Runs good again

 

Good Question. I know for a fact it was filled up once, because I was with him. Do you recommend running some sea foam, or something else through it?

 

sounds like another stealership looking for another sucker. until you have an actual code (and I wouldn't trust the stealership to provide a code, i'd go hit up an autoparts store for a code reader), i wouldn't plan anything. figure out why the comp is throwing a check eng light then go from there.

as for the plugs, pull em' and check. pretty easy visual inspect. sounds like he might be on a budget so do some checking.

 

Yeah, I tried to reassure him that I would be shocked if the Throttle Body needed to be replaced, and from being a member at this site, it's not something I've seen to many first gen owners having to replace.
The service rep told him that the code information would be on the detailed invoice ticket when he picked the truck up. I plan on posting that info.

 

Id tell him to get it home the stealership is already starting in.
Id start with the code that should say a lot.
Then plugs & wires cause it probably needs them regaurdless.
Coils & injectors are pretty easy to check with an ohm meter. I had a bad injector & it did similar stuff when it was cool it ran fine then hot it would studder/ jerk badly but it would only thro a code for a couple minutes.
Wait until its doing it and unplug an injector and ohm it. They have a value at a certain temp but that doesn't really matter.
Your just looking for one that has a way different value. So mine were like 21 hot and ten when I got to the bad one it was like 3. I waited for them all to cool and they were all like 3. So I replace that injector & its been running fine.
Test the coils similar. Five O motorsports is where I got my injector.

 

If he needs coils go to napa and but the denso ones.
They are oem made in Japan u can see they oem sticker poking out under the denso one they slap on.
$85 vs $121 @ dealer.

 

Cat, appreciate the information!

 

Be careful about running seafoam through the gas tank. I put a full can in another truck I had and all the junk it broke free clogged the fuel filter.