What have you done to your Tacoma today? 1st Gen Edition

Okay question, my friend has a 2004 Double Cab. On the truck's 'C' Pillar (behind rear pass. & driver's door) there is an SR5 emblem, but on the tailgate the trim emblem says PreRunner.

My first thought is that the tailgate was replaced, but according to my friend it's all original. Is a PreRunner SR5 a thing, or is something seriously off? I'll tell him to check the VIN number or something. PreRunner SR5 doesn't sound like a thing.

It's a 2WD 2.7l Inline 4 (same drivetrain and engine as my '98 PreRunner) so I feel like it's a PreRunner, but the SR5 emblems just add to the confusion.

 

the prerunner badge only means it s 2wd truck on a 6 lug frame.

SR5 is the package for the rest of the truck.

So yes, SR5 Prerunner is a thing. Just like you can have a TRD offroad Prerunner.

 

Ohhhh that makes more sense. I thought SR5 was a whole package. Like the tailgate would say just Limited, or SR5, or PreRunner, etc. Didn't realize SR5 was an add-on.

What exactly is the SR5 trim level? I have a standard PreRunner (and where the SR5 symbol would go just says Toyota Motorsports).

 

It's the upgrade to power windows/locks/CC/bucket seats and things like that.

 

Ah that makes a lot of sense now, thanks.

 

It stands for sport rally 5 speed or sport racing 5 speed from days ago. Just to add to your confusion haha

 

Don't ya love Toyota and their naming schemes. I always though naming their highest trim level "Limited" was weird. Isn't the definition of limited the complete opposite of what it's trim level comes with?

 

It means like "limited edition"

 

Haha never thought about that but ya it is

 

You're a smart man for wanting to know how your engines internals are wearing. These Toyota engines never cease to amaze. With almost 7k on crap conventionak oil and still excellent wear numbers. Even looked good enough for them to recommend 8.5k on that crap oil! These engines are so easy on the oil. I'm going to 9k with my current Mobil 1 oil. A bummer they didn't tell you how much of the TBN is left. Either way, that oil report looks very good.

 

Yeah! I was surprised how good it was. You gotta pay an extra fee to get the TBN!

My neighbor has an '89 Corolla with something like 450,000 miles on the ODO. He said he ran full synthetic in it since synthetic was commonplace. He changes the oil every 10,000 miles.

 

Damn 9k?

 

Yeah I was surprised too. The old conventional oil was at 6,255 miles last changed 3 years ago, and according to Blackstone Labs the 3RZ-FE engine oil starts to show wear after 6,800 miles. I'm running full synthetic now with a genuine Toyota filter (after seeing how crap aftermarket ones are).

Here's the report:

 

They are super easy on oil. My old Nissan would shear down 5w-30 faster than you could blink your eyes. Even if the wear addatives were still good that thing would destroy the viscosity. Great engine though.

My 3RZ goes forever on an oil change and still has life to give. Or so said my last Blackstone test like two years ago. Still has life on Dino oil after 5k. Good job Toyota I guess

 

Yeah my last report said the Mobil 1 0w-40 had enough of the TBN left that they thought I'd be fine going to 9.5k. It had a little over 7k on the sample I had analyzed. I have a local lab a couple minutes away and they only charge 15 bucks and that includes the TBN analysis.

 

But damn, after multiple reports and test of successfully running conventional to 5 or 6k, as speedy stated above, there's no shame in running quality dino with a quality filter with that OCI.

 

Edit: in these engines that is, better clarify lol. All of my Toyota engines have been super easy on the oil. Speaks volumes to the quality of design and engineering involved.

 

Man, now that you mention Nissan, it reminded me of an 94 pickup I had, 2.4L 4 cylinder, 5 speed, 4x4,etc. I never got to the bottom of why I would get lifter tap like 1k into an oil change. Since you mention the shearing, I'll bet that's what was going on. I drove in like that for prolly 80k miles and learned to just accept it. This was before I knew the little I know about oil and stuff now.
Also, speaking of Nissan, I was in BFE Idaho a couple weeks ago and there was an open face barn that had an old 2 wheel drive Datsun pickup in it. You can tell it'd been sitting a while and it was cleeeeaaaannnn. I wanted to stop and make an offer on it, lol. I love those old Datsun trucks. So friggin cool.

 

We have had piles of Maximas, two had VQ series engines which are great and way more powerful than Toyota counterparts of the same displacement. But both were hard on oil and made all sorts of lifter noises, it's just a Nissan characteristic I think. The first Maxima I ever worked on of ours had a VG series engine (like the old Z cars had), and that thing was so well behaved for being throttle body injected and still requiring 10W-30, was so easy on oil. I miss the 02 Maxima, I mean come on a 3.5L V6 that made 255HP and would make 302HP if you swapped to the 350Z ECU, what's not to love.

I am always on the lookout for a Datsun 620, I really want to lower one and make a nice little daily driver/grocery getter out of it. Almost bought one a year ago but the guy was being a flake and wouldn't tell me who held the title, so I said screw it.

 

Whoever mentioned, I don't remember who, about getting the better gas mileage while running with the ECT engaged caught my attention. Especially because many noted the same effect and many didn't. I've been running with ECT on for a few months now and have run dozens of tanks of gas while tracking the MPG. I can safely say that, WITH MY DRIVING STYLE AND MY TACO, that has shown to be accurate. I drive like an old man, not too old but I'm definitely not on the skinny pedal a lot. My MPG consistently shows to be around 1 to 1.5 MPG higher with the ECT on. The only thing the ECT does, apparently, is change the shift points in the transmission to a higher RPM. I'm guessing the 'grandpa' drivers will notice an increase in MPG with the ECT on and the 'spirited' drivers will notice a decrease in the same scenario. Very interesting, at least it is to me.