Baseline and Bodywork: Cost/Benefit? (1 Viewer)

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Yeah I’d be nervous of the frame, something being ‘covered up.’ They had a recall on some of the frames for rust, never know if a dealership decided to do a bubba fix. This is rarely the case, in my mind solely, but this is one time I’d take the V6 over a 4 cylinder, if possible. The 5vz is perfect for that vehicle I think. Enough power to occasionally tow if needed, but not much more than that, and still returns great mileage.

My old boss is looking at a KZJ95, and I told him I’d just as happily take the 3.4 as the 3.0 diesel.
 
Cover up or not. When i lived in the rust belt, the rubberized coatings often exacerbated the rust and you would eventually be pulling sheets of it off or they would just fall off and show you the frame was just about done. Better to avoid it in my opinion and get something you can see for sure if there is rust.
 
Cover up or not. When i lived in the rust belt, the rubberized coatings often exacerbated the rust and you would eventually be pulling sheets of it off or they would just fall off and show you the frame was just about done. Better to avoid it in my opinion and get something you can see for sure if there is rust.
I’ve noticed the same, some powder coating jobs as well.
 
My vehicles were less rusty because i would pressure wash during winter the undercarriage, i was def one of the few. There are other options now that we're not available then but no heavy coatings for me.
 
Yeah I’d be nervous of the frame, something being ‘covered up.’ They had a recall on some of the frames for rust, never know if a dealership decided to do a bubba fix. This is rarely the case, in my mind solely, but this is one time I’d take the V6 over a 4 cylinder, if possible. The 5vz is perfect for that vehicle I think. Enough power to occasionally tow if needed, but not much more than that, and still returns great mileage.

My old boss is looking at a KZJ95, and I told him I’d just as happily take the 3.4 as the 3.0 diesel.
I'd prefer a V6 too but I'm just going for the one with the cleanest frame I can find. I thought the 3rz was a fine engine in my single cab 98 though, and its simpler to work on than the V6 as well. In terms of power to weight the 4 cyl is to the Tacoma what the 1fz to the LC.
 
Have you considered an 85 4runner with 22r and 5 speed? Easy to work on!
 
So regardless of whether or not I sell, I wanna finally get serious about servicing it in the next few weeks. Just a few points of clarification:

-Coolant flush: I'll do the tstat and water pump myself to save money on labor, but is it more cost-effective/efficient to have this done at a shop with a non-pressurized machine or on the driveway with hosewater idling, etc.? I've also heard of some rare HG issues appearing while a flush is being performed: any concern of this at all at 230k?

-Any reason not to go to 15w40 conventional after the truck has been on 5w-30 high mileage for a while? Wanna see if it help with the upper pan leak. Not prepared to replace that seal DIY atm.

-Should I do a trans fluid change at 230k? The only service record I can find on it is a "120,000 mile deluxe service with applicable fluid changes" at 134k at a Toyota dealership, which I assume would've included a trans flush, but I can't be 100% sure.

-Cleaned intake and throttle body and P0401 code is now only intermittent (maybe 30-50% of the time it's on): worth doing anything more about this?
 
So regardless of whether or not I sell, I wanna finally get serious about servicing it in the next few weeks. Just a few points of clarification:

-Coolant flush: I'll do the tstat and water pump myself to save money on labor, but is it more cost-effective/efficient to have this done at a shop with a non-pressurized machine or on the driveway with hosewater idling, etc.? I've also heard of some rare HG issues appearing while a flush is being performed: any concern of this at all at 230k?

-Any reason not to go to 15w40 conventional after the truck has been on 5w-30 high mileage for a while? Wanna see if it help with the upper pan leak. Not prepared to replace that seal DIY atm.

-Should I do a trans fluid change at 230k? The only service record I can find on it is a "120,000 mile deluxe service with applicable fluid changes" at 134k at a Toyota dealership, which I assume would've included a trans flush, but I can't be 100% sure.

-Cleaned intake and throttle body and P0401 code is now only intermittent (maybe 30-50% of the time it's on): worth doing anything more about this?
- I doubt it'll be cheaper for you to get this done at a shop. It's easy to do to on your own and you have the benefit of knowing no corners were cut. I think the HG issues others experienced are a coincidence but I'm not certain.
- 15W40 is fine. I use diesel engine oil for the added detergents.
- Check the color. If it looks like diarrhea you have after a night of binge drinking, then change it. I'd do it anyway for baseline purposes.
- Can't speak to the P0401 code. Never had one before.
 
- I doubt it'll be cheaper for you to get this done at a shop. It's easy to do to on your own and you have the benefit of knowing no corners were cut. I think the HG issues others experienced are a coincidence but I'm not certain.
- 15W40 is fine. I use diesel engine oil for the added detergents.
- Check the color. If it looks like diarrhea you have after a night of binge drinking, then change it. I'd do it anyway for baseline purposes.
- Can't speak to the P0401 code. Never had one before.
Yeah I didn't think it'd be cheaper but I thought maybe it'd be worth it if I don't have to deal with all the waste fluid and have it idling for an hour on the drive.

The reason I asked about trans fluid is I've heard it can cause problems to flush it at a high mileage.
 
I did my flush late spring one year, took the antifreeze to the recycling center and just did all the flushing with water. Then flushed once with distilled water and ran it a couple of weeks just on distilled water and no t-stat. Struggled to ever get up to temp though but then i did another flush of distilled water and then drained and filled with antifreeze when i put the new t-stat in. I started all that because my OEM radiator started leaking so when i put the all brass one in i figured it was time to cleanup and flush it. I would do it differently if it would have had a freeze risk.
 

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