What now? (kind of long)

[Mike6158]

I picked my 2000 TLC up earlier today so now I have an idea of what needs to be fixed. Not much...

First impressions- what a beast. I can tell it's heavy. It rides real nice.

1. Strip running boards
2. PFran LED's
3. Replace Fuel Filter
4. Phillips 9011/9012 head lamp replacement
5. Silicone treat rubber surfaces as a protectant(or let the Texas heat burn it off)
6. Scrub out minor rust spots with naval jelly, then use Por15 or Zero Rust to protect it
7. Good dose of Mother's car wax
8. Fix and/or replace the stock antenna.

(1) Now that I've seen them... yeah... no doubt... I can almost hear the crunch sound now...
(2) Ordered
(3) Can anyone suggest a good supplier? And just curious- why other than the obvious that filters need to be replaced?
(4) Headlight lenses are new but it didn't sound like he upgraded the lamps so I think thats' still on the list
(5) Anyone have a specific brand that they trust
(6) There aren't any. He took real good care of his TLC
(7) He recently applied Klasse but I agree, wax will make the paint last (obviously it made a difference for him)
(8) The antenna (already mentioned) goes up about 3" and stops. I'm guessing that this is a fairly common problem. Does anyone have a good idea for what to replace it with. The owner said parts can be hard to find. I guess so... I'm not sure I believe they can break.

(a) I noticed that it doesn't start immediately but it runs decent. The crank cycle is a couple of seconds, just guessing. If I can get to and into a dealer I may let them check it top to bottom.

(b) He said "whatever you do don't lose this key" or something to that effect so I assume and hope it's the original. I guess the batteries are dead. It doesn't remote lock or unlock it. Thoughts?

(c) Rear view mirror. It's the auto darken mirror and it's 2/3 dark x 1/3 normal. Are these available?

(d) It has a K&N air filter. I'm not sure that's a good thing. It used to be. Any suggestions or thoughts.

 

[HFDPNL]

(4) Headlight lenses are new but it didn't sound like he upgraded the lamps so I think thats' still on the list

Pretty sure your year has glass lenses. Search around, some people are fans of particular bulb swaps, but you can also switch to HID lights fairly easily/inexpensively.

(8) The antenna (already mentioned) goes up about 3" and stops. I'm guessing that this is a fairly common problem. Does anyone have a good idea for what to replace it with. The owner said parts can be hard to find. I guess so... I'm not sure I believe they can break.

Does the button on the dash to put the antenna up/down work? There was a thread a little while ago where someone thought theirs was broken, but it was just adjusted down. It will remain down once it has been set there.

(a) I noticed that it doesn't start immediately but it runs decent. The crank cycle is a couple of seconds, just guessing. If I can get to and into a dealer I may let them check it top to bottom.

Mine is the same way most of the time. If you search, you will find it is fairly common. Unsure of the cause, but I've replaced my battery with duals and changed all the plugs and it still cranks a little long for my taste.

(b) He said "whatever you do don't lose this key" or something to that effect so I assume and hope it's the original. I guess the batteries are dead. It doesn't remote lock or unlock it. Thoughts?

If you lose the only master key, you cannot program new keys for the vehicle and have to buy a new ECM(?) can be expensive. There was a recent thread about this as well. Basically, you can have multiple master and slave keys.

That's about all I can answer with any certainty.

 

[Mike6158]

Pretty sure your year has glass lenses. Search around, some people are fans of particular bulb swaps, but you can also switch to HID lights fairly easily/inexpensively.

Could be. He said he replaced them because they fogged up (pointing at the lens). I went out and tapped on it and I can't tell. They really built that thing right.

Does the button on the dash to put the antenna up/down work? There was a thread a little while ago where someone thought theirs was broken, but it was just adjusted down. It will remain down once it has been set there.

Well I'll be... that's all it was. The antenna works fine.

AM radio has a lot of noise. In the old days of carburetors and distributors that meant bad wires or a bad coil. The owner gave me a book of all of his maint records. Timing belt, oil changes, serpentine belt, etc. He was very meticulous. He mentioned changing a few coils but not all coils.

Mine is the same way most of the time. If you search, you will find it is fairly common. Unsure of the cause, but I've replaced my battery with duals and changed all the plugs and it still cranks a little long for my taste.

Dual batteries is next. I don't need it now but it won't be long and I'd just as soon get it done.

If you lose the only master key, you cannot program new keys for the vehicle and have to buy a new ECM(?) can be expensive. There was a recent thread about this as well. Basically, you can have multiple master and slave keys.

That's about all I can answer with any certainty.

The battery is dead. It's a CR1616. I can find them on Amazon but rather than pay shipping on a $3 battery I think i'll see if I can find one at the local hardware store. He gave me some cut keys (no buttons or housing). I also got a key with a housing but no buttons in it. I'll probably try to have another master or slave cut.

 

[El Cid]

(1) You'll be thankful.
(2) I'm not a pro on removing bulbs, but it was tricky sometimes.
(3) I bought an OEM fuel filter. The irony is that they don't recommend replacing it. I disagree with that assessment. After a decade, mine looked pretty soggy on the inside. It couldn't have been helping for it to look as bad as it did.
(4) Caveat: The headlight wiring is fine. But there is a great deal of opinion regarding HID vs HIR. My route was just replacing the bulbs(cheapest option). The OEM bulbs were crap.
(5) I believe I bought my silicone at an auto parts store, spray can variety. Don't worry about being too specific, just start wiping and cleaning all the rubber.
(6) Send him a Christmas card. This was big pain in the arse.
(7) Yep, mine was again, the cheap option.
(8) Yeah, mine was broken upon arrival. I fixed it. I regretted that. It would have simply been smarter to find an antenna that would clip on/off that was a fixed mast. The concept of a retractable antenna these days is outdated and worse yet, unreliable. I strongly suggest to anyone to replace it with a fixed/removable mast antenna. I regret not doing so.

(a) See threads about this. Not exactly a rare issue for many owners though.
(b) I bought backup keys from metric tlc(vendor here). Then I copied where I could and should I lose one of the two I have, I will have to suck it up and have the chip copied for a new key. Copying the keys, buying the shells isn't pricey. But mess with that chip and goodbye dollars.
(c) Rear view mirror. Good question. It's gotta be as I looked at replacing mine with an electronic version. Only suggestion is to look for a part number here.
(d) You'll replace them often enough that it won't matter.

One thing you'll find is that there is a lot of faith, trust, reliance on OEM Toyota parts. You could certainly go OEM with everything and be no worse off and I doubt anyone here would give you grief. I've certainly had mechanics look at my vehicle and suggest I'd be fine with OEM, even when they've had an incentive not to do so.

 

[El Cid]

Oh, and about the dual battery. I just did that mod, been running too crazy to describe it, but I went with the IBS dual battery system. Other than the peace of mind when I'm out in the sticks, I won't really feel the ROI on this until I begin to add devices to my aux battery.

T-Max and National Luna are competitors here, but I wanted to upspend here as it's a high value area to me.

 

[Mike6158]

De-vagination step one is complete. I blanked out the plates because they are the original owners plates. Mine will be different. I'm almost thru the list. Waiting on parts

Before

After

 

[El Cid]

Looks better already!

One thing to consider: you might remove the factory roof rack. Benefits are that you might like the look and it will make the roof rack replacement much less painful. It took the bulk of time adding a FR Slimline to mine. I realized after removing it that I liked the way it looked, too.

In re: roof racks...There are a lot of good roof rack options, and I can see the value in each. The front runner worked for me largely because it was the only thing that would let me still fit my LC in the garage. But I'm also happy with the fact it was light, strong, well designed and well built.

 

[paflytyer]

Speaking of roof racks.... that sweet looking 100 you mentioned a few posts back proudly wears a Gamiviti roof rack in the Expo flavor. Worth checking out.

Your 100 is looking good, but our lady 100 drivers might get upset at the "de-vagination" comment!

 

[Mike6158]

oh... yeah... good point on the comment. I'd edit it but I can't get to it anymore... I'll keep that in mind for future posts.

And I'll check out the Gamivit roof rack. on first look they are priced decent