TheGuyWithTheTacoma's Tacoma (My Truck)!

[TheGuyWithTheTacoma]

I'm surprised there isn't a thread in the hobbies section for vehicles!

My pride and joy is a 2010 Toyota Tacoma regular cab 2WD that my dad bought brand new in September 2009, when I got my learner's permit. I took the driver's test in my truck in 2011. The truck was legally my dad's for the first seven years we had it, but I was the primary driver. My dad put the title in my name in December 2016.

My truck has gotten me through college, two girlfriends, and five jobs, among other things. It has survived two hurricanes and being hit by a drunk driver in a Mercedes!

My truck is largely stock, with no engine, chassis/suspension, or body modifications. In March 2019, I switched back to the stock 15" inch wheels from the 16" Platinum Apex wheels I'd been rolling since October 2013. Exterior-wise, my truck has a custom grille, window tint, WeatherTech rain guards, and a WeatherTech bug deflector.

On the inside, my truck is largely stock as well, except for the sound system; The factory radio in my truck totally sucked. It had had a CD/MP3 player and an AUX input, but no Bluetooth or anything. The speakers had absolutely no balls. Now, my truck has a killer sound system with a Pioneer touch screen head unit, JBL component speaker system fed by a Rockford Fosgate Prime amplifier, and a Kicker 8" subwoofer. I even have a backup camera!

My truck has 20 miles on it when we bought it. As of this post, it has a little over 106,000 miles. The master cylinder was replaced in February 2014, and the A/C evaporator core was replaced in September 2018. Other than that, it has been a rock solid truck and I love it!

 

[TheGuyWithTheTacoma]

Some recent pictures (October 9th) taken in the parking lot at work...

 

[TheGuyWithTheTacoma]

do know how to drive a stick shift, but my truck has a slushbox, better known as an automatic transmission. For starters, when your dad buys you a brand new vehicle, you don't complain. Second of all, I did not know how to drive stick at the time we bought the truck and my dad thought it would be too distracting for a new driver. When my dad said he was buying me a vehicle, I had three very simple and reasonable requirements:

1. I wanted a pickup truck.
2. It had to have air-conditioning.
3. It had to have a radio with an iPod hookup.

The Tacoma met all three of those requirements!

I finally learned how to drive stick in August 2014, when my uncle (dad's younger brother) taught me in his 1991 Toyota pickup. I mastered it in about 20 minutes. I've also driven my other uncle's 1971 VW Bus! I do not drive stick enough to 100% proficient enough at it, but I was competent enough to move cars around the shop during my brief stint as a detailer.

 

[TheGuyWithTheTacoma]

Reliability? It's a bleepin' Toyota! There's a reason 10-20 year old Tacomas with several hundred thousand miles are selling for such exorbitant amounts of money!

I would have been happy with the used 2003 Chevy S-10 I first looked at online when my dad said he was buying me a truck (this was September 2009 so it was only six years old), but I'm glad I got the Toyota. My dad and I narrowed it down to the Toyota Tacoma and the Ford Ranger, and again, I'm glad I got the Toyota.

I've had my truck over ten years and have logged over 106K miles. I've had to replace normal wear items like brakes, tires, etc. Obviously I change the oil and the other fluids. This truck has been 100% trouble-free with regards to the engine, and it still runs like new with over 100K miles! The only thing on the engine that's ever been changed is the oil, and I replaced the fan belt once.

 

[TheGuyWithTheTacoma]

In June 2017, with about 74K miles on the clock, I discovered that my A/C was blowing ICE COLD out of the driver's side vents but warm out of the right vents. The far right vent was blowing humid outside air. I brought it to my dad's mechanic immediately, and he vacuum-tested the system but couldn't find any leaks. He charged it, and the system worked more or less fine for the rest of the summer. On an unseasonably warm Saturday in April 2018, while on a date with a new girlfriend no less, I discovered that the right vent was blowing warm again.

I brought it back to the same mechanic, and got it charged, but I wasn't satisfied with the performance this time. However, it was still blowing ice cubes out of the two left vents and I rarely had passengers so I dealt with it until OCD got the best of me in late July 2018. I tried replacing the blend door actuator myself, which did nothing, and then I finally relented and brought it to the dealer (stealership).

The dealer found my A/C system to be about a pound low on refrigerant, but still couldn't find the leak, so they charged it and added UV tracer dye. When I got my truck back, my A/C was colder than it had been in a couple years! I was told to wait a few weeks to allow the dye to circulate. When I brought it back for a free followup check, it was the worst case scenario. The evaporator core was leaking, and in order to replace it the whole dashboard would have to come out. The parts only amounted to about $400, but the cost of labor and new refrigerant pushed it to almost $1,600! My dad had to help me pay for it!

However, it's been over a year since the evap core replacement and my A/C has had like-new performance the whole time so I'm not complaining!

 

[disconnected]

Howdy! Welcome.

 

[TheGuyWithTheTacoma]

Howdy! Welcome.

Thanks!

 

[TheGuyWithTheTacoma]

The crown jewel of my truck is the stereo system...

My truck is a base model; Crank windows, manual locks; It didn't even have intermittent windshield wipers! My truck has all the options you could get on a regular cab in 2010; Automatic transmission, air-conditioning, and a sliding rear window!

The factory radio consisted of AM/FM, a CD/MP3 player, and AUX input. There was no USB port and no Bluetooth. It had a a woofer in each door and a tweeter in each door, so technically four speakers. The night we bought the truck, I plugged my iPod into the AUX input and cranked up Def Leppard. The system was so weak that I thought I'd blown the speakers before we even drove it off the lot!

I put up with the wimpy factory stereo for more than three years before I finally told my dad that I had to put a better stereo system in my truck. I spent my own money on a $130 Pioneer head unit and a $110 Pioneer component speaker system. I had to have new tweeter brackets custom made, but other than that it was pretty much plug and play. I had no idea what I was doing back then, so I paid a friend to install the whole system for me.

That system lasted me more than three years and was still more or less in perfect working order in 2016. However, I decided I wanted a backup camera, and this required a double-DIN head unit. In September 2016, my neighbor helped me install a Sony head unit and Clarion backup camera. By May 2017, the Sony had revealed itself to be a lemon, and Crutchfield exchanged it for a Boss head unit. The Boss turned out to be worthless, and in March 2018, I bought a $325 Pioneer head unit with HD Radio and Apple CarPlay! My neighbor helped installed both the Boss and Pioneer as well.

Then in April 2018, my neighbor helped install a Rockford Fosgate Prime amplifier to power my speakers, and a Kicker 8" subwoofer. A short time later, we determined that I'd blown the Pioneer woofer on the passenger side, and I bought a JBL component speaker system that my neighbor also helped me install!

 

[Sherlock77]

Nice truck... Good to see the passion... Back in 1995 my dad helped me buy my first car (used), 1987 Chevy Cavalier with 5-speed manual, I owned that car for almost 10 years! Within two years, I drove to Ontario (from Alberta), drove it back to Alberta, then drove it back to Ontario again, that's a lot of mileage!

I'm still a car geek, love classic cars but can't afford to buy one at present, I get out to lots of classic car events throughout the summer here in Alberta where summer is rather short... I posted a few photos of my car on your other thread