Not a Huge fan of Toyota.........

[ktm_2000]

Last weekend my Tundra went into limp mode and wouldn't come out. I reset the battery and it went back into limp mode 3 restarts later. So I got a code reader and found out it was the secondary air pump valves and I started to cringe. The Tundras are known for problems with this air injection system where there are 2 pumps under the fender on the passenger side, they pump air into the exhaust for under 1 min at startup to warm up the catalytic converter to reduce emissions. I had the problem at roughly 45k miles and the whole system was replaced under warrantee (much fighting with me and toyota) to the tune of $2800 of repairs.

Toyota upped their warrantee for the situation after I had issues with it to 10 years 150k because an awful lot of people have had similar problems, I've had the truck for 10 years and 1 month so there's no way toyota would cover it again. I went to a shop near my house and they quoted me $1200 to replace the air valves.

I did some research and ordered the valves which the code reader said were bad and went at it saturday morning.

engine bay - where are the pump valves? would you guess under the intake manifold in the very back of the motor? good guess if you did.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/qVAD2CivsRj6NH2S8

manifold removed - pump valves are in the very back near the large wire loom
https://photos.app.goo.gl/1MfNgUEsBKPyxHTd8

I found a youtube video of a guy who said it was easier to get it out if you took the valves out of the valve body. The pic doesn't show it well but the left side, under the wire clip are the bolts which have stainless steel pipes going to the exhaust. The side only has 1/2" clearance and you can't unbolt it easy.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/iMRCHLf8YPxLLjK4A

After taking the valves out I decided it would take me hours to get the valve body out so I took apart the new one thinking I could just swap out the valves and leave the valve body in the truck so I tested out putting the old parts in the new valve body - it fit perfectly.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/W8hNnho8dTPvzX8d8

New valves in the old valve body
https://photos.app.goo.gl/U4rbiv3hsUBcmpck6

I then cleaned the throttle body which was ugly dirty and put a new PCV valve in and did some general cleaning and everything back together. After driving for a bunch of miles the code finally went out of the code reader and the truck is running better.

The whole repair took me a little over 3hrs to do and $225 for the parts.

[Tony Meola]

Labor rates go probably go for some where near $125 an hour. You did it in 3. The mechanic who does it all the time probably would do it in two. Not sure what the book says but I bet it is like 5 hours. They would have charged you for 5 hours at a minimum.

[Rawleigh]

Good job! I bet you wish you could get your hands on the engineers who designed that! I hope the throttle body holds up after cleaning. Sometimes the electronics don't like it!

[ktm_2000]

Rawleigh,

Hopefully there are no issues with cleaning the back side of the throttle body, I sprayed it down with the cleaning fluid repeatedly which got most of the gunk off and to get the last bit clean, I gave it a gentle wipe with a paper towel.

The truck did get better gas mileage after, I had been getting 15.5mpg on the highway and I put a bunch of miles on going to the cape over the weekend and averaged 17mpg. I haven't seen 17mpg on the highway for years so it seems to be doing much better.

[Rawleigh]

Well you can't beat that!

[Carl]

That Toyota and a bunch of other manufacturers..,


My Jeep Wrangler the piece of sh$t that it is had the engine light come on a few weeks ago....actually two day before the water pump seized, which was about 3 weeks before the idler was about to let go again...2nd time for that hunk O junk to go. At least this time I caught it before...last time it just locked up and ate the belt.

Soooo engine light goes on, mechanic said he figured it was because the motor got hot when pump seized...created low oil pressure and that was the code. So he cleared...few minutes later its back on...he checks oil pressure...jeep only has idiot lights. Its good, must be the sensor. OK great, that sound cheap enough, he prices from dealer...Only $34 bucks.

That's the good news...throttle body needs to come off, intake manifold needs to come off along with all the wiring looms around it. The of course new gaskets to replace.

Easy pain in the arse job I looked at doing with an online video.
I decided it was much better to just have done.

The jeep fits my needs,short, great for tight turns and fantastic in the snow, but such a piece of garbage right from the day I got...shortly after I started hearing a tapping noise...torque converter was loose. Followed by a cracked head...defective under warranted. Leaks, rattles wind whistles...thank goodness for big loud tires and a good sound system...that also went. Antentea connection let go. I could fix...maybe, have repaired or by an upgrade for the same cost.
My first Toyota was a very boring vehicles...A Celica, I changed oil and never had issues, nothing to fix, repair or...so I bought a corvette. That solved that, always something that was wrong with it. Some time after I went with a Toyoto mini pickup or whatever they called them...boring. Always ran, no issues...nothing. Changed oil, tune up. Then came a Dodge Dakota...I was back in business, always something wrong with it...but unfortunately it was all stuff beyond my basic tool kit could fix.

[Tony Meola]

Carl

Not much on a car you can fix on your own today. Once that check engine light comes on you are dead meat. Oh, you can change your own oil, brakes tires and maybe plugs. But if you don't have a computer hook up and all the other BS you are are finished.

Oh and change your oil, today at the cost at the local garage to change oil, it isn't worth crawling under the car to do it.

[Rocky]

Carl I love your pessimism, it's a compliment to Toyota, I guess?! Other than being boring as you said they used to be good vehicles. Now adays though I think they got too big and make them on the cheap. They know the average owner doesn't hold on to a car more than 5 years typically and build them accordingly. The direct injection Tacoma, uuuugh. What a noisy turd engine. People are not happy with those. There have been lately many recalls Toyota has had to deal with (compliments of NHTSA) they never would have had to in the past, it reflects how they are engineering them now.
Matt, hope you replaced your air inj. pumps intake snorkel. It's revised, and was determined to be cause of valve fail from water/moister inhalation
behind RH inner fender liner.

[ktm_2000]

Rocky,

I didn't replace the snorkel, I won't own the truck by the next time the valves fail.... I had expected and planned on purchasing a new truck last year and I would have already gotten rid of it if covid didn't come through. There is no sense of buying a new truck and have it depreciate sitting in my driveway doing next to nothing. I have worked from home since last march, I think I only put 5k miles on the truck last year.

I think I got hit with most of the common design faults of the truck, air pumps, water pump going at 65k, rear axle bearings, nasty alternator change. The repairs haven't been terrible since I am reasonably good at turning a wrench and am not worried about taking on a repair.

The tundra has been a relatively good car, nice and comfortable, cruises nice on the highway, but it is a HORRIBLE truck. My biggest gripe is the lack of a mechanical rear limited slip differential, this truck can't get out of its own way when there is the slightest loss of traction. Essentially I have a 2 wheel drive truck when in 4wd, I get power to the driver side front tire and the passenger side rear tire, the truck will not put power down to the other wheels. I've been stuck in my own driveway repeatedly where the truck won't shift power to the alternate wheel and just sits there and retards the engine and hits the brakes. My usual technique to get out of the drive way is to put my floor mats under the passenger rear wheel. There was no way to get power to my other wheels turning off the "nannies" does nothing. Boat ramps are bad too, even with the trailer setup well with plenty of tongue weight, I regularly needed 4wd to pull my boat out of the water, the truck is pathetic.

The ultimate sign of dis-respect for the truck was one snow storm where we got 8" of snow, one of the wheel spin sensors decided to not work and the dash of the truck lit up like a Christmas tree and turned off the ABS system and would not let me put it in 4WD. With all the power going to only one wheel, I couldn't drive it anywhere. I had to leave it at a grocery store parking lot and walk home.

I don't know if all the tundra's are this bad with traction, I brought it to the dealer a few times complaining about it but they said it performed as expected. My thought is that the wheel spin sensors / abs controller has some issue which doesn't throw a code thus won't diagnose as having a problem. At 135k, I've already replaced my rear brakes 3x and each time there is only wear on the passenger side each time, the first time changing the rear brakes was done before the front pads needed replacement. I've never seen that happen in a car before.

[CamB25]

Wow. You have lots of patience. That's a good character trait for working on boats!

[Rocky]

Geez, yeah I'd say that truck's traction control is against you in every way! My Chevy has an Eaton G-80 centrifugal locker (OEM) and works really well. Even when I think I'll need to throw in 4x4 it just digs in and goes. All these "improvements" the manufactures try to include with vehicles promising it's so much better for the convenience factor, no thanks! Like in your case, traction control integrated into the ABS module. Apparently bad for the snow.
BTW, there was a TSB on rear axle backing plates and bearings too, for grinding noises and such. You don't want to know all the TSB's that are on your ride, you would be even less impressed then your are now about that thing!

[ktm_2000]

I am quite familiar with the TSBs on the rear axle bearings, I'd like to shoot the jacka$$ who thought it would be a good idea to drill a hole in the bearing area and put the wheel spin sensor there - direct path for water to go directly into the bearing

as for the TSB - my dealer wouldn't cover them wanted $1400 a side to do the bearings

$270 each side for the OEM bearing, 1hr take down, $100 for an axle shop to press off the old and on with the new, 1hr to put it back together

https://photos.app.goo.gl/cQNyGNvqvwL5QhHR9

[Rocky]

Yep, that looks familiar, I've problably done
oh, 50 of those things, but we have the bearing and plate tool to press in and out. If you have the 3U engine, be glad you don't have the usual cam cradle oil leaks. Cab comes off frame.
At least to be proficient about job it does.
I guess in all fairness, ALL vehicles have there bullcrap about them. I just don't like the "couch engineers" who design a vehicle and not enough real world experience to know better what works best! AKA your reluctor ring inside your wheel bearing.
If one of the big three would put an Allison behind a Cummins that'd be game over. That'd be the truck to buy! Of course everything else would fall apart around that platform.

[ktm_2000]

Rocky, please stop telling me stuff that I don't want to hear............................................................................

I went out and looked and it is leaking

The truck has been "using" at least 1 qt of oil each oil change since fairly early on, I thought it was the PVC valve since I've never seen a drip under the truck, now I know. I won't fix this one, going to keep adding oil.

I was at a state that I was probably going to get another Tundra and have the rear differential upgraded to an after market limited slip but this is just too much in looking online, even the brand new trucks have this oil leak issue even though toyota has known about it for quite some time.

Any suggestions on a truck that can tow at least 7500# and 4 full size doors and at least a 6.5' bed? My last truck was a F-150 I loved it. We have twin girls at 4, so a easy to access back seat is a must and I keep my trucks for a long time.

BTW friends don't let friends buy a dodge.

[Rocky]

Matt,
I'm not going to go there, suggesting a Ford or Chevy as you ruled out the 3rd choice already lol! I've been a long term Chevy fan myself, as I've always worked on all makes of trucks and the GM trucks always seemed to have better track records, at least for not coming in on a hook. All makes are using O-ring technology, can communications, 20 plus ecus, active radar, so on and so on. People like there Dodge, Ford, and Chevy because they have to- they just spent 75K on a truck! At 1000ftlbs torque the diesels have now, your overkill for that little 7500lb load.
There's the F-150 ecoboost and its very nice, but also a strung out motor and starting to show turbo/heat issues. The Ford and GM trucks (and Dodge) have come a long way, really. I am going with a four door Chevy when ready. (Duramax over 6.2 because I tow larger loads).

[mike ohlstein]

Any suggestions on a truck that can tow at least 7500# and 4 full size doors and at least a 6.5' bed? My last truck was a F-150 I loved it. We have twin girls at 4, so a easy to access back seat is a must and I keep my trucks for a long time.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2000-Ford-F-25 ... Sw1eZf71tL

[mike ohlstein]

A new truck is 70K. This one will cost 50K (including purchase price) over the next 10 or 12 years and still be worth 10K.

[Rocky]

Matt,
If you otherwise like your Tundra for what it does and how it works for you, economics wise why not "massage" it back into order?
If only you were a bit closer to me I'd have that T-cover and cam cradles resealed in two days. That's what Rockys Automotive does now, only $50/hr (shorting myself) but my customers love it and I love helping them.

[DanielM]

Mike,

Was that F-250 yours? That truck looks just like my daily driver except mine is not 4 wheel drive and has about 170k more miles. I’ve owned it about 7 or 8 years, put 130k on it, and have been pretty happy with it.

I had a lady in the neighborhood tell me that her daughter said “That man’s truck sounds like the school bus”….I laughed and said “as a man’s truck should.” I’ve been happy with that diesel.


Matt,

Sorry to hear your Tundra woes. I also have a 2017 Tundra with about 105k miles on it and it’s been as boring as Carl’s Celica. But I’m pessimistic that I’ll get the 300k out of the Tundra I was hoping.

It’s a shame our automotive industry won’t design and build a truck that will run 400k reasonably trouble free miles. They know how to do it. I’ve seen quite a few of those 7.3 F-250s with around 400k still running reasonably well. But I guess if I was in the business to sell trucks I might not think that way either. Still a shame though.

[mike ohlstein]

Not mine, but I do have two F250's with 7.3's and two E350 diesel vans (though one is a 6.0). The 2001 F250 came from the factory with forged rods, so now that one makes 600HP.

The biggest problem with them up here is rust. From the look of them, you would think that Ford was in Arizona and never heard of salt.

[DanielM]

Mike,

Yes, the salt hurts them down here on the Gulf Coast as well, but not the issues you guys face in the winter I think. Ford could have done better there. That and the electric locks and window switches are pretty poor. But for a work truck I can’t really complain.

The plan you laid out is what I’ve been thinking for my next truck, but garage queens like the one you posted are getting harder to find. That, and my current F-250 just keeps running.

600HP out of your 2000 F-250. That’s pretty impressive. I’m not much of a mechanic but I’m guessing that took more than upgrading to a K&N air filter. Lol.

[mike ohlstein]

Big turbo, big injectors, additional fuel pump, straight through exhaust, and some plumbing.

Oh, and a transmission that can handle it.

U-joints.....