2000 Limited TRD refresh/repair story

That's because it doesn't exist much of anywhere else these days except certain forums and a few reliable video outlets.

You can't find much useful on social media anymore except propaganda, because people (or more often, intelligence agencies from hostile nations posing as everyday people) are intent on swaying your opinion on hot-button issues as if they're a friend/confidant/"like minded" person. Hell, you can't even find good info on many forums nowadays because they allow political banter which lets people politicize the forum and turn it into an echo chamber for weak-minded people to validate their personal beliefs. I'm glad they ban political discussion here. Lets us all focus on what matters: TRUCKS.

It used to be, way back when ("BACK IN MY DAY, SONNY...") before the internet existed, you had to go to car meet-ups to see what products are out there, go store-to-store asking opinions, join a club, subscribe to magazines, read manuals and other literature, or even get a shit-level job as an apprentice somewhere to learn this stuff. It's bittersweet. I'm tired of people being turned into divisive, non-thinking sheep via the propaganda outlets, but I relish finding a place where you can really share good info on common, practical everyday things we all enjoy regardless of beliefs/race/age/background.

I'm stoked you're here and sharing your truck and progress with us. We need more of that, it's healthy for the younger generations... We had a gap in time where older generations weren't handing down, and it's caused an informational and talent gap that's really hurting us today.

 

I got a couple of the spots painted and clear coated yesterday/today. I’m really really happy with the results. The new paint matched great.


Here’s a before:

(it was like that on both sides)

After:






It really came out great. I taped off the TRD sticker, removed the taillight, and I was able to feather out the paint onto the existing stuff. Three coats of base and three coats of clear really worked well.



The only reason the new paint can be noticed is because the new clearcoat is brand new and much glossier than the existing stuff.

Once all the paint is done on the truck, I’ll be doing a full paint correction and polish, which will hopefully bring back lots of shine on the old paint and it’ll blend much smoother. I can’t wait!

 

Man, @FiatRunner, that turned out fantastic.

 

Thank you! I hope that it'll someday be as clean as your truck... Thunder Gray is the best!

I'm not a huge gray/silver fan on most cars, but Toyota really did a good job with this color. I love the color-changing.

 

Not-so-great update.

The truck is 54 miles from 200k, and I've been planning on doing a big celebration maintenance day when it hits. In the process, I started looking at some of the previous maintenance records that I have. When my grandpa gave me the truck, I asked about the timing belt, and he said that it was done at 115k miles, and I've always just assumed that was the case. However, I couldn't find a record for it.

I decided it was best to pull off the belt cover, and sure enough, the belt was terrible. The cracks in the rubber were so wide that I thought I was looking at the gear at first. It was completely gray, cracked all the way to the metal, and looked awful. I couldn't believe it. I drove the truck home keeping the RPM's as low as possible, and it won't be moving until the belt is changed. I can't believe I've driven around for almost 10k miles like that. I didn't get a photo, but I'll have a million when I begin teardown tomorrow.

I did some more research into the records and asked my grandpa about it again, and turns out it was the accessory belt that was replaced at 115k. He didn't even know that the engine had a timing belt. The truck was serviced religiously at an independent shop that has done great work for us for years, but the timing belt never was changed. I'm not sure how it's held together, the engine has been put through some serious abuse, including plenty of rev limiter.

Really dodged a bullet with this one. I'm not looking forward to swapping it out in my tiny garage in the cold, but I'm nowhere near able to spend $1100-1300 on a mechanic, and it'll be a good learning experience.

 

Small detail there, gramps! And to your point ... always check the timing belt

Here are my favorite related videos to link up, and note the 1st video is just a snippet; if you launch that video in YouTube and check the description, he gives a link to the full teardown process. He gives good advice and warnings where needed, really walks through the process.

 

I was hesitant to open the cover as the bolts are really rusty, but I figured it would be better to snap a bolt then snap the belt.

Appreciate the youtube link, I'll be doing plenty of watching and reading over the next couple days.

 

I guarantee there are a lot of people driving around on original timing belts that are completely unaware. Just because someone is going to the same shop for work doesn't mean that shop is even paying attention to what work has previously been done.

I'm glad you were able to catch it before it broke.

 

I agree. If I hadn't of known to check, the truck likely would've been driven around until the belt snapped. It would've been nice for Toyota to have a maintenance interval light, or something similar. I'm sure lots of engines would've been saved if they had.

 

First thing I learned when coming here is that these folks can help you spend your money

I appreciate everything I’ve learned here considering I bought in 09, did normal minor maintenance and once here learned I better check my timing belt. It hadn’t been done but surprisingly it was in damn good shape for 180k miles.

 

Those are just M6 bolts. Easy to find new at hardware store and replace. Seems like the least of your worries at the moment though.

 

Spent a solid 5 hours tearing it down last night. Made some good headway.

Here’s the belt:


Most of the belt actually looked a lot better than when I first looked, but there was one spot that was obviously more cracked than the rest. Maybe the engine stops at the same position every time? I’m not sure. The truck has never sat for more than a month or two for it’s entire life.

Only one bolt snapped, on the thermostat housing, and it almost wasn’t a surprise as there were signs that coolant had been leaking into that bolt hole for a long time. It’s in a pretty good spot to remove too, I’m going to try heat and vice grips first.


Everything else has gone smoothly except for the fan clutch and this alternator bolt. The fan clutch was very stuck on the pulley, I had to get a chisel and hammer on the seam between the pulley and clutch until it would come off.

The lower alternator bolt is very tight. Normally, when a bolt is tight in the threads I’ll run it in and out a few turns to loosen it up, but it just keeps getting tighter no matter how far I thread it back in. Not sure what’s going on, I got too tired last night to deal with it.


I’m also making a list of additional stuff to be replaced, so far I have serpentine belt, idler, tensioner, as well as various bolts that are too rusty to be put back. I’ll be doing an oil change and coolant flush as well. What else should I be adding?

 

If memory serves me right, that flange with the broken bolt is on the water pump...you going to change the water pump, right?

You want to buy this kit from a reliable source:

$185 AISIN TKT-021 Engine Timing Belt Kit with Water Pump - Compatible with Select Lexus GS400, GS430, GX470, LS400, LS430, LX470, SC400, SC430 Toyota 4Runner, Land Cruiser, Sequoia, Tundra

AISIN TKT-021 Engine Timing Belt Kit with Water Pump

 

You're right, it is on the water pump! I'll be changing the pump, so no bolt extractions for me! Thank you for pointing that out.

The

$185 Aisin TKT-021 Engine Timing Belt Kit with Water Pump - Compatible with Select Lexus GS400, GS430, GX470, LS400, LS430, LX470, SC400, SC430 Toyota 4Runner, Land Cruiser, Sequoia, Tundra

Aisin TKT-021 is what I purchased. It arrived yesterday, and it all looks great.

 

Get the HD green gates belt.
For coolant make sure and use Toyota pink coolant. Or the pink Peak OET coolant that is marked for Asian vehicles. I think others use a different brand. Zerex maybe, I can't ever remember. What color coolant came out?

Are you planning to do preventative radiator replacement to keep from ever getting pink milkshake?

Maybe you've mentioned some of these things before it's just hard to keep up with everyone.

 

Green Gates is what I was planning on.

Pink milkshake happened in 2016? I think?

We replaced the radiator at home and put in green coolant, not knowing any better. It’s been in there since but only for 25k miles. I’m thinking it’s fine, it still looks brand new.


Oh, and we’re ready for reassembly. Looking good.


Crank bolt fought me though. Ended up having to do the starter bump trick, which I was hoping to avoid, but it worked fine.


I’m hoping to have it back together this weekend. Driving the other car around is really terrible in this weather… it doesn’t like it and neither do I.

 

If you got all the pink coolant out when you did the last rad swap running green shouldn't be a big issue. I've had a couple toyotas running green and hadn't seen any side effects. My 96 Camry still runs green. I do think most people on here wouldn't agree with me though.

If you are doing a flush I would recommend going to the pink. If you mix coolants though you're in for a world of hurt. I think that's what happened to @Tundra2 white truck.

 

I’ve never had an issue with the green coolant, and I’ll be switching back to pink once I’m done.

I’ll flush the system out with distilled water and get the engine pretty hot, then I’ll drain and refill with pink. Hopefully it’ll clean out all of the green as well as any sediment or dirt that has built up over time.

 

Got the timing belt finished up yesterday!

I used plastic trim restorer on most of the plastic parts in the engine bay, and it’s a huge improvement. Still gotta do the fuse box and paint the throttle body cover.


In celebration I decided to put the last 56 miles on it to hit 200k. Why not?


I ordered a ton of parts from the dealer, including radiator hoses, clamps, filters, and lots of bolts, but they haven’t arrived yet. I’ll do the aforementioned coolant flush when I change the rad hoses.

Also, I changed the thermostat when I had it apart, which confirmed that the old one was sticking open. The truck would take forever to warm up, even with a piece of cardboard covering the entire radiator. Turns out it would bind when closing and stay open, not really sure why. Who knows, it’s replaced now, and that thing must have 20,000 heat cycles on it. Truck warms up almost instantly now.

Really happy to have it back.

 

Young man, Im reading this and am blown away by your mechanical abilities and GUTS! Im scared to change the lower ball joints on my own, no less the timing belt. Good on you my brother, your auto shop teacher should be very proud of you!

 

Thank you!

You’re right, it’s scary, and definitely not easy to jump into something like a timing belt, but doing all this stuff myself is the only way that it would be possible, so I’ve always considered it a good thing.

 

Update!

Got a couple more spots painted and clearcoated. They’ll match a lot better once the whole truck gets paint corrected in the spring.






You can see how many rock chips I’ve filled in with primer. I actually might be leaving them… they’re almost cool. Gives the truck some character. Shows that it’s been around the block once or twice. Or fourteen.

Spent a solid three hours cleaning the engine bay. Before/after is roughly the same… it’s been so long since it’s properly been cleaned that it’s hard to make an impact.


I might look into having it cleaned with one of those dry ice blaster machines, which would remove grime/grease but keep paint and finishes intact. There also isn’t any risk of water damage that typical cleaning would create. I’ve added a link below if you don’t know what they are… they’re pretty cool!
https://youtu.be/RXR3a2WSgrM

I’m also on my 3rd attempt to paint match the mirror caps. I’m scared to try and remove them, as the plastic tabs are only accessible from the back, so I’ve been painting them on the truck. I’ve pulled and pried on the mirror glass, but it won’t pop off. I’m really concerned about breaking it.


I just can’t get the primer to adhere right. Something with the old primer that was on previously… but I’m fed up and taking a break for now.


Wheels are coming next, which should be a straightforward but time consuming process. They’re so caked in dirt and brake dust that my pressure washer and wheel soap do nothing. Any ideas?


Parts are also piling up for my maintenance day… filters, fluids, hoses, clamps, all sorts of stuff.

 

Try some Brakleen in an inconspicuous spot.

The dry ice thing ... with all the plastic connectors in the engine bay, I'd be worried about dry ice making them even more brittle than they already are...

 

a long skinny screwdriver between the mirror and surround can get you on those clips. I’ve removed mine twice before to refurbish them. Wrapped them once, then primed and bedlinered them the second time.

 

Might you film this? I'm skeeeered too

 

Maybe this will suffice:
https://youtu.be/MJFMcmR5iGA

 

Y'all could just follow the OEM rear view side mirror removal/install directions. I deposited those over here: https://www.tundras.com/threads/wha...t-gen-tundra-today.2558/page-678#post-1820473

 

Sue from 1A Auto is more exciting

 

Can ya add that to some of the sticky stuff? The main thread goodies get so lost. But do we even have a sticky? I don't know when I'll get into doing mine, could be months...

 

We have one that was semi regularly updated back in the day and could still be a great place to deposit DIY stuff. Some just passing thru via google search don't need a TLDR type thread.

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