2000 Limited TRD refresh/repair story

Nighttime headlight pics!

*they weren’t adjusted all the way in the first photo





I personally think they go plenty wide, but I’m not driving on unlit roads very often. I even stood on the roof to get that photo for you guys!


I can’t wait to get some of these parts I’ve ordered on. Been using the truck a lot lately, delivered 1500lbs of patio pavers yesterday. Really could’ve used the 4wd when backing up to the yard, but it did it fine.



On another note, my battery is not just going bad, but completely gone. It’s about time, it’s been in the truck for 9 years I think. At least, that’s when the date on it claims.


I’m gonna buy another interstate unless someone can convince me otherwise. I’ve got them in all three of my vehicles and they’ve been great.

 

Tag @Tundra2 and @FirstGenVol since I think you guys were expressing interest in the same setup on headlights.

 

It’s been a minute. I’ve been busy.

Been using the truck like an actual truck lately. Feels nice. I work for a small landscaping company, and the owner gives me a few extra bucks if I bring the truck. Usually it’s just tools, sometimes a yard or two of mulch. Always handles it fine, but you can tell it’s time for new shocks.


I also finally aimed the headlights properly. I like em a lot, the blue line is much bigger on camera.


The spots I repainted really have started to fade a bit and blend well. They look best in direct sun, you can barely tell it was repainted.


Which was wonderful until I put a huge scratch right in the middle of that spot putting the bedcover back on. Damn.


I also finally got a bottle of 303 protectant. I don’t know why I didn’t get this earlier! It’s so awesome. I coated all of the weatherstripping, then sprayed it on plastic and rubber parts in the engine bay. Really great stuff.



I also recently shot a ton of film photos, as late springtime is by far my favorite time of year for photos. Got a couple good photos of the truck.

 

Alright, update time.


I’ll start off this update by telling y’all about my never-ending struggles with getting the 4wd to work. I started with buying two cheap scAmazon actuators, and using parts from both the old and new ones to create functional actuators for less cost. Fail! Both died on me. So, I sadly made my way to parts.Toyota.com, and paid a lot of money for two OEM actuators. But guess what? The 4wd still wouldn’t work! At this point, I determined that the Tcase actuator worked just fine, but the ADD would not. If you got two wires and a battery and manually shifted it into 4wd, it would then shift out of 4wd no problem. It just wouldn’t shift in. At this point, I decided to buy a new 4wd computer, as the relays were making a lot of weird clicks (to me) when shifting. Still didn’t solve the problem.

So at this point, I’ve given up momentarily. I’m close to $1000 invested and I’ve replace every major component, and I don’t have the skills and confidence to diag it any further. This one’s gonna have to wait until there’s more funds available.


Next up is the sound system upgrades:

I chose to keep the head unit/radio and amp stock, as I figured that they would provide plenty enough output for some nicer speakers, and they honestly never sounded too bad with the stock paper cone speakers.

So, as one does, I went to Crutchfield and found what speakers would work best with my stock amp, which turned out to be the Polk DB652s. While I was looking, I also found this: https://www.crutchfield.com/p_249BTSTY1/Crux-BTS-TY1-Bluetooth-Interface.html This is a Bluetooth receiver that plugs into the empty plug on the back of the radio, which is intended for a remote CD changer. Maybe this isn’t new to others, but this thing is a godsend for me. It works phenomenally, the sound quality is super high quality compared to other Bluetooth options, and it’s seamless. I was able to wire it to the glove box, in case I ever want to have a USB or 3.5mm line in.



While I had the door panels off, I put a bit of sound deadening on the outside doorskins. I honestly didn’t notice a ton of difference, but it doesn’t matter, because this system really rocks with these speakers. Sure, you won’t get panel-rattling bass thumps or glass-breaking highs, but compared to the stock system it’s an amazing upgrade.


Next, I did a ton of stuff to the suspension and steering. New shocks, inner and outer tie rods, steering rack bushings, and rack bellows.

For the shocks, I went with the good ol 4600s. I contemplated getting the 5100s, but for my driving, it really wasn’t worth it. I really love the feel of the stock 4600s, and they’ve done just fine in the few times I’ve been off road. The old ones were tired but did their job surprisingly well for being 23 years old and having 203,000 miles on them. They were due for a replacement though.





Yes, I know, the axle housing is very rusty. It gets a coat of PB Blaster’s surface shield four or five times a year. I’ll fix it when it starts leaking. The front also got sprayed with a coat of the same stuff, keeps it looking great and rust free! It’s even better than fluid film and I really love the stuff.

The rack bushings got replaced with Energy suspension polys, and so far I like them. The truck isn’t aligned perfectly yet, so I’ll have to see when it gets fully squared away, but they aren’t too harsh for my liking and are certainly an upgrade from the old ones which allowed for 1/4” of rack movement. The tie rods and bellows are all OEM.

I also have purchased an ADDCO rear sway bar, but it isn’t here yet. I chose to get the ADDCO instead of a Hellwig because it fit the budget better, but it also was 19mm in diameter compared to the Hellwig’s 27. (I think) I chose the smaller diameter because I wanted to have a setup that wouldn’t promote lift-off oversteer, which is easily created by a setup with a stiffer sway bar in the rear then front. I think that lift-off oversteer would not be ideal in an emergency/panic situation, and I can see how it would make a dangerous situation even more dangerous when you start to drift instead of avoiding a collision, for example. I’ll post pics when I install it.


And last but not least, sticker update!




I’m hoping to continue these updates as frequently as I can, but I’m moving out to college in just a few weeks and I won’t be taking the truck with me. We’ll see.


Hope y’all have been well!

 

Good luck at college.

 

I need to check to see if the extra apron I have is the one you're missing here, left front. If so, I'm happy to ship it to you with clips on my dime.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03NDtni0Ze4

 

Yeah, I really can’t remember how that one fell off, it must’ve been pretty recently, like the last month or so. I’ve tried as hard as I can to remember a time when it might’ve gotten ripped off, like a big puddle or something, but I can’t remember. Oh well.

 

Not sure how I missed this-

OEM doorsill protectors. Cheap, works, matches and looks OEM. Thumbs up.

 

Yup, was the 1st thing I bought with my truck, to cover my PO's scuff marks. I don't think they ever used the step to get into the truck. I just haven't installed the damn things yet, 4-something years later.

 

I purchased a roll of adhesive-backed leather, intended for repairing rips in car seats or couches, to fix the huge holes in my seat bottom. This was discussed a while back in this thread… but I finally got around to doing it.


Here’s the before:


It’s certainly not pretty, but it makes it a lot more comfortable and isn’t going to rip the seat cover or foam any more.


I also finally got around to installing a horn on the truck, both of the factory ones have been missing for years. I ordered a small air horn from Hornblasters, and it’s awesome. Super loud and a good “truck” tone.


Again, not pretty, but it works and that’s what’s important. I might try to change up the location a bit or paint it black, I didn’t realize how large it would be when I ordered it.


I’m also thinking of getting new tires, more specifically the Falken Rubitreks, in 235/85. I’m sure many of you guys have heard of 208Tyler, who posts videos on YT about our 1st gens. He’s running this same tire and size, and it looks awesome, and seems like they perform awesome too.

My only concern is ride quality with an E rated tire. I know it’ll be firmer, but will it be too much tire for my 4600s to handle? Like, will it be bouncy? The on-road ride is one of my favorite parts about my truck, and I really don’t want to ruin it. Thoughts?

 

A 235 wide E rated will be a little sketchy on a full size truck. 255 would be the skinniest I would run.

 

So, I'm away at college, and my younger brothers have been driving the truck around while I've been away from home. Yesterday morning I got a call from my brother that it was running weird, but no check engine light. I told him to keep driving it, but pay attention, and he called me again ten minutes later saying that it was running really rough, but still no CEL. He parked it for the day and I drove home after classes to investigate.

Long story short, I'm 99% sure that we got some contaminated gas when we filled up last. My brother filled the tank, drove it 1/2 mile home, and the next time he fired it up he could tell something was wonky. Everything in the intake system is squeaky clean, and since there wasn't a CEL code it didn't seem like it was a spark issue or a sensor issue. No broken vacuum hoses or lines either. I ended up getting it out on the highway and doing some high-throttle and high-load pulls, which made it miss really badly, and it finally threw a P0302. The more throttle and load, the more it misses.

Considering that all of this happened right after fillup, I'm pretty convinced that we got some bad gas. What do y'all think that the next step should be? I tried to get a hose down the filler to siphon some out but without success. Can I pull off the return line and just put whatever return fuel into a can?

 

It could legitimately be a bad coil or plug.

Try swapping the coil on cylinder 2 (the one closest to the air filter housing) with the coil next door at cylinder 4. Clear codes. Does it barf out P0304, misfire on cylinder 4? If so, replace coil 4 with Denso brand coil, and buy two, you may need another soon. While I was in there, I *would* check the spark plug on cylinder 2 also, just to be sure it's not FUBAR.

While it could be bad gas, you could try dumping in a bottle of Seafoam, or the correct bottle of HEET, or both (assuming they won't interact). But I'd explore the coil pack/plug issue first. What you describe would absolutely be what could happen with a bad coil pack.

 

I’m not ruling out a bad coil, but doesn’t it seem odd that it didn’t throw a code right away? And that I had to really try to get it to throw a code, even when it was very obviously misfiring?

There were a couple times when the CEL would flash a few times, and then turn off, even though it was still misfiring, which I also thought was odd. That P0302 was a pending code, not even a permanent one. I just feel like if it was a consistent miss on #2, the CEL would’ve been on from the start.

 

The timing is strange. I don't deny it. I threw my 1st knock sensor code after filling up with gas at a Kroger station. Like, I don't think it was more than a couple dozen miles after. I assumed it was the gas, the engine is definitely NOT knocking when I throw the code. I reset the code to end limp mode.

Then 6-8 months later, NOT after a full tank of gas, I threw knock sensor code again. Cleared code again to end limp mode.

I still don't know what's triggering the code to pop, but I'm now second-guessing whether it had anything to do with the gas because I refuse to get gas at that station again.

Flashing CEL is bad, I believe in these trucks a misfire would cause that. Solid CEL is much better, less-severe issue.

I'd dump a couple bottles of seafoam in there, and maybe a bottle of HEET. Then idle it for a little bit. But I would swap the coils, just for shits n giggles. It's just one bolt and unclipping a harness.

 

Yeah, it didn’t happen when driving home from the gas station, which was only a mile or so.

And you’re right, flashing CEL is bad. Usually only happens from a misfire.

I’ll tell my brothers to put some seafoam into it, and idle it for a while. We’ll see what happens…

And sure, it’s just one plug and one bolt holding the coil on… but that bolt hasn’t been loosened since 2008? and is rusty as hell. A 10mm socket just spins on it, and a cracked bolt turns 10 minutes of work into two hours.

 

Seafoam recommends a minimum of 1oz to a gallon. A can is 16oz. It's ok to use 3x, 4x, 5x as much honestly, it's just highly refined petroleum. I normally add a full can at a 1/4 tank, myself, which is at least double the minimum recommended strength. If I were you, I'd have 'em toss in two full cans.

 

If you wanted to remove some of the fuel before putting the seafoam in, you could undue the fuel line from the fuel filter located under driver side frame rail. Not that you have to but you could be prepared with new filter while your at it.



old filter before replacement....



edit....just read the below part, maybe not a good idea

 

Yeah, if that thing wasn’t really crusty I would’ve already loosened up those lines. I have no idea how that got taken apart when the frame recall was done… that rust is certainly not new.

 

So I had my brother put two cans of seafoam in it after clearing the CEL. He let it idle for 45 minutes and then gave it a good rip.

He says that the miss is still barely present at idle, but it's few and far between compared to how frequently it would miss previously. He said that he couldn't notice any missing at all when revved up or under load. So far no CEL. While being somewhat mechanically inclined, he isn't nearly in tune as I am when it comes to stuff on the truck. So, if he can notice an improvement, it's probably a lot better.

Huge improvement, which makes me more convinced that bad fuel is our issue.

 

I see you have slightly resolved your issue but to this note, on my girlfriends dad's truck (2000) with cheap junk autozone coils it's been really hard to get it to throw a code the 3 times a coil has gone out. It can miss really bad and still not want to throw a code. Not sure why. I've had to drive it really hard just to get it to throw one just so I could swing by autozone for a warranty replacement.

 

Fuck that fuel filter. I hate that piece of shit. Asshole engineers and their hard fuel lines.

 

I've always wondered how you felt about that sucker, now I know

 

I have 4600 and rubitreks with 42psi f/r on my truck. Works great.

 

Yeah, that's what I noticed. It only threw a code after back-to-back full throttle uphill pulls at highway speed. Even though it was missing so bad that the whole truck was shaking bad. My brother has been topping off the truck every day, and putting more seafoam into it, but he says it still misses when cold. If it persists even after a tank of gas, it's getting sent to the mechanic along with a Denso coil and plug. Unfortunately I just don't have the time to diagnose it while in college. I visited home for an afternoon and tried my very hardest to get it to throw another code, and I really couldn't.

Sweet, is that the pressure you run all the time? Are you able to go any lower?

 

I tried lower but the ride was not as smooth. I kept upping the pressure for all the highway driving I do

 

It’s surprising to me that it didn’t get smoother with a decrease in pressure… but I’m certainly not an expert. Thank you for you information!

 

Shakey at 70mph

 

Finally got the chance to come home from school for a weekend go get some work done.

I started by installing the ADDCO rear sway bar that I ordered more than two months ago. It was a pretty easy install, I took off both rear wheels and it took me about three hours despite it raining the whole time, and working in a puddle. Drilling holes in the frame wasn’t fun but I’m not too worried about it.


I was pretty pleased with the quality of the bar, except for one part. The U-bolts that hold the bar to the rear axle were terrible, not bent accurately and the threads on both were awful. I had to spend 45 minutes or so chasing all of the threads and using a thread file to get a nut to thread onto the ends. Oh, and they only shipped one washer. Not a big issue as I had some but still annoying.



I wasn’t very happy about it but none of that was a concern once I started driving the thing. The difference is incredible, just like others have said, this thing is awesome. There is a corner near me where I gauge the handling of my cars, as there’s a good runoff if I go too fast, and I was able to go through there ~18mph faster then I previously could in the rain. 5mph faster than my dads Lexus sedan too. I was also able to back the rear of the truck onto a concrete loading ramp and fully flex the thing out without any binding. I would 100% recommend a rear sway to any 1GT owner who does 85% or more of their driving on-road.

I also went and replaced all of the plugs and coils. I’d been putting this off for literally years, as I was so certain that I’d snap all of the bolts. Nope! I instructed my brother to soak them in PB Blaster for a couple days before, and then I got the engine nice and hot before hammering a 9mm socket onto them, and using my 1/4” drive ratchet while tapping on the cam cover with a hammer, and every bolt came right out!! I couldn’t believe it. New bolts are on order but I had to reassemble it with the old stuff, so I used lots of anti-seize. The coils themselves were trashed. Every one of them had numerous cracks, but the plugs themselves honestly looked fine. They’re “only” about 10 or 11 years old so I didn’t expect them to be awful. Truck runs much smoother.


This was the #2 coil, which was by far the worst. This cylinder was the first one to throw a code when I had the bad gas incident.


After I did all of this, I then drove the truck 450 miles (on one tank of gas) to visit my girlfriend at her college. I averaged 17.8mpg at 70-75mph, on some seriously hilly roads in SW Wisconsin. That’s good enough for me!


I’ve been hoping to use the truck in the winter, as it’ll be better in the snow than my little Honda, but on the highway there was an odd vibration that I haven’t experienced before. It was directly related to wheel speed, as you could hear/feel a vibration once every wheel rotation. It didn’t feel like tire imbalance and I checked to make sure all of my wheel weights were there, which they were. I don’t want to drive lots of highway hours with this vibration, so what do y’all think? I don’t think it’s brake rotor related, but I could be wrong. I’ve tried and failed numerous times to stop the CV boots from spewing grease, so maybe it’s a CV going out? I’m not sure. I know they’re original, same with the wheel bearings.