Toyota Tacoma upgrades

[GunsRBadMMMMKay]

Seeing as how you're just a newbie who's only been here for two days I guess I should cut you some slack, but if you expect any thread here to stay "on topic" you're in the wrong place

That's not necessarily true....I've seen plenty of firearm related threads stay on topic, especially about AR's. Oh, wait.....

[Irving]

If you honestly think that Honda and Toyota have "secret" problems, then I honestly believe that you heard about it on a Ford or Chevy site.

[streetglideok]

If you honestly think that Honda and Toyota have "secret" problems, then I honestly believe that you heard about it on a Ford or Chevy site.

Nothing secret about it, they are well known in the auto repair industry. We look for them whenver a vehicle comes in!
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news0...ettlement.html
The toyota sludge problem

http://www.odysseytransmission.com/
The infamous honda transmission failure problem

And the toyota cheap metal frame:
http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/07/t...s-to-15-years/

Then there are the injector issues on the Honda 3.5L v6 seen in Hondas and Saturn Vues that cause running issues, the porous casting on honda V6's that leak oil right thru the engien block, etc. Talk to an import specialist/repair facility, and they can confirm all of this. I'm not bashing these makes, simply showing they have their own problems. People ask what is the best car to buy, and I have to ask them, what problems can you live with easiest? I can name a problem with about every make out there, and usually something major as well. There is no perfect car, with no problems, as long as engineers dont have to keep a car very long themselves, or have to fix them!

[ChadAmberg]

Might find it ironic, but the same thing goes on at all plants. Must not have many miles on that Element yet? Just remember, living in the mile high state, you fall closer to severe maint, not normal. High altitude, steep hills in town, hot and cold weather, and traffic arent the norm according to Honda.

It doesn't go on at the other plants, at least nearly as much as the heavy union plants. The condition these guys would go into work... well, fell into illegal most of the time, not just a fireable offense.

And the Element has done great considering how it's made the trip from the east coast, and all over out here. It's a bit under normal mileage, but it's been well taken care of. I did forget to say that it did get a new battery about 4-5 years ago also.

I've also owned a Tacoma, a Ridgeline, a TSX, and an Integra, and combined they've had non-routine maintenance of: adjusting a sunroof. Compare that to the Olds, Cadillac, Mustang, Jeep, Chevy 1500, Chevy Blazer, and other "American cars" that had major maintenance issues about every year. The Blazer was the worst, I had to bang on the dash to get the gauges to work ("Do you know how fast you were going" "Sorry officer, I truly have no friggin' idea") and the entire electrical system shut off while my wife was driving in a busy intersection in the middle of the night. It might be anecdotal data in my case, but it will take a lot for me to go back.

[mts7]

I've been on forums where mods close threads if they go off-topic. I've been on forums that have several different topics in one thread. I am now much more aware of which of the two this one is, and that's not a problem. I still think it's weird, though, to stray away from the topic so much.

[Fentonite]

I've been on forums where mods close threads if they go off-topic. I've been on forums that have several different topics in one thread. I am now much more aware of which of the two this one is, and that's not a problem. I still think it's weird, though, to stray away from the topic so much.

Shouldn't you have started a new, dedicated thread for this then?

I kid. Welcome to our rambling forum.

[Zundfolge]

I've been on forums where mods close threads if they go off-topic. I've been on forums that have several different topics in one thread. I am now much more aware of which of the two this one is, and that's not a problem. I still think it's weird, though, to stray away from the topic so much.

The threads in the General Discussion forum are much less formal and organized than the other more specific and technical forums. The GD threads are more like a bunch of guys sitting around, drinking beer and chewing the fat.

[streetglideok]

This forum is home to about everyone in the country who forgot to take their Adult ADD meds

[jerrymrc]

Back to the original question. The one thing that did improve mileage for me in a truck was switching to synthetics for both the engine/diffs and transfer case. My old Dakota that I bought new went from 19 to 21 when I did this in 93.

Anything you can do to get the brick out of the air will help as well. I have thought about switching mine to synthetics for the transfer case and diffs.

I drive an import as well. Built in Mexico and sold in Canada. Then imported to the US a couple of years later. I get 18 in town and 20 driving 60mph with a light load in the bed (1000lbs) I get 14-15 pulling the brick that is our 7000lb camper. 98 Dodge 12V/5 speed with 3.54 gears. I have heard some of the early (98-01) 24V ones can get 23-24 but never seen it first hand.

And if I drive at 65-70 the mileage go's in the flusher. I also have a little taller tire making the effective ratio closer to 3.35-3.40. Got to keep it under 2000rpm.

[jerrymrc]

I've been on forums where mods close threads if they go off-topic. I've been on forums that have several different topics in one thread. I am now much more aware of which of the two this one is, and that's not a problem. I still think it's weird, though, to stray away from the topic so much.

I guess we could become like Barfcom and just lock everything and ban anyone that disagrees with us but where would we be then?

We always seem to get back to the topic at hand sooner or later. Besides the NO crapping at ALL in the WTS/WTB threads we have No Nudity, No Cop Bashing and No overthrow the Govt threads.

Locking of threads and banning are kind of a last resort even if we do not care for ya. The inmates do a pretty good job around here.

This forum is home to about everyone in the country who forgot to take their Adult ADD meds

They ran out and forgot to call the doc before Friday.