THE PERFECT TUNE UP

This thread is to organize everything that can be done for the perfect tune up, I am very interested in hearing suggestions and what you would do.

the scenario is; you have purchased a 1st gen tacoma with somewhere between 90k and 150k 3.4L v6 and you want to make sure that you can give it a compete tune up that will bring the performance of the vehicle from okay to Great and lets try to keep it under 500$ ( Lets assume timing belt and water pump have already been replaced )

My Tune up would go as follows

Oil and oil Filter
air filter
Spark Plugs and wires
coil packs ( sort of optional; pricy )
Fuel Filter
pcv

very interested to see what you guys have to say and to learn from your responses

 

Wires? Coil packs? That's not a tune up, that's a major redo. But you do have a truck that's almost 20 years old..............

 

throttle body cleaning . cheap and very effective . there is a write up with pics on here

 

thanx for the suggestion, dang that is quite a lot of gunk build up, gonna have to tackle this one soon

 

Clean MAF
Check (and if necessary adjust) valves
Check resistance of critical sensors (temp, knock, cam, crank, etc)

 

Oil and oil Filter Mobile 1 Full Synthetic with Purolator oil filter.
air filter The cheapest. No cotton gauze filters. More harm than good.
Spark Plugs and wires NGK Double ground
coil packs ( sort of optional; pricy ) Replace only as necessary.
Fuel Filter Replace every 30K miles. Sooner if the environment is dusty.
pcv Replace when necessary.

 

Oil change - full synthetic, OEM filter
Fluid changes all around
Turkey baster power steering fluid replace method
Grease driveshaft
Rotate tires
Chevron Techron bottle in empty gas tank, fill to 1/4, drive for a couple of days, then fill fully
New PCV valve and grommet
New wires, plugs, and coil packs (keep spare in case one fails)
Throttle body, IAC cleaning
New air filter
Coolant flush
Check hoses for wear, replace as necessary
Condition or replace belts

 

Add inspect and replace dried and cracked vacuum lines. I had quite a few on my '02 that were so loose they came off with minimal effort. Smoothed out my idle for sure when I popped some new silicone lines on.

 

A little more info on the Turkey Baster PS fluid method. Sounds pretty straight forward, but does just replacing the fluid in the reservoir have an effect on the fluid that remains in the PS lines?

 

On average, yes, as a total no. If you want to replace all the fluid, without doing multiples to get it all you'll need to drain and replace it all.

 

after watching some youtube videos, this guy drained his PS fluid completely. Is there a Tacoma guide/how to like this?

 

If you suck out and refill the PS reservoir a few times, enough to use up almost an entire quart, you will have roughly 60-75% fresh fluid.

 

Has anyone had problems passing smog ? I did a full tune up and was sure it was going pass smog but didn’t ? Any suggestions on how to get it to pass

 

Hi do you have any tips on passing why / how to get smog to pass on my Gen 1 Tacoma

 

First thing is put an OBD meter on it and look for codes. The engine light in mine never came on but it had upstream O2 sensor code, replaced both O2 sensors and all good. Thankfully I didn't have to replace cat(s.) This was in Cal in 2018, passed.

 

My truck needs wires every two years.....What size small vacuum lines behind the engine

 

Got it I’m throw the scanner tomorrow morning . Did find that the power steering air control valve was broken and they Mickey Mouse it. Replacing that …. Also I think I’m missing a EVP sensor I was looking at a diagram . I found this hose that’s top off with a screw. So I’m amusing that was once connected to the EVP sensor

 

??

 

Looks like your EGR valve that failed is a good place to start. It is most likely partially stuck open. How does it run at idle? Smooth? Rough?

 

It Idle high. when I’m driving it feels rough but not so bad If that make sense I hear the rpm’s running high. Also the smog guy told me that they were running high for its specs . And that my timing was off ? Didn’t really catch what he was telling me. I Could post a video tomorrow of how it sounds when I turn it on.