What have you done to your 1st gen Tundra today?

Who’s got 1-4?

 

Thats my kids. Left to right Jasper almost 2, Stella 9, Sawyer 5, Finn 6

 

Spoke too soon! I started on the passenger side the other day, which was A-ok.

Executed the LBJ and tie rod end change this evening and discovered a small hole in the driver side. Guess I’ll hold off on the alignment and get this ordered. Honestly not sure just how bad this is. Just a simple boot replacement or potential rack issues? Seems to drive/steer just fine.

 

mine was worse. I wrapped it in duct tape & zip tied it on for several months. Nbd, i just didnt want moisture getting in there.

 

Probably just a boot. My rack had holes in the bellows, had play in it, and leaking fluid... put a new one in. I think you'll be ok with bellows though.

 

Ha. I’ll pull the part number tonight and call the parts counter tomorrow morning to see if it’s on the shelf. Leaving the truck on stands with wheels off until I make that call, with any luck they’ll have a boot and a new inner clamp and I can grab it tomorrow.

 

I think I need to zip tie mine back on; it’s been hanging for a month or two now open at one end. At least it’s dry from the weeping fluid drying up unlike the other one.

 

Adorable little pups.

 

Pop the needle off the oil pressure gauge and reposition. Done and done.

 

With the bed off, now’s the time for some sweet burnouts!

 

Yup, you have to send them a CAD file. The price goes up fast if you make them do the work. I’ve used SCS multiple times. I don’t know how to create a file, but one of my nerd friends knows how to do all of that with his eyes closed. I bring a simple drawing over to his house, and he creates a CAD file for me on the spot. If it’s small, he’ll print me out the part so that i can mock it up first. Mostly i use SCS to make custom sizes of aluminum bezels for my Baja Designs LEDs in my various vintage Vespa motor scooter projects.

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vBb6OU2TfA4

 

Blah, no local dealers have the boot. Could try a parts store generic boot, go with the tape and hope, order the part and leave the truck on stands until Tuesday or Wednesday when dealer can get me a boot, or even just button it up for now and drive it until dealer parts arrives all the same. Was planning for an alignment right away but would of course wait since I need to spin the tie rod end off again to swap it. Hate the idea of knowing it's there and not addressing it properly.

 

Went on a biscuit run this morning; should hit 79k around Thanksgiving



I'll work on big plans for it come summer '25

 

Well, this morning was fun.

Jump into the truck to go to the youngest's soccer game. Turn key forward and *CLICK*.

2nd time this has happened in 2 weeks. Last time I assumed it was because the OBDII dongle was plugged in and the truck had sat for a week. I've had and seen no-start situations caused by OBDII wireless dongles in the past.

That last time, I pulled the key, turned off the headlights, waited 15 seconds, then got nothing when I tried 3x more times. Then I pulled the dongle, and in 1-2 seconds the truck cranked and fired, I thought nothing of it.

Today ... Well, it's definitely been a few days since I drove the truck, but the dongle wasn't in. Jumped in and *CLICK*. Turn off, turn off headlights, wait 15 sec, try again. No go.

Even with headlights on, voltage didn't look too crazy, right about 12v?

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Check cables ... tight and snug. Throw on my jumpstart capacitor. It confirms on the LCD, voltage roughly 12.1v which should be enough voltage. I'll be testing the battery for CCA after lunch today with my tester.

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Jump pack got to 99% and said "TURN ON", I never remember how to use the damn thing, I just remember it has a countdown to let you know when to start. So I go to the truck, turn the key to ON, but accidentally bump it forward (habit) and the truck fires right up.

Thing is, the jump pack never discharged. So it started 100% on its own, voltage up and reading at ~14v. I'm hoping it's bad battery, not an electrical gremlin. But weirder still... I'm looking at a money light immediately after it starts up. WTF?

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Because it's cold out, I'm sitting here assuming this will be my P0328 (knock sensor bank 1 circuit high) rearing its head again. Consider my shock when I see what's logged and pending.

I cleared these codes, and been driving around all day with multiple cold stops, and haven't seen it again. But I'm sitting here scratching my head, like, WTF?! It's one thing if any of this made sense. I guess it could just be bad battery causing weird electrical shit. I've been suspicious of this NAPA Gold battery ever since I bought it ~3 years ago. I literally never once saw this start-click situation before installing it and having the factory alternator meltdown. Guess I'll need to check wiring also...

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Super weird. First test says batt is bad, ~540 CCA. Then test again 5min later without touching the leads and says batt is good, ~780 CCA. Batt is rated for 725 CCA.

I’ll hafta test again next time I have cranking issues.

 

Dude it's possessed.

 

Coke can launcher scene was my favorite.

 

that’s how my starter behaved the first time the contacts wore out. Replaced the contacts and hadn’t done it in 15 years since then, until the last few months. It’s started to click again occasionally when I try to start it. I just keep turning it off and back on until it starts. Usually no more than 3 tries. I have a new starter from Toyota (believe it’s a reman) that I will install soon. Probably lump it all into the timing belt change.

 

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When my Click Of Death comes around every 6 months or so, my truck will do this thing where it will click 3-15 times, and then just crank. Crank and crank and crank, but not start. While it's cranking, I've noticed that the tach isn't reading any RPM, it's just sitting at zero. It starts right up if you stop cranking and try it again. I've never had a code pop up though.

 

I used to keep a long skinny metal pipe in my tundra so that i could give the starter a few hard taps. It had to be a skinny pipe since there was very little room to reach under the plenum. It works for a short time, but eventually the starter had to be replaced.

 

On the topic of starters- the one in my Lexus went bad over the summer.

It was a catastrophic failure, I think the bearing on the end of the motor went bad and it caused the bendix to not work right. It made terrible crunching/grinding noises for a week before it died.





Have we ever seen a 4.7 starter fail this way? I can’t think of one.

 

You got your own battery tester? Cool. Got an alternator tester with a dummy load as well?

 

Yup. Found it at Goodwill for like $30. Score!

I mean, given how much my truck gets started, I wouldn’t doubt if it was the starter dying. It has only ever happened one other time prior to this week, and that was almost 4 years ago.

do t get me wrong. If it was the starter, I’ve gotta go under the intake to check wiring anyway, so I could kill 2 birds with one stone. I’m not entirely convinced that’s what it is though. Gut feeling.

 

Damn, sweet find! I never see anything that good unless I goto Savers and even then, not quite as good.

 

I found it on their super-secret auction site. I almost never find anything good in their brick & mortar locations unless it's media (classic video games, vinyl, CDs).

Actually, looks like I got it for $38.

 

gave both a bath and waxed the newer one.

 

That’s funny that you beat out 7 people on the bid. Like they couldn’t go higher to $39.

Holy, crap! Goodwill is auctioning a used liposuction machine!

You’d think selling/auctioning used medical devices would be kinda sketch.

 

I loved that movie as a kid. I re-watched it a few years ago. It's so horrible.

 

About as lame as Cujo was scary watching it as an adult.