Buying an 08. Have questions.

Hey guys, long time Taco owner (03 access cab.). As happy fate would have it I have a second kid on the way so going to travel some distance this week to look at an 08 double cab.

1- Having the truck looked at pre-purchase at a dealership. Anything outside the ordinary I should request be looked at ? I own a TJ and I know coolant combustion gas test was a necessity prior to purchase (outside of rust/frame). Anything of the sort with the 5.7 4wd?

2- Truck has a center seat. Not intending (so far) to keep it in lieu of a center console so have been looking at salvage yards. Found a few so I need to know if the console itself is attached directly to the floor using hardware or if it attaches to floor mounted plastic bracketry around the shifter. Not concerned with the column shifter. I'll just mill some filler metal.

3- Have looked, can't find whether 3rd gen console fits 2nd gen bodies. I saw one thread that said they could but the reference wa a thread in a 3rd gen forum so not much help.

Thanks guys, getting on the road Thursday night and heading south to hopefully be a Tundra owner by Friday.

 

I would say that the Air Induction system problems are certainly worth mentioning here and should be checked. There have also been a significant number of water pump seal failures but not to be confused with minor weeps now and then.
http://media.fixed-ops.com/Toy_ServiceBulletins/sb0117t11.pdf

 

Definitely look at the underside of the truck. I'm in the market for a Tundra too and so far out of the 2 I have looked at, both the frame and underside of the bed were pretty rusty. I was pretty shocked by this, because they looked immaculate on the outside, but not so much underneath!

 

Thanks P-Factor. Will mention to tech.
Dan, I live in Mass and am a first gen taco owner so I feel your pain all too well. Hence the trip down south to look at a Texas truck. Sucks but I'm done buying new cars and I'm even more done torching out old bolts.

 

I too have kid #2 on the way. I went to look at a nice DC, then bought a CM instead the same day. The DC was at a Toyota dealership and the salesman told me I was nuts to buy that truck and try to fit two car seats into it and suggested I look harder for a CM instead.

 

I hear ya! I can relate since I live in Michigan. I have always owned german cars which have always had good undercoating and rust inhibitors applied at the factory so rust was never a problem. Unfortunately though, german cars aren't very reliable when it comes to their drivetrains, so now i'm looking for a reliable workhorse that can tow my race car to the track and tow my jetskis to the lake. So far I am 0 for 2 on Tundras. Good luck!

 

Looked into the door locks and I'm guessing that testing them is just seeing whether the electronic actuators pull on command. How does secondary air circuit test work? Can I pull code using OBD2?

 

Bed Rust - doesn't matter where the truck lives moisture gets into the underside of the bed around the mounting brackets and will rot the bed from underneath up. Lots of posts on here if you with to do a quick search to see what the underside and top sides look like. Also its not just trucks with plastic bedliners, I have Line-X and have the rust issue...remember rusting from the bottom up.

I also second the CM for car seats, unless you and your wife are shorter and your seats are already slid forward. At 6'6" there is no way I could have had a rear and hardly a forward facing car seat behind me in a DC.

 

Not sure i would plan on center console conversion. You will need to replace seats as well. Seems more work than neccessary.
Frame rust inspection as mentioned. If plastic bed liner, have pulled to inspect the bed for rust.
Good luck!

 

I fit that catagorie. Had my wp replaced a while back.

 

Air Injection Pump Failure, Charcoal Canister Filter, and Bed Rust. I have dealt with 2 of the 3

 

Took an 11 hour train ride. Truck was trashed. A lot of facebook "angle" shots to hide some definite issues. Saw some staining on the driver side exhaust manifold shield and presumed thats the cam boss leak?

Anyways, did not purchase. Going to see some local trucks tomorrow. Pictures look decent and reviews on the dealership are great. But prices right now are bananas. 17k for an 08 with 90k miles. That's considered a good deal?

Last question. What's the deal with frame replacements on the 2nd gens. Did you have to own the truck at time of settlement?

 

Certainly not a bad deal if it’s in good shape.

 

I just bought an 08 with 116 for 20K in November and I see similar but worse trucks for over 20K now a couple months later.

 

Prices are definitely high. I looked for months across several states. Ended up buying my 08 in November for $11,800 with 155k on it. Grade trim double cab 4.7 4x4. I simply could not find a 5.7 4x4 at a decent (to me) price. I'm happy with the truck though. Good luck with your search. Also I think anyone buying a truck that vintage that needs a possible frame replacement would be on their own based on the reading I've done.

 

Ouch. I bought my 08 Limited for $18k, and it had 84k miles on it.

 

Just remember that 4.7 hit the million mile mark twice

 

I didn't need a screwdriver to peel some of the frame away so womp womp again.

 

First truck was rotten but the body was mint. Dealer wanted 18 so I showed him some of the frame laying on the flr after i peeled it away with my thumb.
Second truck had a mint frame.140k on the clock. Some body repairs with touchup paint that looked like the guy applying the paint was having an epileptic fit. Looked under the bed liner and two fist sized holes in the bed. While I do weld, I felt that 19k for a truck you have to weld on is too steep. Made a cash offer, was rejected.

Back on the hunt.

 

This is the closest limited trim to what I bought, clocking in at $24K!
https://seattle.craigslist.org/est/ctd/d/kirkland-2008-toyota-tundra-crewmax/7269294238.html

I would've spent the extra money if I could have found a white limited with black interior, but the one I looked at was totally trashed and the guy still wanted $23K for it.

 

Makes me glad I bought a year ago.

 

Found a 2010 5.7 in salsa red pearl. Texas truck. 140k on the odometer. Great service records and looks like no damage but...Red Flag... Truck has towing mirrors. Run away?

 

I would buy a set of towing mirrors because mine rattle. I rarely tow...

Go look at it and see how worn the hookups are for trailer electrical.

 

Why is that a red flag? You will see just as many if not more trucks without tow mirrors towing as you do with tow mirrors.

 

There are three trucks in the area, all within budget and at the very least (presumably) are not riddled with rot. So I'm flying in this Wednesday and scheduling a pre-purchase inspection at a Toyota dealer nearby. What do you think, have them look at the rear end and determine is the diff is still in decent shape? Gotta figure if anything is going to take a beating towing it would be that and the trans, but obviously no way to really check trans.

 

Figured 50/50 shot the used truck I'm buying without the tow mirrors towed at all. While the truck with the tow mirrors has about 99% shot of towing enough to merit spending 200 bucks on towing mirrors.

 

I think the odds it was used for towing with or without tow mirrors are about the same. Some people like the look of them and think they can get a better field of view behind them. My truck had tow mirrors when I got it at about 30k and the hitch looked like it had never been used.

Check out the towing section of the forum and in the stickies you will see what people are towing with their tundras. Tow mirrors are most useful pulling a TT, since the trailer is just as wide or wider than your truck, but you see a lot pulling TTs that don't have them at all. I would venture to guess those of us that have tow mirrors are not pulling huge loads everyday but we like having them for those trips with our campers as it gives us way better visibility around the TT. That being said I would bet that 80-90%, or more, of the miles on that truck were not while towing.

 

watch out for flood trucks down south too.

 

The truck is definitely from the Harvey affected area. I did look at the service history and nothing popped up in 2017 that looked suspect but I will of course be crawling under the chassis and under the dash and verifying al the electrical BS works.

Other than that anything I should look for?