This stuff is baked on grease over the course of 350,000 miles... and it’s constantly replenished by leaking oil from, well, every gasket above and ahead of it. Just not enough oil to wash it away (yet).

I had a seasoned tech tell me one time, “never, ever clean this car’s engine... grease is just about the only thing holding some of your sensors and their harnesses in place.”

Wow, this I did not know (ref: kit to retrofit the LCAs)! Thanks for the info. I have a 2016 4Runner and was hoping I wouldn’t have to replace the same things on it as I did it’s predecessors. Good to know it’s been addressed.

No problemo. I love seeing these procedural articles and the end result is quite satisfying. Reminds me of a text-based version of Edd China & Wheeler Dealers. Nice work.

That’s the problem though, they always look like they’re in good shape. The inside will go long before the boot tears or starts to leak. They’re genuinely a ticking time bomb on these trucks.

3 words: Lower Ball Joints. Even if they look good, if they haven’t been replaced, do them. If you need motivation, just google Tacoma lower ball joint failure.

The fear of impending catastrophic mechanical failure is enough to sustain anyone for at least 1700 miles. Source: the failing u-joint (among other things) in my very-worn out rented Budget truck from last weekend.

Could you have possibly found a more disgusting floor mat? 30 years of pubes, dog hair, and fast-food refuse, all in the same image!

Anecdotally, I’ve been seeing these on my local craigslists and auction lots for a few years now. What surprises me is that, in many cases, the P71 Crown Victorias I see at auction all have generally 100,000+ miles on them. However these Caprice PPVs, with very few exceptions, have all had 60-70k on them when they…

If I had a dollar for every time a sales person / sales manager (etc) said “well, you know more about this than I do...” I’d probably be able to afford a 993.
Yet some dealer employees can be pretty dense. One team (salesman/manager) tried until they were blue in the face to convince me that the specific Tacoma they…

I can just imagine that convo: “whats an Al-peen-uh?”

Typical internet sales manager interaction.
Me: Your advert says manual, the pictures posted show an automatic. Does this have a manual or automatic transmission?
Internet sales manager: Why don’t you come on down to the dealership and we’ll talk about it. Here at XYZ dealership, we have plenty of cars, I’m sure we can…

Hahaha ever seen some of their used car listings online? Step 1: copy window sticker text. Step 2: paste window sticker text into website. Step 3: make no mention of condition, service history, or anything else a car shopper actually wants to see. Step 4: profit?

EDIT: there’s a second picture on the page linked that clearly shows its a BMW:

My one owner (took delivery on Halloween, 1997) 1998 Volvo S70 has been through three teenagers, 17 Maine winters, 4 minor(ish) accidents, a fire, an icepick through the roof, cobblestones through the windows, 2 years living in a field, thousands of high-speed miles on dirt logging roads near the Canadian border, and…

Why?

AW11 Mister Deuce.

Yes, but where are the other two kittens?

I spent much of this past weekend driving west on I70 from central Ohio to St Louis. I saw more Corvettes on the road (mostly oncoming eastbound traffic, 4 or 5 that passed me heading west) in 24hrs than I’d ever seen in my entire life up until that point. So... some of these guys drive them...