Hey, friends.
It's Len here from 1A Auto.
Today, we have another top problems for you, this one's on a third-gen Toyota Tacoma.
Let's get started.
Okay, friends.
For our first problem, obviously, we're gonna talk about a safety issue, that's just how
I roll.
On the V6 engines for the Toyota Tacomas, what they happen to find between the '16 and
'17 model ranges was that the crank position sensor tend to go bad.
Essentially, what would happen when it did go bad was that if your RPMs were below the
3000 RPM range and you go to accelerate rapidly, maybe try to get onto like a freeway or something
like that, the vehicle might tend to stall out or even spit and sputter.
The reason why that happens is because the crank position sensor is supposed to be reading
where the cranks at as it's spinning for the revolutions per minute.
If the sensor is cutting in and out then the vehicle doesn't know exactly where the cranks
at so it can't time the engine properly, and obviously, that's gonna be an issue.
If that happens, you're probably gonna get a check engine light and the check engine
light code is probably gonna be like a P0335.
Now the location for the sensor on the V6 models is gonna be located right inside your
passenger side wheel well.
If you were to move this out of the way by pulling out these clips, you're gonna see
the sensor right on the passenger side of the engine underneath the manifold.
Quick talk about a fix for this, you're gonna have to replace the crank position sensor.
If they have an updated one, you go ahead and grab it, you pop it in there.
If your check engine lights on, well, reset it, take your vehicle for a road test.
Now for the second problem on these vehicles, Toyota issued a recall, and it has to do with
your rear differential.
Essentially, what happens with it is along your carrier area, right here there's gonna
be a gasket in between this area and this area.
It tends to leak if, it leaks the fluids, obviously gonna get low in there.
There are a couple of areas that could also leak, maybe right along here, along your pinion
seal, or even down along this way.
It's a little bit harder to see, but you probably would see some drips coming along your backing
plate, and that would be from your axle seals.
But typically what the actual recall is for is right along here, that's where you would
see the leak for this recall.
Some of the symptoms that you might find if you're having an issue with your rear differential
fluid would be, of course, well, drips on the ground.
We'll start with that one because it's very obvious.
Other than that, you might actually even hear some noises.
You might hear some vibrations, some chattering, and even in very bad conditions, you probably
even hear some grinding or even worse noises.
So now fixes for this, of course, you could try to fix it on your own.
You'd have to, of course, try to separate this, and there's gonna be a whole bunch of
things in there that you're probably not gonna want to deal with.
But like I said, it's a recall straight from Toyota, why not just bring it to the dealer,
have it checked out and get it fixed for free.
For problem number three, we're gonna be inside the vehicle.
For this one, it has to do with your steering.
Essentially, what you're gonna find is when you're sitting idling someplace and you try
to turn the wheel, you have an idle search with the steering input.
Basically what I mean by that is you have your RPMs right up along here, this is your
tachometer.
Essentially, it should be approximately just that 1000 RPMs in between the 500 and the
1000.
You go to turn the wheel, especially if you're on something that's hard.
You might notice that the RPMs or idle tends to drop down, and then you stop turning, it
comes right back up.
This can happen quite often, especially if you're trying to back out of a parking spot
or anything like that where you're not actually accelerating.
And you might find it to be an issue where sometimes the vehicle could actually even
stall out, which isn't really as typical, but it could potentially happen.
Luckily for all of us, Toyota issued a recall on this as well.
So it's something that you can bring on down to the dealer, they're gonna reprogram the
ECM on your vehicle, which is basically the brain of your vehicle.
And it's gonna tell it what to do so now it's not gonna actually do that idle fluctuation
for you.
Now for the fourth problem on these vehicles, we're gonna talk about a transmission hard
shift issue, this is gonna be in the Tacoma's, obviously, that's what we're talking about,
and it's gonna be in the six-speed automatic transmissions with the V6 engines.
Some of the symptoms that you might happen to find if you're having an issue with your
transmission is a delayed shift from either parked to reverse or even reverse into drive.
So essentially you get ready to go.
You go into reverse, you go to accelerate a little bit, nothing, nothing, and it starts
backing up a little bit.
Or even you go from reverse to drive, it takes a second before it goes into drive, and then
finally it does and you can continue.
Other than that, it might have a harsh shift when you're in first gear.
Essentially, you just put it in drive, you start going, you're accelerating, the RPMs
go up, up, up, up, up, and then boom, into second gear, and then you continue on, and
then after that, it's usually pretty smooth.
Aside from that, you could even be on the highway, maybe even using your cruise control
here.
And as you're cruising down the highway, you're doing 65 like you're supposed to, or whatever
the speed limit is, it almost kind of feels as though the transmission's just kind of
like shifting between gears on its own even though maybe you're even on a level surface.
That can be really kind of squirrely on the highway, it might make you feel a little bit
insecure, and obviously, it's not probably the safest.
You might also happen to notice if you're trying to drive up an incline, the transmission
might seem as though it's not downshifting as fast as it should, so you're having a little
bit harder of a time getting up the hill, it's kind of acting a little sluggish.
And then finally, maybe it does actually downshift and then you can of course accelerate the
way that you want to.
So for causes or fixes for this, essentially what it comes down to as a calibration issue
with the engine's computer, or with the vehicle's computer.
Essentially, it just really doesn't know what's going on, when it's supposed to do what it's
supposed to do.
So what you would have to do is go ahead and reprogram that computer.
It's not necessarily something that you can do with one of those little handheld scanners,
typically you would just go to the dealer, they're gonna reprogram the system for you
and you should be okay.
Okay.
For the fifth problem on this one, we're gonna talk about the blower motor, and yeah, this
isn't the one for this vehicle, but it is one that I have in my hand.
So I can kind of show you what I'm talking about.
Some of the symptoms that you might happen to notice if you're having this issue with
your blower motor might be a strange noise coming from behind your dash, and usually,
it's gonna be coming from approximately this area here.
Other things that you might happen to notice might be less than adequate air coming out
of your vents, whether it's from the top of here or even there, it just doesn't seem like
it's blowing out as much air as you think it should when maybe you put it on medium
or even high speed.
Other than that, you might even notice a little plasticky burning-type smell, the reason for
that is because of this right here.
This little thing right here is considered your cage, and it goes on the electric motor
aspect of the actual blower motor.
There should be a shaft that comes up through, and then this is the connection point that
makes it so it can spin.
This is gonna circulate the air, it's two separate parts.
In between these two parts right here, they're supposed to kind of be adhered together.
Usually, it's with a clamp of some sort or even with some sort of glue adhesive.
But essentially what happens is, is the plastic on the cage itself will crack, and then it'll
be just kind of loose on that shaft.
So as the blower motors turned on, it's trying to turn the shaft, but it's not actually spinning
the cage as much as it should.
It wears out the hole in here, and then of course, overall the blower motor isn't gonna
work at all.
If this happens to you, the best thing that you could do would be to get underneath the
dash and go ahead and replace the blower motor as an assembly.
You do it as a whole assembly, just like this, not just the cage and not just the motor.
Usually, when I replace a blower motor, it's kind of good habit to just replace the resistor
as well.
It costs a couple of extra bucks, but in all honesty, it's gonna help you out in the long
run.
After that, you should be good to go.
Okay, friends.
So that's what we've got for you on a gen-three Toyota Tacoma.
Obviously, every vehicle has its problems, otherwise, I probably wouldn't have a job.
With that said, if you have one of these vehicles with problems of your own, go ahead and put
them in the comment section below because I always love to hear from you.
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Thanks.