Worth selling my gen 2 Tacoma for a gen 2.5 to avoid head gasket issue?

[dole]

In 2021 I purchased a used 2006 Tacoma with 102,000 miles on it, not knowing that year range commonly has a head gasket issue. If I had known, I would have spent a couple thousand more to get a 2012+ year to avoid the potential of running into that issue. I’m thinking now about selling my 2006 to purchase a 2012-2015 for a couple thousand more, but the market is still crazy. I only have this one vehicle and I really would like to avoid ever dealing with a head gasket replacement. I haven’t had the head gasket issue yet, but I do have a pretty bad case of what I believe may be axle wrap.

Considering today’s crazy market and everything, do you think it’s worth a selling my 2006 to get a 2012-2015?

I paid $21,000 for the 2006 with 102,000 miles on it, now it has 108,000 miles on it.

 

[vintageracer]

IF you can trade from a 2006 model Tacoma to a 2012 UP Tacoma for a couple of grand my comment to you is:

Why Have You have not traded yet"???

 

[dole]

IF you can trade from a 2006 model Tacoma to a 2012 UP Tacoma for a couple of grand my comment to you is:

Why Have You have not traded yet"???

I imagine I could get this one sold again for about $20,000, and then occasionally a decent 2012 to 2015 pops up with about 100,000 miles for $25,000. I’m definitely not talking about moving up to a third gen, but at least the later end of second gen where all the kinks are worked out

 

[RiverCityDave]

OR, and bear with me here, you could get familiar with the literally endless number of Tacoma forums out there, and then get familiar with your truck. Every single vehicle on the road has idiosyncrasies that throwing money at wont solve when youre in the middle of nowhere, but your intimate knowledge of the parts and function might.
Assuming you have the 4.0? The issue as i understand it, only really affects certain series of vehicles, and the newer gaskets with superseded numbers are no longer an issue. Do you know yours falls within the range?

I have a 94 Landcruiser and head gaskets have always been a bit of an Achilles heel for them in the US (anecdotally because of the EGR system dumping into the #6 cylinder). I’ve done mine once for failure, and Im doing it again right now because the head had to come off for a non head gasket related issue. The original head gasket was very clearly inferior to the one I just pulled off, which showed zero signs of wear or damage after 65,000 miles of heavy use. I’m replacing it with another of the superseded parts, and I expect no issues with it either.

I use my example even though its apples to oranges to say that the modified parts can make all the difference. There are hundreds of thousands of Tacomas on the road from your generation with hundreds of thousands of trouble free miles on them all over the country. One of my wheeling buddies has a supercharged 05 (late, December build date) with 240,000 miles on it, going strong.

It’s a roughly 3500.00 job if you pay a professional to do it, which is a good bit less than what youre looking at to upgrade, but if youre itching to upgrade, there may be other factors at play. Of course, you never know what youre getting when you buy a 15 year old used vehicle, and if you have the work done to yours, it would then be a known quantity.

The axle wrap you mention is still an issue on Gen 3 trucks (and any leaf spring vehicle unless Specifically addressed) and can be managed with a good suspension upgrade, which would still put you in under your projected Gen 3 price if you were careful.

**editing this because that sounded more dismissive than I meant it to.

Totally up to you, just my .02.

 

[tacollie]

The HG issue seems overblown on the internet. My understanding it was fixed by the 06 production run. Keep your cooling system in top shape. You have to overheat to blow a HG.

Toyota leaf springs are junk. All 4 of my tacos and my Tundra ended up with aftermarket springs. Spend the money you would on a newer truck doing preventative maintenance and get some aftermarket springs. A newer Tacoma will still need all those things.

 

[NoTraxx]

Wow $3500 to change a head gasket? But, I guess it really depends if you want a different truck or not. Like mentioned above, its cheaper to repair vs replace…..unless you get a really good deal.
Axle wrap is a easy fix with a bolt on part.

 

[dole]

Thank you all for the feedback. Good thoughts to consider

 

[Mickey Bitsko]

I see you live in Utah, I did a quick search westslope.craigslist.org,(Colorado) tacomas 2000-2015 .
You might get your money back or close to it with your low mileage.
We're not too bright over here and there's lots of money.

 

[Arktikos]

In 2021 I purchased a used 2006 Tacoma with 102,000 miles on it, not knowing that year range commonly has a head gasket issue...

It can't possibly be true that the HG problem is "common".

21K for a 2006 sounds like a lot. So, are you keeping or not?

 

[dole]

It can't possibly be true that the HG problem is "common".

21K for a 2006 sounds like a lot. So, are you keeping or not?

yeah one of the more dumb purchases I’ve made for sure. I’m going to keep it. I finally found someone on the tacoma world forums who had done a lot more research into this and pointed out to me the exact month and year in which Tacoma changed the head gasket seal they use for this engine, and mine was manufactured after that date. So I think it’s fine after all. I still paid too much for a 2006, but oh well. At least I can anticipate driving it for another 200,000 miles if I want.

 

[dirtnsmores]

yeah one of the more dumb purchases I’ve made for sure. I’m going to keep it. I finally found someone on the tacoma world forums who had done a lot more research into this and pointed out to me the exact month and year in which Tacoma changed the head gasket seal they use for this engine, and mine was manufactured after that date. So I think it’s fine after all. I still paid too much for a 2006, but oh well. At least I can anticipate driving it for another 200,000 miles if I want.

Care to post the details of the month they fixed it?

 

[DaveInDenver]

Care to post the details of the month they fixed it?

The head gasket issues are said to be build dates prior to November or December 2005.

But that's based on somewhat anecdotal evidence. One is a poll on TacomaWorld, which is statistically pretty meaningless. A somewhat more compelling argument is part number 11116-31011 shows an effective date of 11/2005 to 05/2008.

Keep in mind that there is no official document from Toyota that pins a specific date or VIN range. It was a mid-year running production change. Design issue, defective supplier part, manufacturing improvement. No one knows 100% for sure.

At this point we're talking about trucks that are 18 years old. How long is an engine supposed to last? Miles, year, hours, what's the metric? Mechanical stuff that is *not* used can still degrade. Miles aren't perfect. A truck driven on the highway with 250k could have the same wear as one driven in the city with 100k. Owner neglected or abused it? All bets are off.

My $0.02 is just accept we have old trucks that need to be maintained. Do compression tests and cooling system pressure checks, watch that you don't overheat, keep on top of maintenance and squirrel away money anticipating that if you keep something long enough you'll eventually need to start doing major repairs and rebuilding key things.

I compare this to the older 3.0L V6 that everyone loves to hate. It had HG issues, too. Ask anyone, pure junk. Except the ones that aren't, there's plenty still around here with 400k miles and counting on them.

'05/'06 Tacoma Head Gasket Failure Poll

Been seeing this info around here for a while now, and have heard mixed outcomes from people. I have read that if it appears, it's typically around...

www.tacomaworld.com

'05-'06 Head Gasket issue

I've read a lot about the problem with the head gasket in these year models. Can anyone tell me when in '06 Toyota started building the 4.0 engines...

www.tacomaworld.com

 

[DaveInDenver]

BTW, something that came to mind in the constant search for greener pastures. Selling a 2006 to get a 2012+ opens you to the secondary air pump failure. Which may be covered under a recall but only if yours has a check engine light on for it. If the valve or pump, whatever it is, fails it can ruin your engine, too. Gotta check that your truck got this done and what's to say it can't happen again?

Air injection pump recall for 2012 Tacoma

Not sure who this will help but there is a recall on air switching valves and pump. Below see mine [ATTACH]

www.tacomaworld.com