2021 Tacoma TRD Off-Road with the 6-Speed Manual
- 3.5L is the most lethargic V6 I've ever driven. It was a CAFE choice by Toyota and it pisses me off everytime I think about it. The 4.0L was available in the 4Runner beyond discontinuation of the Tacoma V6...plain and simple, it should have had the 4.0L.
- 3.5L in the Tacoma is known for about 5 or 6 different major problems. May not happen to you, but a good chance of at least one of them happening by 200K, and they are all large inconveniences.
- Burns valves due to valve guide failures
- Timing cover leaks from poor timing cover-cylinder head-block junction design
- Plastic long to short runner flap in the intake manifold likes to break and drop parts down onto the tops of the intake valves and cause limp mode
- Plastic coolant bypass pipe at the back of the motor connecting the cylinder heads likes to crack and leak coolant. Can only replace by spending 10 hours on it either removing transmission or laying on top of the engine and removing all of the intake related stuff including direct injectors.
- Rocker failures leading to needle bearings being picked up by oil pump and grenading the motor.
- High pressure fuel pump on the 3.5L makes a chirping noise on many different brands of fuel. Seems to depend on additive and ethanol. If the fuel has ethanol, it needs additives to combat the chirping caused by ethanol. If it's Ethanol free fuel, I have never heard a chirp regardless of additive. Makes it sound like a beater when your constant chirping noise is deemed "normal."
- AC evaporator box likes to condense and drip water on the floor. Has nothing to do with the condensate drain being clear or not, it is a poorly insulated box design that sweats on the outside and pisses all over the passenger's feet.
Any other complaints I have would be minor. Just really don't like the engine. It doesn't drive well, it doesn't boost confidence in reliability, and overall is just the plain wrong choice of engine for the truck.
I am excited about the 4th Gen tacoma and really want to pick up one with the manual. A well-designed Turbo 4 should be much better than a bad V6, IMO. After thoroughly reading through the engine design document, it seems like a really well designed engine. It checks almost all the boxes for what you want as far as reliability and power go.