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Toyota Tundra Problems
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Comments
I've towed a car behind another car in snow (fresh falling snow from a storm) and that was pretty hairy. I'll tell you that having the ability to turn all four wheels does not help one bit when you start to slide the vehicle.
I guess if you don't mind sliding off the road into the ditch and wrecking your truck and whatever you are towing then sure, it's a great idea to tow when the roads are icy. I stand corrected.
"No, it's Duke of Death"
"Duck I says"
Here is the question for the MILLION time: Does the Tundra have FORGED or CAST pistons?
Either answer the question with evidence or do not reply to my post
Jason told me that the Pistons are FORGED Alloy. In your face. I got you now, pal.
He will forward the proof to the Toyota dealership next to me. i am going to scan it and post it on the site as soon as I get.
Once again BAMA, YOU are WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG
You Ok???
Why does it HAVE to get personal???
Time to grow up guys...
PF Flyer
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First:WHO CARES??
Second:WHY IS IT SUCH A BIG DEAL???/
I'm DYING to know how coolant affects rings. Please enlighten me.
How will a polished piston or forged pistons add power??? Is this a new top secret invention???
They got the power by polishing the INTAKE, probably different cam profiles, higher compression ??? and maybe a different exhaust. 25HP by polishing pistons!!! ROTFLMAO. So after a few thousand miles when the pistons lose their luster, you lose the 25 HP???
I'm sure I don't know more than everyone on this forum. Pretty sure EVERYONE knows more than you, though!!!
The AK scorecard;
4WD is rated to tow more than 2WD..........WRONG
GM's may have knock because of crappy GM coolant ruining the rings.........................WRONG
Polished pistons add 25 horsepower.........WRONG
Forged pistons add power..................WRONG
My engine dosen't knock. Maybe since I take care of it unlike others. I think the ring problem is due to the fact that GM's crappy coolant deteriotes the seals of the rings while cooling the engine. And Bama heres a hard one for ya. We guys get teased by all the drivers for this one. You spin an engine to 5000 RPM's. Now do the pistons stop before they come back up??? Just curious o see what your answer is... And why are you such a GM expert... It's probably since you get teased for your truck when you go t the local Winn-Dixie and all....
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WTF are "seals of the rings????" How in the world does the coolant come in contact with rings??? Inquiring minds want to know.
Seriously AK everything you're saying here is gibberish.It was GEARING that made the difference.
kip
When you engage 4WD, ESPECIALLY lo range, it increases your tow rating 2X. You're little Tacoma could tow 10,000 pounds down the highway, on ice by just engaging 4lo.
But do not run GM coolant, it will deteriote(sp?) the seals of the rings.
kip
That'll be 2 payments now!!
Same thing when you downshift from 2nd to 1st. The tow rating has not changed, but the torque delivered to the wheels was multiplied by the percentage change in the ratio.
kip
LMAO!!!!
Um, towing in rain and towing in ice are COMPLETELY different situations. I don't believe I ever mentioned highway speeds in my posts either. Furthermore, once you start to skid, 4x4 will not be of any advantage because you have lost traction at that point so how would having drive at all 4 wheels benefit you if you are in a skid? I'm talking about a loss of control here. It happens on 4x4s just as easily as it does for a 2WD car because it is a matter of mass, momentum and loss of adhesion with the road. You can't power your way out of a skid on ice, unless you're really really good like maybe Micheal Schumacher or Juan Pablo Montoya-although when they lose the car even they cannot catch it all the time.
However a picture is worth a thousand words:
The picture says NOTHING. You cannot tell from a picture. No one could tell in the thread posted at TS with the pictures in it. I have all these pictures.
I will get the info from Customer Service. I will scan it and post it to the site. If that does not convince you, then nothing will.
By the way - did you install an after-market stereo? [this would explain your reticence in taking it back...]
Bottom line, if it is still under warranty follow Jeff's (duckshooter) advise.
You might look for a loose spark plug wire or some other poor connection in the spark distribution system. Inspect at night in darkness might be helpful. If nothing found, the next suspect would be a loose or open ground circuit, especially engine to body, or some other ground path open. A bad antenna lead-in cable will produce the same symptom. If your antenna is built into the glass, poor grounding through the hood is also very likely (hood acts like a shield around all of the electrical wiring under the hood, keeping EME emissions confined).
Good luck,
Dusty - KF2CF
PS - I trouble-shot a number of these problems on Corvettes.
But it does!. Lets see you pull your boats out of the water on a slick rain soaked jetty ramp. Or is it that your 4x2's will not be above to do this and you need to admit you are wrong. And, with the Integra thing, take a look at the reviews, and Acura's specs sometime. They polish the pistons to a mirror shine. Not to mention other things they do to INCREASE HP. ANd now you idiots are running your trucks in 4lo?? As far as Snow and Ice and Rain being different yes they are but it is an everyday occurance. Gearing does play a role in towing. I have a 4.10 gear ratio. I guess that means that you guys just have to live with that fact! It's not my fault that Toyota DOES NOT offer an option for this. And yes at highway speeds in a slide 4x4 will do nothing for you. But in normal "city" driving it will give you more traction. And since I have seen what crappy DEXCOOL does and it has no meaning in your Tundras why do you care?? I mean you have the best truck on earth right?? It's funny you can't even put a plow on the front! Nice truck considering all the problems you guys post. If I was in the market for one, just all your problems alone would have made me not even look at it. And f1,the only way I foresee getting out of a slide is in an FWD car or an AWD truck or car. But it does dependon the driver and on the speed that it occurs.
BTW - I retired from this moron behavior about 10 years ago.
Could it be that Toyota customer service did not know what they were talking about? I had a salesman at a stereo shop tell me with a straight face that RMS stood for "Real Music Sound".
The person who originally posted about Tundra pistons being cast had this to say in response to AKdahl:
"I doubt that anyone at Toyota Customer Service knows a cast piston from a forged one. At least Jason doesn't. Take a close look at the attached picture. It's of a cast V8 Tundra piston. You've been suckered!
Another poster said:
"ok now we're back to square one. cast or forged? while i originally believed nj, dude boy has visual evidence, and i wouldn't trust anything from toyota customer service, so that swayed my opinion. tell us more about casting."
I don't think AKdahl has proved anything yet. The jury is STILL out on this one.
A picture is worth a thousand words. Here is another picture:
How can you tell from the picture? Are the weld marks on the piston your evidence of casting?
Moreover, I got a phone call from Long Beach Toyota that confirmed what Toyota Customer service said. Also, Jason put me on hold and went to ask about the pistons. He did not know. He asked more technical people around him.
You can call 562-494-4444 and speak to Long Beach Toyota's head technician, Doug Berger, who will tell you that the Tundra has forged pistons.
I find it odd that I have been asking this question in the other thread for a long time and it took you until now to step up to the plate and say that the psitons are cast.
But this is just a picture. What is it in the picture that tell you with certainty that the pistons are cast?
Any of you can call Toyota and find out on your own. Simply tell them that you own a Tundra and give them the vin number. It is very simple to confirm what I am saying. It is way better than speculating from marks on a piston.
Those who are doubters, please take the initiative and make the call. I did. I got my answer. The answer jives well with the cold start-up clatter. I am satisfied.
"How can you tell from the picture? Are the weld marks on the piston your evidence of casting?"
Does that give more horsepower, also???
That would explain how you could have miss-heard Jason from Toyota say "forged" when he really said "cast." LOL!!!
When a Ford REGIONAL service manager came to look at my Cobra's paint, he informed me all the new Cobras would have the 5.4(as opposed to the 4.6 DOHC) I actually advised him that was just the "R" model. He insisted that it was all Cobras for '00. What's hilarious is there was no '00 Cobra(just the R, 300 total) and the '01 still has the 4.6.
I put as much faith in a service reps knowledge as I do in Ak's knowledge.
How is Toyota Customer service all of the sudden the authority on Tundra pistons? I thought their job was to make customers happy - not be technical gurus.
We already know that Dude Boy got an answer from Toyota saying that the pistons are cast. None of the forged pistons I have had experience with have had casting marks.
Since I have supplied pictures, I would have to say that it is time for AKdahl to step up to the plate and provide some published proof. We all know that the specification exists - otherwise where would the customer service piston experts be getting their info?
Why don't you ask you good buddy Jason to fax you a copy of his source of information? While you are at it - get him to explain why Tundra pistons have casting marks. Could it be that they ARE cast?
I am amazed that all of a sudden you trust the people who post at TS. Wheren't you the one that said that these are just e-mail addresses? Now you show enormous trust in Dude Boy!!! Kinda contradicts what you did and said before. Dude Boy also has the start-up clatter. He must be lying about that!!! LOL
On Monday I will go to the dealer and get written proof of what Toyota Customer service told me. That info is at the dealer. I just have to pick it up.
Getting a verbal answer from Toyota Customer Service proves nothing regarding the piston design. If you want to hear that the piston is forged and they tell you that it is forged, then those customer service folks have fulfilled their mission because they have satisfied their customer.
It is clear from Dude Boy's pictures that the pistons are manufactured by ART (it is also pretty clear that they are cast since "ART" is cast into the inside verticle portion of the piston skirt - this would be near about impossible with the forging process). ART of Japan is a major manufacturer of motorcycle and automobile OEM pistons. These guys would be the source of your long sought after answer - are the pistons cast or forged?
Alan
A cast piece will be what ever molten alloy poured in to a form, which can be a plug in the shape of the piece in sand, which is removed leaving a hollow indentation which is then filled with the molten metal. Or you can use a lost process like a styrofoam plug and pour the metal right into the mold dissolving the styrofoam.
One of the most fun things in Jr. High was we actually had a casting station in our metals class. We could re-cast anything we could think of by using the original in sand and pouring molten scrap aluminum over it. Or we could create things out of styrofoam or wood for the mold. Way better than wood shop!!!
"Castings are made by gravity die cast process using 5-piece inner dies, a two piece outer and usually a head chill which can form any cast valve pockets and bowls. There are also core pins to form the pinholes. The shapes are re-entrant (ie curve back on themselves) and the 5-piece inner part of the die collapses to allow withdrawal."
This picture of the cast Tundra piston has obvious signs of a multi piece die. You can also see that it is reentrant and that there is no way a one piece tool could be withdrawn from the piston. You can see that the center section could be collapsed or removed in order to remove the other pieces of the die.
"On the other hand, forgings are made from a solid billet of aluminium alloy. The alloy is preheated and then pressed into shape in a sequence of two or three stages, each getting closer to the final shape. These shapes are always such that the inner die piece can withdraw (and therefore the piston shape cannot be re-entrant)."
This is an example of a forged piston. You can see that the inside surfaces of the forged piston above are completely smooth. You can also see that a one piece tool could easily be removed. The recesses for the piston pin and retaining clip have obviously been machined into the piston.