2000 Toyota Tundra SR5 V8

Summary:

A nightmare!

Faults:

The rack in the steering went bad at 63,000 miles. Had it replaced and the 2nd rack went bad after 1 month. Just had the 3rd rack installed and my mechanic informed me that rack is also moving side to side, there should be no movement! This is a safety issue that allows the truck to "wander" while moving. Because of this I ruined 1 set of tires and had to replace front brakes and rotors twice!

General Comments:

The Toyota Tundra was suppose to be my dream truck. Now, it is my nightmare!

All Tundra owners should have the rack inspected. There should be no movement in the rack, that is, it should not move side to side when all four tires are on the ground.

A bad rack could be the reason you are feeling a shaking in the front end. It could also be the reason your brakes and tires are wearing abnormally.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 23rd July, 2004

15th Nov 2005, 16:38

I seriously question the validity of this review. As an ASE Certified Master Auto Tech with 20 years of experience, I can promise that a steering rack has absolutely no bearing on the brake system. Any vehicle made by any manufacturer can have PS rack or brake rotor failures at any time over 50k miles. I am not defending Toyota, do not work for them and I happen to drive a Chevy. Good grief people, any vehicle has thousands of moving parts, many which operate at very high temperatures every single day. Guess what? Things wear out! If they didn't, I wouldn't have a job. Give Toyota a break; they build a great product.

27th Feb 2007, 16:52

I find this review VERY BELIEVABLE. Our friends with older Tundras are having similar problems, and considering that Toyota just redesigned the Tundra because of the HUGE number of problems in the first generation, I'd say this review is just a good example of what many Tundra drivers have had to deal with.

2nd Aug 2009, 11:31

16:38 none of my steering racks (3 as a matter of fact for this review) ever needed replacements in just one month. Had a GM Camaro Berlinetta long ago that ate up a complete set of tires in one month and I had to send it to a very specialized alignment shop. I guess being a GM it's totally different and normal to the Toyota drivers. I had a low tire sensor dash display on my current GM kicked on yesterday so I immediately checked the air pressure and corrected. Maybe the reviewer lives on pothole street.

2000 Toyota Tundra SR5 4.7 V8

Summary:

Great Deal Quality Truck

Faults:

My fan belt wore out at just 20,000 miles. dealer replaced it for free. no more problems with the truck. replaced OEM tires. at 55,000 improved handling of my truck.

General Comments:

I love my Toyota. I made a good choice when I bought this truck. the best investment I have ever made.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 21st May, 2004

2000 Toyota Tundra 4.7

Summary:

Total piece of garbage

Faults:

6 times to fix rear end leak.

Speed sensor gave out at 120,000kms.

Seats have worn very badly.

Ticking in engine told to be valves at 125,000kms.

Rack and pinion slop at 127000kms.

Paint on fenders and rocker panels gone at 70,000kms.

General Comments:

On 6 different occasions the rear end had to be rebuilt. The side axle seals were leaking which caused gear oil to leak over the rear drum brakes. This caused the brakes not to work and stained my front driveway. Toyota did not know how to fix the problem so I took it upon myself to fix it. The problem with the rear end was a spacer needed to be inserted into the axle. Toyota didn't know about this so I made one on my lathe. The axle hasn't leaked since.

At 120,000km the speed sensor gave out. This was a $400.00 part.

There was a ticking coming from the engine at approximately 125000 km. We put the truck in the shop and were told that a valve adjustment was needed. This was impossible because the valves were not adjustable, but they could be shimmed. The price for the shim kit was $13 per shim and there were 20 shims per valve and 32 valves per engine... Do the math and you can tell it's more than the truck is worth.

While having a tire change over in the fall a service technician checked the rack and pinion. He was quick to say the steering was sloppy and worn out.

Since the purchase of this truck the paint has been terrible. Even after being waxed on several occasions the paint has flaked off. Toyota has replaced the paint bumper to bumper. But before they did the truck looked 20 years old. People looking at the truck would never tell that it was a 2000 model.

The leather seats in the truck have worn very badly. There are cracks in the drivers seat and the rear bench seat is a different color than the front buckets.

Overall I would not recommend this truck to anyone. I think it's a total piece of junk. There are more body squeaks than a old Jeep.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 12th April, 2004

13th Apr 2004, 10:31

I simply can't understand why Toyota has the reputation it does. Everyone I know who has had one has experienced all sorts of niggling problems such as you mention. None of them has been the "Solid, Reliable" car Toyota's are supposed to be. But then again I suppose people buy into the reputation and uphold it whatever the reality. The problem with any car (and any board such as this) is that unwillingness to admit you bought a car that sucks trumps honesty in most cases.

View 165 more comments