looking at buying a new tacoma within the next 2 weeks and i came across one that is already supercharged (with 32k miles). how reliable are these engines? how concerned should i be with the rest of the drivetrain? such as the tranny and rearend.

any of you have your motors supercharged?

 

Less reliable than one without a supercharger. That being said, it's all about how much support he has for the supercharger as well as how hard you drive it. I'd say it's more reliable than your average domestic SUV, but less reliable than the average toyota SUV. There's plenty of grey area. Look at the vehicle and see if it looks to be taken care of on the outside/interior. Usually that's a good indication as to if the owner cares enough about the engine to protect it as well by doing all the right things that need to be done when you put on a supercharger.

 

I almost bought one myself. The guy had it installed at the dealer and it kept pinging.....Dealer told him to not worry, keep driving......50k later the motor grenaded and guess who bought him a whole motor and supercharger.
Good job dealer.....
I passed even though I still wish these trucks had about 40 more horses. I wouldn't give up my reliability, besides there are a few used superchargers for sale from guys that are taking them off if you really have to have it.

 

not supercharged 0-37k no problems
supercharged 37-67k no problems

but I drive gently

 

The supercharger itself will cause no harm to the engine as long as
it is properly tuned.

The REAL concern is how the truck was treated and cared for during those
32K miles. Was the previous owner a speed maniac doing full throttle
starts all the time? Was he dumping the transmission? (or clutch if it's
a manual?) How much tread is left on the tires? If the truck is already
on its second set that a pretty good indication that there was a lot of
rubber burning taking place.

Yes, the supercharger can produce a lot of extra horsepower but depending
on the driver it may not have been most of the time. But, the fact that
the truck has a supercharger probably increases the chances the previous
driver was more abusive to the truck. It is also possible that a used truck
without a supercharger was abused. That's always the gamble with a
used auto, you just never know.

With mine I'm pretty gentle with it. I like feeling the extra low RPM torque
the SC makes with a light throttle press. I rarely ever "punch it" , it's
just too crazy fast when I do that.

 

I have 63K on my Yota and the S/C was installed with about 12K already on it. The engine never pinged and has been taken very good care of. The jury is still out on how it affects the engines b/c there are not many Yotas with 100K on the S/C. I wouldn't have a 3rd generation without one.

 

I have had mine on since 60K miles, I am now at 78,000. So far no problems to report!

 

I wonder if a SC will lessen the life of the engine?

 

Common sense says yes. More stress on the internals. It's a tradeoff. I'd never have had my old car without a turbo, although I'm sure it was harder on it to have the turbo, I loved it. I'm sure i'd enjoy a supercharged truck, but the tradeoff is too great IMO. With a turbo I gained about 200hp more than what I'd have with an N/A car that I used to have. With the 4runner it's more like 50ish.

 

Have had mine on for about 10k miles, and haven't had pinging or other issues. But then, I don't punch it or drive it hard and I also live at 5,000', so the thinner air migh also have something to do with the lack of pinging.

 

It's the most powerful 50+ HP you will ever feel. Race another 4Runner or Taco without one. It's funny to see their expression when you blow by them. I have had guys follow me into a gas station to ask WTF did I have under the hood. Most people do not know Yota makes a S/C for their trucks. A truck with low miles??? Jump on it. If you tow a lot of weight or use a lot of pedal on a constant basis, then I would do the transmission upgrade.

 

I dont know if i am going to agree with jwahaus about his taco being "crazy fast" when he punches it, though the supercharged does render sustainable performance gains with minimal problems in most cases. I had a 99 taco with a 3" revtek kit, 33's, trd cat back, trd tranny cooler, chip, fipk...ran just over 10lbs of boost in 4th(auto) at high rpms. Sold it to my cousin in 02' and it had just over 30k very hard miles put on it by me. I never once had a problem with it at all, not even any pinging. She has over 70k miles on it now, and only has had to replace the main belt once. All in all, throw em on, monitor them, be aware of how they are performing, and dont go extemely overboard with an additional 200 shot of the juice and you'll be fine...toyota wouldnt warranty them otherwise...and dont listen to any salesman and/or dealership no matter what they say...the majority are extremely clueless. Just hit up this forum or do a read up on gadget's work...enough said.

Billy

 

Supercharged since the 3rd day of getting the truck.. I have every trd performance option on it and take it to red line often. I have 35k miles .I had a power stearing leak not related to the charger .. get it you will not be dissapointed.