In my neverending search for a Tacoma I think I've finally found the perfect balance of price, features, and mileage I can work with. What I'm looking at is a black 4wd v6 manual Tacoma. I'm scheduled to meet the owner in a couple days and already have a decent sized list of what I'm double checking. I can be considered very mechanically friendly, so depending on where the plugs are, I may end up going as far as doing a compression test. Unfortunately, the owner does not know much about it's maintenance history seeing as he bought this from a friend to help him with money, but he explains it runs extremely well - no weird noises of any sort coming from anywhere (after asking him 4 different ways). Additionally it does not have any rust problems, has a new valve cover gasket, new tires, new plugs (whatever), and new alternator. Only thing of concern is the starter is slow to turn over. 230k sounds like a lot of miles and a gamble with its unknown history, but I'm running a VIN check and I'm getting it at 3250. A list of things I'm checking:

1. Oil (level, thickness, and color)
2. Transmission fluid (level and color)
3. Rust
4. Paint (says paints fine, 2 chips on hood, no dents, rough spot on tailgate) Looking for fading clear coat, or anything he did not mention
5. Shifting into all gears, testing out 4wd
6. Coolant (anything other than green, any rust)
7. Compression?

Normal things needing maintenance I'm not worried about. Brakes are easy, sluggishness is "tune-up"-able, bearings are predictable... suspension etc... I'm just worried about the motor and transmission. I've swapped motors and headgaskets before and they are not fun. Some motors have been even worse than others. But it's at such a good price that if I were to need another motor, I could buy another, and possibly still have some left over to pay some poor chump to do it. However, I'd rather spot an issue earlier on than notice later and wait for it to blow.

Realisticly I expect to get at least 30-40k left out of this motor before needing another.

As a group who understand first gen Tacoma's through and through, can you think of anything else you might check out or consider?

For what it's worth: Assuming I go through with it, it's a 4 hour drive back home. I'll be putting in a V6 motor restoration can of oil in there, I forget the manufacturer but I hear good things about them, as well as seafoam, transmission treatment, and lucas fuel treatment. When I get home I'll immediately clean the intake mani with Chemtool b12, swap oil for synthetic, swap tranny fluid for "something" good, transfer case fluid, and rear diff. Might go as far as plug wires, K&N intake, and dizzy as well. Any additional suggestions are welcome.

Sorry for making you read through a long post, but thanks for your time.