Fixing the ONE BROKEN THING on the Tacoma.
This truck was a gift and my what a machine nearly 20 years old. Yet it still drives like a rental car state of the art, 2002 technology, freezing air, conditioner, watertight moon, roof. Of course, after 20 years and 147 thousand miles, something's bound to go wrong and something has the passenger side door lock. When you pull the outside, handle automatically locks, the unlocked door, sometimes not every time, but sometimes frequently enough to torture you, but not frequently enough to justify a trip to the mechanics.
It's the kind of problem you tolerate tolerate, with workarounds like leaving the window down carrying a key or opening the door from the inside. Sometimes if you yank the handle quickly, you can beat it sometimes. No sure you could tape the lock open, but then you can't ever lock the door, leaving your baseball, mitts and tin of reese's peanut butter cups susceptible to theft. You could tear the door panel off and investigate, but you probably need some part.
You got ta order, which means you got ta put it back together, whilst you wait for the part, take it to the dealer um. No thanks. After a few months of suffering, this spirited man has figured it out a simple, elegant solution to a vexing insidious. Little problem leave it unlocked until it needs security, an improvisational repair that has improved this spirited man's quality of life.
By up to three percent. You.
Amazing!! The video that is, love the clever fix too!! Been trying to figure out how to fix my toyota issue of Everytime I go to open the door the damn lock is down. Late 90s/early 2000s Toyota love
Spirited enough to brainstorm a "fix" then go through the work and the trouble to film it all, edit it down, and upload it to your YouTube channel..
But NOT quite spirited enough to simply fix it correctly.
Im not sure if that is a generational thing, but I'm a Millennial (just barely), and my Dad is a Boomer, and he raised me not only to NEVER be caught dead making an embarrassing, pathetic, hokey, "repair" job like this.. but he also had the good sense to teach me to stay the hell away from anyone who WOULD do something like this, and never associate with people like that because his thinking was, if someone is willing to do work, but not willing to at least ATTEMPT to do it right, then that's likely the same approach they take in other areas of their life as well, so nothing "good" can come out of associating with someone who half-asses things and comes up with hair-brained, half-cocked ideas. ESPECIALLY if they also believe that their half-assed, hair-brained ideas are brilliant and they take pride in them!
He said don't hire them, don't befriend them, don't marry them, don't do business with them, and don't even take them seriously for the most part.
And in my 40 years, I have to honestly say.. he was right! Nearly every time I've ignored this rule, it's bitten me in the ass in one way or another.
You might think it's going a little far to be extremely suspicious people like this, but in reality, is it though?
Think about it.
The "spirited man" that spent (likely) several hours drilling a hole in his car door lock, so he could install a home made (for some reason) version of a detent ring ping, except with no detent, and a piece of yarn for a tether..
Is the SAME "spirited man" who "repaired" the zip line at a local children's playground!
Let's just hope to Christ that he didn't use any bits of coat hanger instead of nuts and bolts for fasteners!
And while these types of people when questioned will always say, "oh well I would NEVER do that on something that required SAFETY!
But, wouldn't they? They clearly thought the idea was good enough for their little lock repair project, so it's not that far off base to assume that this is just how their simple brain works. Unless everything is done right, you are safe to assume that nothing is.
Lol this is why I love these videos. I could skip to the end but the joy is in the journey!! I wish I could make videos like this
I actually have a similar issue on my volks. If I pull on the door handle while it’s locked, when I unlock it, the door handle won’t work for a day or so. So I have to hold it in the unlock position till the windows roll down and open it from the inside.
I’m a professional auto mechanic. I have owned all 3 generations of Tacoma. First gen is my favorite. Your videos bring me joy. Thank you for making them
I dont know how I just stumbled on this channel…. but I'm hooked. One day I too will be a spirited man….just after the next video maybe….
Ahh the number of jobs that I have failed to start because I would have to put it back together while I order the parts.
You could have put a wide spring around the lock and used a similar pin but just at the top to hold it in. Strong enough to hold it up but not so strong it couldn't still lock when left in place.
1m10s in…I'm like.."COME ON VAN, IT JUST NEEDS SOME GREASE!"…still going to watch with studiousness 👌…Ninja Edit…Done with video now. I realized, if Van was the type of guy to just simply grease a sticky lock mechanism, we would not be watching him. Epiphany reached 😎 and I love it. ✌️
LOL… I thought he was going to pull the door panel, find the broken part or loose wire… fabricate something instead of buying a new part and then fix it… But this… I'm thunderstruck. This is taking quirky/goofy artistic solutions to the limit. So funny. Now I know he's trolling us for entertainment purposes, but as a guy who fixes everything… this makes me so crazy. You got me!
I'm surprised you did not shrink wrap the tag end of the string knot on the top!? Why shrink wrap the bottom and not the top?
love the film love the story telling . now i would have fixed the problem by super gluing a small and very powerful rare earth magnet to the top of the plastic pop up latch and then painted it or covered it and then used a large powerful one to open it from outside the vehicle lol maybe it would have worked who knows lol
But why dude why not get it fixed obviously it had to be because of someone or something getting messed with in the first place
Hi, Van. Love your stuff. Five days into a southbound Mexico trip from San Diego. Waiting for wife in Mexico City. If you get a chance go to Real de Catorce. Check out images. Here for six weeks, maybe much longer. Todd
I am torn Van….yes, a inexpensive and working solution. But, as a guy who likes to restore old vehicles, one day, a Spirited Man of the future will get his spirited hands on your Toyota and decide that it deserves to be restored back to the condition it left the factory – once again new. He will curse that guy from the past who drilled those two seemingly insignificant holes in what is now an unobtainable part of a vintage Toyota and wonder why he did this in lieu of lubricating or replacing the little piece of the door unlatch mechanism that was catching the door lock. He will, of course, quietly admire the fix, but curse the fixer, then start contemplating how he is going to spend many hours repairing this little piece of plastic to make it look new once again.