ESP TOYOTA TACOMA 1997 User Guide

Part 5Protecting your Toyota from corrosion
161
CORROSION
PREVENTION ANDAPPEARANCE CARE
Protecting your Toyota from corrosion
Washing and waxing your
Toyota
Cleaning the interior
Toyota, through its diligent research, de-
sign and use of the most advanced
technology available, has done its part to
help prevent corrosion and has provided you with the finest quality vehicle
construction. Now, it is up to you. Proper
care of
your Toyota can help ensure long-
term corrosion prevention.
The most common causes of corro-
sion to your vehicle are: The accumulation of road salt, dirt and
moisture in hard-to-reach areas un- der the vehicle.
Chipping of paint, or undercoating
caused by minor accidents or by
stones and gravel.
Care is especially important if you live
in particular areas or operate your ve-
hicle under certain environmentalconditions: Road salt or dust control chemicals will
accelerate corrosion, as will the pres-
ence of salt in the air near the sea-
coast or in areas of industrial pollution.
High humidity accelerates corrosion
especially when temperatures rangejust above the freezing point.
Wetness or dampness to certain parts
of your vehicle for an extended period
of time, may cause corrosion even
though other parts of the vehicle may
be dry.
High temperatures will cause corro-
sion to those components of the ve-
hicle which are prevented from quick-
drying due to lack of proper ventilation.
The above signifies the necessity to keep
your vehicle, particularly the underside,
as clean as possible and to repair any
damage to paint or protective coatings as
soon as possible.
To help prevent corrosion on your
Toyota, follow these guidelines:
Wash your vehicle frequently: It is, of
course, necessary to keep your vehicle
clean by regular washing, but to prevent corrosion, the following points should beobserved: If you drive on salted roads in the win-
ter or if you live near the ocean, you
should hose off the undercarriage atleast once a month to minimize corro- sion.

164
Do not use dye or bleach on thebeltsÐit may weaken them.
NOTICE
Windows
The windows may be cleaned with any
household window cleaner.
When cleaning the inside of the
windows, be careful not to scratch
or damage the heater wires on therear window.
NOTICE
Air conditioning control panel, car au-
dio, instrument panel, console panel,
and switches Use a soft damp cloth for cleaning.
Soak a clean soft cloth in water or luke-
warm water then lightly wipe off any dirt.

Do not use organic substances(solvents, kerosene, alcohol, gas-
oline, etc.) or alkaline or acidicsolutions. These chemicals cancause discoloring, staining or
peeling of the surface.
NOTICE
If you use cleaners or polishingagents, make sure their ingredi-
ents do not include the sub-
stances mentioned above.
If you use a liquid car freshener,do not spill the liquid onto the ve-
hicle's interior surfaces. It maycontain the ingredients men-
tioned above. Immediately clean
any spill using the method men-tioned above.
Leather Interior
The leather upholstery may be cleaned
with neutral detergent for wool. Remove dirt using a soft cloth dampened
with 5 % Solution of neutral detergent for
wool. Then thoroughly wipe off all traces
of detergent with a clean damp cloth.
After cleaning or whenever any part of the
leather gets wet, dry with a soft clean
cloth. Allow the leather to dry in a venti-
lated shaded area.

If a stain should fail to come outwith a neutral detergent, apply a
cleaner that does not contain anorganic solvent.
NOTICE
Never use organic substancessuch as benzine, alcohol or gaso-
line, or alkaline or acid solutionsfor cleaning the leather as thesecould cause discoloring.
Use of a nylon brush or synthetic
fiber cloth, etc. may scratch thefine grained surface of the leather.
Mildew may develop on soiled
leather upholstery. Be especiallycareful to avoid oil spots. Try to
keep your upholstery alwaysclean.
Long exposure to direct sunlightmay cause the leather surface to harden and shrink. Keep your ve-hicle in a shaded area, especially
in the summer.
The interior of your vehicle is aptto heat up on hot summer days, so
avoid placing on the upholsteryitems made of vinyl or plastic orcontaining wax as these tend to
stick to leather when warm.
Improper cleaning of the leatherupholstery could result in discol-
oration or staining.

Part 6Maintenance requirements
167
VEHICLE
MAINTENANCE ANDCARE
Maintenance requirements
General maintenance
Does your vehicle need repairing?
For scheduled maintenance infor-
mation, please refer to the sep-
arate Owner's Manual Supple-ment/Maintenance Scheduleº.
Your Toyota vehicle has been designed to
for fewer maintenance requirements with longer service intervals to save both your
time and money. However, each regular
maintenance, as well as day-to-day
care, is more important than ever before
to ensure smooth, and trouble-free, safe,
and economical drivings.
It is the owner's responsibility to make sure
the specified maintenance, including
general maintenance service, is per-
formed. Note that both the new vehicle
and emission control system warranties
specify that proper maintenance and care
must be performed. See Owner's Guide,
Owner 's Manual Supplement or W arranty
Booklet for complete warranty informa- tion.
General maintenance General maintenance items are those
day-to-day care practices that are impor-
tant to your vehicle for proper operation.
It is the owner's responsibility to ensure
that the general maintenance items are
performed regularly.
These checks or inspections can be done
either by yourself or a qualified technician,
or if you prefer, your Toyota dealer will be
pleased to do them at a nominal cost. Scheduled maintenance
The scheduled maintenance items listed
in the Owner's Manual Supplement/
Maintenance Scheduleº are those re-
quired to be serviced at regular intervals.
For details of your maintenance Sched-
ule, read the separate ºOwner's Manual
Supplement/Maintenance Scheduleº.
It is recommended that any replace-
ment parts used for maintenance or
for the repair of the emission control
system be Toyota supplied.
The owner may elect to use non-Toyo- ta supplied parts for replacement pur-
poses without invalidating the emis-
sion
control system warranty. Howev-
er, use of replacement parts which are
not of equivalent quality may impair
the effectiveness of the emission con-
trol systems.
You may also elect to have mainte-
nance, replacement, or repair of the
emission control devices and system
performed by any automotive repair
establishment or individual without
invalidating this warranty. See Own-
er's Guide, Owner's Manual Supple-
ment or Warranty Booklet for complete
warranty information.

176
If you perform maintenance by your-
self, be sure to follow the correct pro- cedure given in this part.
You should be aware that improper or in- complete servicing may result in operat-
ing problems.
Performing do-it-yourself maintenance
during the warranty period may affect
your warranty coverage. Read the sepa-
rate Toyota Warranty statement for details
and suggestions.
This part gives instructions only for those
items that are relatively easy for an owner
to perform. As explained in Part 6, there
are still a number of items that must be
done by a qualified technician with special
tools.
For information on tools and parts for do-
it-yourself maintenance, see Parts andtoolsº.
Utmost care should be taken when work-
ing on your vehicle to prevent accidental
injury. Here are a few precautions that
you should be especially careful to ob- serve:
Fuse locations
Do-it-yourself service precautions

216Traction A, B, C
ÐThe traction grades,
from highest to lowest, are A, B, and C,
and they represent the tire's ability to stop
on wet pavement as measured under
controlled conditions on specified govern-
ment test surfaces of asphalt and con-
crete. A tire marked C may have poor trac-
tion performance.
Warning: The traction grade assigned to this tire is based on braking (straight
ahead) traction tests and does not include
cornering (turning) traction.
Temperature A, B, C ÐThe temperature
grades are A (the highest), B, and C, rep-
resenting the tire's resistance to the gen-
eration of heat and its ability to dissipate heat when tested under controlled condi-tions on a specific indoor laboratory test
wheel. Sustained high temperature can cause the material of the tire life, and ex- cessive temperature can lead to sudden
tire failure. The grade C corresponds to alevel of performance which all passenger
car tires must meet under the Federal Mo-
tor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 109.
Grades B and A represent higher levels of
performance on the laboratory test wheel
than the minimum required by law. Warning: The temperature grades for thistire
are established for a tire that is proper-
ly inflated and not overloaded. Excessivespeed, underinflation, or excessive load- ing, wither separately or in combination,can cause heat buildup and possible tire failure. This
information has been prepared in ac-
cordance with regulation issued by the
National Highway Traffic Safety Adminis-
tration of the U.S. Department of Trans-
portation Highway Traffic Safety Adminis-
tration of the U.S. Department of
Transportation. It provides the purchas-
ers and/or prospective purchasers of Toy- toa vehicles with information on truck-
camper loading. Your Toyota dealer will
help answer any auestions you may have
as you read this information.
Camper informationÐ