The early Tacomas, 95, 96 and possibly even 97, had some 3.4L V6 engines whose headgaskets were prone to failing prematurely. From what I understand, Toyota is aware of the problem and has (or at least one time had) agreed to replace the headgasket for free with its "new and improved" one.
Also, the 95 to 97 Tacomas have shorter length leaf packs than the 98 and up Tacomas. The 95 and 96 models came with with only two leaves and an overload leaf. One of the leaves (not the overload) has been prone to breaking on the 95 and 96 models. I don't know about the 97's, whether they came with only two leaves and an overload and if there've been instances of leaves prone to breaking. For what it's worth, the older (pre-Tacoma) Toyota 4x4 leaf packs are supposedly a direct bolt-on for the 95 to 97 Tacomas.
These are the only problems I've heard of that have been somewhat common with the early Tacomas. As for problems common among Tacomas throughout all model years, there are several, but none of them would I consider as being major.
The 2.7L 4 cylinders have a tendency to develop small, hairline cracks in the exhaust manifold between the number 2 and number 3 cylinders. Over time, the cracks will expand requiring replacing of the exhaust manifold. When it happened to my 99 Tacoma, I used the occurrence as an opportunity to get a good header.
The 2.7's have a tendency to knock at cold startup, especially during cold weather. It's been dismissed as normal piston slap causing no damage. Over time the noise may seem louder than the year before, but so far my 2.7 runs good as new at 145K miles even as the knock gets louder and more pronounced over the years.
The throttle bodies and throttle plates on both the 3.4 and 2.7 engines need periodic maintenance, as both tend to get lots of carbon build-up after awhile. Cleaning the throttle body and plate is fairly easy. In fact, I believe there is a write up in the Toyota section of 4x4wire.com.
There is an infamously annoying dash rattle that seems to plague a few Tacomas, mine included. On most, the rattle occurs in the passenger side, right around the airbag cover area, and is usually more pronounced during cold weather.
There is also the all-too-common "bump" or clunk that seems or feels like it's coming from the transmission or rear end. It only occurs on those with automatic transmissions, and usually occurs when coming to a stop. It feels like someone just bumped you from the rear. It's more prevalent when the a/c compressor is on (with the a/c on or the defroster on). This symptom has also been dismissed as "normal" axle wrap causing no damage. My auto tranny has been doing it I bought it brand new.
On manual transmissions, squeaky clutches and throwout bearing problems have been reported. I'm not exactly sure what the problem and fix is regarding these two issues, though, since I haven't been paying as much close attention to manual tranny threads in the various Tacoma forums.
That's all I can think of for now. Maybe someone else will chime in on what to look for when considering a used Tacoma. All in all, the Tacoma is a great, extremely reliable and durable pickup truck that should give you little to no problems with regular maintenance.
Hope this helps.
