Online resources for finding part numbers and other info

I'm feeling like the biggest idiot in the world right now, so I just wanted to share.

There are three extremely good resources for tracking down part numbers and repair instructions. Many on here know at least one of them, if not all of them. Two of the three cost money, but they can be very worth it if you plan to do part or all of the work yourself. All three are official Toyota websites.


1. autoparts.toyota.com (free)
This website never had the best user interface, but Toyota managed to screw it up even more a few months ago. Elements of it are more responsive now, but they removed some very, very useful info it used to display. It's still valuable as a resource, but it's no longer the best first source.

2. techinfo.toyota.com (a.k.a. TIS) (paid)
This is the same website Toyota technicians use at dealerships(but not for diagnostics). It includes access to repair manuals, technical service bulletins, and a host of other great reference material. A subscription gives you access to everything Toyota, including Lexus and Scion. You can buy access for 2-days, a month, or a year. Prices are $25, $95, and $505 respectively. You might consider getting the month subscription the first time because it takes awhile to get comfortable navigating the site. Once you're comfortable, the 2-day subscription should be enough to find what you need, download it(everything is available as downloadable pdfs), and get out before your 2-days expires.

3. http://www.toyota-tech.eu (paid)
Okay, this is the most expensive, but it's the best by far in one way. You get access to the European version of the above website, with everything it contains, but you also get access to some other cool things. First and foremost is the same parts software that dealerships use(MicroCat). This is way, way better than the first website on this list. (And here's where the "I'm an idiot" comes in.) I thought it only gave access to the European parts listings, but I just realized there's another pull down that lets you select other markets, including US and Japan. That makes this resource invaluable if you're trying to find out what parts fit on what models, or what comes on different trims. This also gives you the exploded part schematics that used to be on parts.toyota.com, except even better. Just note that the subscription prices are about 2x-6x higher than TIS. You can buy access from anything from an hour to a year. Price starts at roughly $4.37 for an hour, $16.30 for 4 hours, $21.80 for a day, $95 for a week, $316.50 for a month, and $3165.25 for a year. (The strange amounts are because I converted from euros to dollars.)


Just hoping that this might benefit someone.

 

Yeah, I've already gotten burned on that myself. I've got two useless inserts that are way too short because of wrong information on Toyota's website. I believe I've got the correct part numbers now, though I haven't yet ordered a new set to be certain. I put together a full list of maintenance items and their part numbers in one of the other subforums, but the wipers inserts are 85214-08050(driver) and 85214-0E130(passenger).

 

Found another good source for parts info. I have absolutely no idea if it's a reputable company to order from, but it's a way to access the same parts information and exploded diagrams you usually have to either pay for or go to a dealership parts department to get. Only problem is that it hasn't been updated to include the gen5 yet. The website has probably been mentioned on here on one of the previous gen subforums, but it's new to me. The company is based in Thailand, so the only good reason to use the website is for parts info or maybe to order Japan-specific parts. Without the gen5 info in their system, I can't tell how bad the shipping costs would be for the side mirror conversion parts.

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