I have a 2005 double cab Limited 4x4 with only 268,000 miles. I love the truck but hate the gas mileage. I get 12 around town and 15 on the highway. Nowhere near what it was advertised as getting, but if I had bought an American made truck, I’d already have worn it out and had to buy another one, so I’m fine with the gas mileage and reliability. A timing belt is due soon as I’ve never replaced it and the only interior wear is a rip on the side of the drivers seat. When all cleaned up, it looks great. I like the FJ wheels that were added a few years back.
Just getting broken in!
Mine’s also got leaky valve covers that I might attack sometime soon. And I just got a new battery hold down to replace the one that is corroding away.
This weekend was time to tackle leaky valve covers (and replace the spark plugs). I never had oil hit the driveway but the engine and frame are covered.
The 2UZ valve covers have a joining face that isn’t flat, and mine were leaking down in the corners where the gasket bends. The gasket set includes new plug seals.
Old plugs.
Also replaced the serpentine belt (again) because the recently replaced one was squealing.
Lastly, I fixed a problem with the door with some GRM help from here:
https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/wwgrmd-collision-made-door-rub-fender/146506/page1/#post2652748
After replacing the serpentine belt it was nice and quiet for about a week, but the chirping returned.. so this morning I removed the belt yet again. Spun all the moving parts and found the top idler pulley’s bearing felt grumpy. $60 in parts later, it’s good again.
And the serpentine belt started chirping again.....
In high mileage vehicles- how does one determine the fine line between everything is really good and berkeley this thing?
In reply to OHSCrifle :
If the car is still worth more than 50% of the parts you put in over the last year: It's good.
The0retical said:
In reply to OHSCrifle :
If the car is still worth more than 50% of the parts you put in over the last year: It's good.
That yardstick sounds good. My decision to tackle a lot immediately after purchasing (AND repairing some minor body damage) added up fast. Fortunately I’m still in good standing with the finance committee at home... just nervous.
But the truck runs and rides terrific and looks good from ten feet. On the bright side I’m still invested only about 20% of a new truck.
Vigo
UltimaDork
2/12/19 10:59 a.m.
I have a buddy with one of these without about 190k on it. I've done the Tbelt, water pump, idlers, valve covers, control arms, basically the common stuff mentioned here.
It's a great vehicle and surprisingly entertaining to drive (his is a slightly lifted TRD package with Bilsteins and a little stiffer than average).
But the best bang for the buck mod on his truck... is holes drilled in the bottom of the airbox! The v8 induction sounds really help the driving enjoyment. I highly, highly recommend it!
More exciting routine maintenance. I’m a rookie at this stuff but learning and enjoying all things mechanical. What did we do before YouTube?
After previously replacing nearly every front suspension part (upper and lower ball joints + control arms, and springs/struts) today I finally chased down and killed the front end clunk that’s been driving me nuts... the sway bar end links have ball joints that were sealed once upon a time.
But not lately.
Replaced and torqued properly, along with the sway bar frame bushings.
I actually bought end links twice because one of the Moog self tapping grease zerks broke off during install. #%?! NAPA house brand this time since they had them in stock.
And while I had the truck on jack stands I checked the brakes. They’d been making some noise and I found out why. I hadn’t investigated right away because it was stopping okay and I'm not driving it much, and because I was told the front brakes were serviced just before I bought it. I don’t ride the brakes and they weren’t dragging so I was quite surprised to see they had only about 1/16” of material left. So now it has new front brake pads.
This pad change was ridiculously easy. Removing two cotter pins freed the slide pins. I took my time and R&R on both sides only took about fifteen minutes.
Finally eliminated the belt chirping with a NOS Continental “gatorback” style belt. After twice replacing the old belt a tensioner and an idler, I assume a pulley must be slightly misaligned.. but the new belt doesn’t mind. So currently all’s right with my truck for the first time ever.
After stopping the obvious oil leaks with new valve cover gaskets, the truck still consumes some oil. 252k miles will do that, but I was a concerned when I saw some milky snot under the 710 fill cap. Not a head gasket. The truck is driven very short distances 5 days per week, so this is due to condensation not having time to burn off. Replaced PCV valve which was sticking.
Have had some mystery noise in the cab that seemed to come from the engine. Scratching sound.. like fluid in a pipe. Suspect heater. Diagnosed as air in the cooling system, apparently system wasn’t refilled properly when the radiator, water pump, t-stat and hoses were replaced. Burped the air out today and the noise is gone. Status returned to “all good”.
End of the road for this one. Always wanted a truck but discovered I don’t need one. Sold it to pay my taxes.
Three years later the memory of this truck still pisses me off.
