Toyota/Lexus 4.7 advice

Recent purchase of a 2007 GX470 (love it btw) with 69k miles on it. Timing belt is 'due' at 90k, but my feeling is that I should do it based on age...am I right? I think I'm right. Right?

The radiators on these tend to leak at the ends eventually as well; again, I'm leaning towards just doing that also (Denso radiator is ~$150 on RockAuto), seems like cheap insurance and it'll make doing the timing belt and water pump easier.

Is there anything else I should consider while I'm in there? I know these engines are fantastic, glad I found this one. As a side note, it dawned on me as I was driving it home that out of 18 cars I've owned...none have been Toyota products, no animus towards them, it just never happened til now.

TIA,

Russ

Is Denso OEM?  I have never had good luck with an aftermarket replacement radiator.  I'd trust and old worn out OEM unit over a Rockauto/Autozone part.

Definitely replace the radiator.  Mine cracked at 120k miles, 2 days before the "bomb winter cyclone" we had here, so I didn't have time to replace it myself and had to pay pound me in the a$$ dealer pricing to get it done before said winter cyclone.

I got rid of mine at 127k miles, it was constantly breaking between 115-127k miles and I tapped out on it.

The secondary air pump WILL eventually fail and throw a code and/or throw it into limp mode (seems to happen to most between 100k-120k miles). There is a bypass module/plates you can buy for about $190 that works great (though you need to hide it well if your state has emissions inspections). 

I did my original timing belt on my 05 Sequioa at about 95k miles (that was about 4 years ago) and it looked fine.

They get little pinholes in the headers (right in the flange where it bolts to the head). Doesn't hurt anything, but makes it sound like a sewing machine lol. Slightly annoying but mine has been like that for years. 

Otherwise, no issues for me from the engine (135k, and the last 20k is mostly towing stuff).

I have an 03 Tundra with the 4.7. You are probably fine on the timing belt for a while, but it wouldn't hurt at all to change out the rad for PM. Just google "strawberry milkshake toyota" to see why. Denso is considered OEM for Toyota.

Love this motor, and if I replace the Tundra with anything it will very likely be with a GX or a Sequoia. 

I have a Land Cruiser and in that world, it is recommended to change the brittle heater hose tees - not sure yours has it or not but worth a look.   Great vehicle choice congrats.  

Knock sensors. If you have any reason to pull the upper and lower intake manifold, replace them.

ProDarwin said:

Is Denso OEM?  I have never had good luck with an aftermarket replacement radiator.  I'd trust and old worn out OEM unit over a Rockauto/Autozone part.

Denso is OEM for these fella's

docwyte said:

Definitely replace the radiator.  Mine cracked at 120k miles, 2 days before the "bomb winter cyclone" we had here, so I didn't have time to replace it myself and had to pay pound me in the a$$ dealer pricing to get it done before said winter cyclone.

I got rid of mine at 127k miles, it was constantly breaking between 115-127k miles and I tapped out on it.

Doc, what kind of problems were you having? I've read extensively on these and found no mentions of serious problems.

irish44j (Forum Supporter) said:

The secondary air pump WILL eventually fail and throw a code and/or throw it into limp mode (seems to happen to most between 100k-120k miles). There is a bypass module/plates you can buy for about $190 that works great (though you need to hide it well if your state has emissions inspections). 

little pinholes in the headers (right in the flange where it bolts to the head). Doesn't hurt anything, but makes it sound like a sewing machine lol. Slightly annoying but mine has been like that for years. 

Otherwise, no issues for me from the engine (135k, and the last 20k is mostly towing stuff).

Already have the secondary air pump work-around on the way. I debated a long time with myself about the non-VVTi engine without this issue and decided I'd rather deal with it and have MORE POWA! ;)

HopmanJones said:

I have an 03 Tundra with the 4.7. You are probably fine on the timing belt for a while, but it wouldn't hurt at all to change out the rad for PM. Just google "strawberry milkshake toyota" to see why. Denso is considered OEM for Toyota.

Love this motor, and if I replace the Tundra with anything it will very likely be with a GX or a Sequoia. 

Thanks Hopman

Caprigrip said:

I have a Land Cruiser and in that world, it is recommended to change the brittle heater hose tees - not sure yours has it or not but worth a look.   Great vehicle choice congrats.  

No heater T'ees on these Capri, they (some) have rear a/c, but none have rear heat which is where the heater t'ees come into play

lotusseven7 (Forum Supporter) said:

Knock sensors. If you have any reason to pull the upper and lower intake manifold, replace them.

That's a new one lotus, thank you. I'll have to research the issue. Good to know.

In reply to russde :

We owned it from 39k miles to 127k miles, bought it as a CPO vehicle.  Had no issues with it from 39k miles to 113k miles, typical Toyota stuff, so tires, brakes, oil, gas etc.  The Dealer did the timing belt/water pump for us under CPO because the water pump was beginning to weep some.

From 113k-127k I did a ton of work.  I spent $7k on it in that time period, which was about 18 months with me doing almost all the work myself.  Some was basic maintenance but a lot wasn't.  Here's the list...

Tires, front brakes, alignment, serpentine belt, spark plugs, air filter, cabin air filter, water leak on the drivers front roof rack foot (was leaking onto the fuse box and causing the truck to freak out electrically), LED front headlight bulbs, gas strut mod for the rear door, Tundra windshield washer nozzles, battery, radiator, alternator, battery again (alternator torched it on its way out), both front axles, shocks/struts (got lucky and grabbed a complete TRD Pro 4Runner setup off craigslist basically new for almost nothing), then the radiator 2 days before a winter cyclone.   That forced me to take it to the dealer and pay an enormous amount to have it fixed before the storm as it was my sole winter driver.

The nail in the coffin was when the steering rack started to leak.  It was also at the mileage where the secondary air pump fails, along with the rear air suspension, so I knew I'd have to replace those too.  My state does an OBD2 scan for emissions, so I couldn't just delete the secondary air pump.  The steering rack was a ~$2800 job at the Toyota Indy shop.  Between that and me doing the secondary air pump and rear air springs I would've spent practically what the truck was worth in maintenance in 1.5 years.

I was just done with it, I was tired of constantly working on it.  Yes, you could certainly argue that I'd pretty much replaced everything and after fixing the steering rack, secondary air pump and rear air springs would have another 100k trouble free miles but I'd had enough.  If I hadn't been doing the work myself the total would've easily been double what I paid.  This wasn't even including any of the fun stuff I wanted to do like upgrade the stereo to a double din apple car play unit, maybe some offroad gear, etc, etc.

In reply to docwyte :

Just wow!

Here's hoping yours was special.

my 99 land cruiser has 431k on it as a reference.

I had a 02 LandCruiser with 220k on it when I finally rehomed it.  The front axle shafts on this one had to be replaced and then the replacement boots cracked and leaked right away. That was expensive and frustrating. The brake booster went out, and there is like one other Toyota product (certain model 4Runner, of a specific 3 year run, if I remember correctly)  that had a similar brake booster that fit but finding one anywhere, even the junk yard was not cheap. The brake booster pump issue is what caused me to get rid of it, which probably was minor but I was just frustrated at that point. 
 

Sold the LC and for the past 3.5 years my wife has been rocking a 2011 GX460.  4.6 has timing chains instead of belts, but a lot of the same stuff applies. Just over 105k on hers. Secondary air pump in the these was a recall item "if" it failed before 10 years or 100k miles. Hers did it at 96k and the dealer did the replacement free of charge. 
 

I did the plastic Ts on one of them, not that hard of a job, but I looked funny lying on the engine with my feet sticking straight out above the front grill. 

octavious said:

 

I did the plastic Ts on one of them, not that hard of a job, but I looked funny lying on the engine with my feet sticking straight out above the front grill. 

ive looked at doing the t's on mine, and man are they in the worst place possible, yes they are fairly easy to access but you are laying on the engine, there is tons of room around them, but they are in the direct center rear of the engine bay on a tall 4x4.

The LC's are just built better.  I have friends with 80's and 100's with twice the mileage I had on my GX and they haven't had to do half the work I had to do.

The timing of when the radiator went really pissed me off, it turned a $250 job into a $1000-1200 job since I simply didn't have time to fix it myself before an enormous winter storm hammered us here.

What killed me keeping the truck tho was the steering rack, literally almost $3k to fix it from the Indy.  Or I spend an entire weekend doing it myself, making my wife pissed off at me and then hoping the rebuilt rack holds up so I don't have to do it again. 

In cruising the forums, my experience wasn't all that uncommon.  Radiator, alternator, axles all go out.  What was a little uncommon was the steering rack...

docwyte said:

Definitely replace the radiator.  Mine cracked at 120k miles, 2 days before the "bomb winter cyclone" we had here, so I didn't have time to replace it myself and had to pay pound me in the a$$ dealer pricing to get it done before said winter cyclone.

I got rid of mine at 127k miles, it was constantly breaking between 115-127k miles and I tapped out on it.

I’m surprised by that.  Isn’t this architected basically the same as the 4.7 Tundra?  Some guys towing hotshot with the 4.7 Tundra have realized 1,000,000 miles.  It’s an anvil.  

Have a 4.7L Tundra.  Secondary air injecton pump failed -- replaced with the bypass simulator and blockoff plates, which was a 15-20min job.  No other problems so far at 180k miles.

In reply to A 401 CJ :

It's basically a tarted up V8 4Runner.  I expect things to wear out, but not all at the same time.  The water leak and the steering rack didn't seem quite normal but shizz happens I guess.  The place I got the rebuilt axles from (CVJ in town here) told me they'd been selling a bunch of the rebuilt racks for the GX's, so maybe my failure wasn't all that uncommon. 

Dunno.  Sometimes I miss it because it was just enormous, I never worried about whether whatever I wanted to carry would fit in it.  The rest of the time?  Not so much.  It handled like a whale and got the commiserate gas mileage...

Tyler H (Forum Supporter) said:

Have a 4.7L Tundra.  Secondary air injecton pump failed -- replaced with the bypass simulator and blockoff plates, which was a 15-20min job.  No other problems so far at 180k miles.

AND....my CEL came on out of the blue on lunch.  Never brag about a car's reliability.  

EDIT:  P0136 -- about time for an O2 sensor.

yeah but nothing looks better than one with a mild lift and Method wheels.  This is some of my favorite truck porn.

not mine.  Belongs to someone over on advrider.com.

#2

A 401 CJ said:

docwyte said:

Definitely replace the radiator.  Mine cracked at 120k miles, 2 days before the "bomb winter cyclone" we had here, so I didn't have time to replace it myself and had to pay pound me in the a$$ dealer pricing to get it done before said winter cyclone.

I got rid of mine at 127k miles, it was constantly breaking between 115-127k miles and I tapped out on it.

I’m surprised by that.  Isn’t this architected basically the same as the 4.7 Tundra?  Some guys towing hotshot with the 4.7 Tundra have realized 1,000,000 miles.  It’s an anvil.  

NatGeo had some expedition a few years back where they literally drove around the world via "direct routes" (i.e. not worrying about roads) in an essentially stock 1st gen Sequioa and Tundra (with larger tires and recovery gear, of course) and had no mechanical issues (at least not that they mentioned). 

docwyte said:

The timing of when the radiator went really pissed me off, it turned a $250 job into a $1000-1200 job

At an independent auto mechanic it cost me $1200 to replace my radiator at 75,000 miles on my 2016 Chevrolet Silverado 1500.  He probably jammed me but was lower with the other issues than 2 other places I had quote.

My truck is my sales job is my commissions.  I'm better off selling hoses to others although I try to tackle all I can.   

I can't answer your questions, but I really want an 03 or 04 GX470 in Sand Dollar Pearl. I know I'll miss the convenience of the Sienna, but I love the GX470.