Vehicle Maintenance

Just don’t forget the blinker fluid!

I’m on my 3rd Tundra. 2003 that was totaled with 138000, 2010 that was sold in 2019 with 180000, and now a 2019 that has 35000. I change the oil (full synthetic) and top fluids off every 5-6000. Change the engine air filter when needed, brake pads and rotors when needed. I’ve never touched the tranny or differential on any of them. No cabin filters ever either. I’ve never replaced a spark plug yet. Haven’t done any of that for my wifes three 4-Runners either, or the two Tacoma’s I ran before the Tundra’s.
I do have one service tech at Kolar here in Duluth that does all of my oil changes on the truck and wifes 4-Runner. If they tell me there is something that needs fixing I’ll take it to a guy at a local shop that I trust for a look see.
I just had the wifes 2015 4 Runner with 137,000 miles on it in on Tuesday for an oil change. The service guy says “Hey, do you get maintenance done somewhere other than here? I dont see that we replaced tranny fluids and XXX when it hit 100,000 miles??” I said “yea, I must of, I’ll have to look it up at home. Just the oil change/fluids check today thanks”

Some people get lucky and can not touch the maintenance list and it works out for them. Do as you want but things that have fluids inside them to lubricate parts should be serviced. You are not winning any prize by leaving a shop that you trust with just the oil change if they made some recommendations, you also should have been made aware you don’t have to do all of them at the same time if budget is an issue.

The floor mat thing goes back to when Toyota was having issues with throttles sticking. They blamed the floor mats for it. I bet it will be in their maintenance schedule until their legal department ages out and the new people wonder what it’s about.

Most of that is just and inspection.Don’t go by the oil life monitor 5000 miles is a good mileage for oil changes.
If you live in an area where you don’t have a shop you can trust MOVE.

BigWerm wrote:

Just don’t forget the blinker fluid!

X2 and don’t forget to change the air in your tires.

We’re in a new realm. Instead of an old beater nickel and diming us to death were at a newer vehicle $100 to $1000 you to death at 30 thow to 50 thow.
Fortunately I can only afford the nickel and diming at 150000 thow.lol When all is said and done how much is one actually paying for the car after the loan is paid off. Bend over.

I’m pretty sure the oil life monitor is simply a meter that monitors how you drive and calculates a % of oil life based on that. It in no way samples the oil to determine how much life it has. On our fords you can change that meter from 5000 miles to 7500 or 10k.

My dude says its a good idea, I do it-he will tell me if its unecessary. My gut and his skill brought one of my cars to 300k before I sold it still running very well.

One thing I’m not seeing mentioned that should be done every 50-75K, change the gear oil or fluids in the differentials and transfer cases!
Those components dont have any type of filtration nor do they have any form of cooling.
Most transfer cases have chains in them that are continually moving any time the vehicle is in motion.
With zero filtration any debris from wear that isnt caught on the tiny magnets is being carried throughout the bearings, gears, and chains.

Trust me, I have seen more than my fair share of vehicles come in with over 100K on them and these parts havent been serviced, the glitter in the oil or the gray coloring of the oil tells the story that they are on their way out.
Posi track diffs suffer even worse as the additive that allows the clutches to slip in a turn wears out and the diff will chatter in a turn or shortly after when the spider gears come back into sync.

AWD vehicles have it even a little more worse because the transfer case has to take the load of uneven tire wear and when slippage is encountered on slick surfaces the transfer case load is greater as power is applied and once the vehicle is on a dry surface again, it takes a lot of distance travelled to undue the load on the transfer case, that is what you are feeling when the vehicle feels like its hunching up in a turn or like the brakes are applied in straight ahead travel.

Keep in mind, most differentials dont hold much more than two to three quarts, some as little as one quart, most AWD transfer cases dont even hold a quart.
Think about what these parts go through without the aid of filtration or cooling.

Thanks everyone

Make sure to tighten the “muffler belt”.

I change the oil in our 2011 suburban every 3k miles and 2010 Hyundai sonata every 5k miles. Full synthetic in both. Burb is going on 175k and 323k on Sonota, no major issues on either. I do tranny flushes as well, but don’t recall what mileage I do those at.

“A garage you trust”

The FD brought home her latest boy friend 15 or so years ago. I was chatting with him and when I asked him were he worked, he said “well, I just got fired from Goodyear where I’ve been working for two weeks.” Of course I asked what happened and he said he forgot to tighten an oil drain plug.

I agree that this could be real bad but they fired you for that? He said “it was my second time (in two weeks).”

Toyota’s needs nothing but air and cabin filters at 30k. Change the oil every 7,500 miles, rotate tires every oil change. Inspect all items you listed at oil change time. At 60k a trans drain and fill then at 100k spark plugs and belts.

I try to differentiate between routine, required, and recommended maintenance items. Anything that is necessary to maintain the warranty I typically have done, if it is a recommendation/suggestion then it likely does not get done. The best thing I ever did was find a reputable, local shop to perform the maintenance on our Toyotas. I took both of ours to the dealer while they were covered under Toyota care (free oil changes and service for 24 months) The dealerships have been surviving on their service departments and have become very aggressive (predatory actually) and expensive with their service recommendations.

I like when people come in and wont spend a few hundred bucks to fix things even if they are a safety issue. But they never have a second thought dropping a few hundred bucks if their keyless remote dont work.

Priorities!!