Maintenance Advice

I have an 07 2.7L prerunner with 55K. I have never taken it in to toyota for maintenance. The only thing I have ever done has been oil changes and some other minor things on my own. Is there anything specifically that I should be concerned about involving any required maintenance? My main concern is with any bolts on the chassis or the like that may need to be tightened. I hear some rattling sometimes what I go over bumps...

 

The best thing you can do, is look in your owners manual for other maintenance. Things like, spark plugs, radiator flushes, transmission/diff/transfer case fluid changes, fuel pump filters, air filters, etc.

Crawl under the truck and start looking around. Wiggle things...check bolts, etc.

If you have a specific rattle, try to diagnose it. When does it happen? If you stand/bounce the front end (or rear end) while parked in the driveway - can you hear the rattle?

This rattle...are you sure its not something loose in your cargo compartments or something underneat your seats)?? That type of thing gets me all the time....

 

The bolts that hold the bed down can work loose... I had one get just a tiny bit loose on my '05 and made a rattle... It was quickly solved with a wrench!

As for the other stuff... In my opinion, for your truck to run the best and remain as 'cheap to own' as possible... PAY and perform the recommended services! That is every 5,000 miles (I do it at 3,000) have the oil changed (~$35). Every 15,000 is a medium size service (~$100) and every 30,000 is a major service (~$300).

It is like insurance... With my past two Tacomas each with over 100,000 miles in less than 5 years, the cost for failures to repair will be minimal... other than regular wear-out items like timing belt, brakes and tires:

My 2001 only had the water pump replaced at 90,000 miles (it didn't fail, but was seen dripping when they did the routene timing belt replacement).

My 2005 only had a wire harness replaced when the air bag warning light came on, after warantee period.

My 2010 only has about 5,000 miles so far... already had its first oil change.

 

I have found that Toyota does NOT lube the zerk fittings when I have had them change the oil!!!! And you have to pay more for the 4x4??? Yikes, two times this has happened to me...now I do all the maintenance stuff that I can!!!!

 

The cooling system, transmission and spark plugs are good for 100k miles according to the manual but most people here really love their trucks and will do the services sooner. The serpentine is a long life piece that uses some kind of dense neoprene foam material (?) and is supposed to go 60k+... I don't recall ever seeing 'serpentine belt replacement' anywhere in the factory service specs, only inspection. Most will recommend differential fluid (gear oil) replacement every 50k miles. Basically go by the manual's recommended service intervals and do as much of your own work as you are comfortable with. Tire rotations, oil changes and cabin/engine air filter replacements are easy. Document all your work and keep receipts for everything just in case the warranty is called upon in the future... hopefully it never will, but just in case. If you are concerned that some maintenance may be overlooked and you have the money, by all means take it to a dealer. Hope this helps you.