Can you make it to 400,000? 3.4l V6 FSM

Well I don't have any brackets on mine I've got the two bolts that hold it at the exhaust and two bolts that hold it at the EGR but that's all 575000 miles never had a problem.
Never heard of this problem before


I say it's a defective pipe

 

they are badass!!! like you said keep up on the external maintenance they'll run forever

I just remembered a shitty thing that happened and I can't believe I forgot it in my list im gonna edit it but,
my driver side balljoint went bad, there was all kinds of slop in the wheel, so I replaced it, but due to lack of funds didn't have the ability at the time to replace the passenger side, but it wasn't in nearly as bad of shape. I had forgotten about the problem I had in my driver side and neglected checking the passenger side balljoint for a year. REPLACE ALL ball joints 'as quickly' as possible (IMO) once you notice one is bad. long story short, I had a dramatic failure of my passenger side lower ball joint, and i'm more than lucky it was while I was pulling out of the driveway, not going down the highway. this was an original lower ball joint and it failed at around 330,000 so this is another testament to Toyotas parts, and a testament to the problems that come from neglect. I 100% should have replaced the ball joint at the same time or shortly after doing the driver side.

 

hmmm, if I can find the receipt I wonder if Toyota will refund it/give me a new one.

your experience makes me think the same as you.

i've looked and looked for anyone talking about this and like you, no one else seems to have had this problem or heard of it.
gahhhhhh

Im gonna make sure to talk to the Toyota parts dealer and make sure if I get another one and it breaks it will be covered...

 

I'm at 503k on my 01 5vzfe. Nothing more than oil, coolant, water pump and timing belt, and plugs and wires

 

what mileage did you get it at?

 

450k at the end of 2015

 

Nice, that sounds like she had a deliberate PO who took care of her really well if that all you’ve had to do since you’ve bought it!

 

Hey i've got a question, where does your temperature gauge read on your truck once you've been driving and the car is up to temp?

Eventually mine will rest around 1/4 or so, but i've noticed that it will warm up to just under half for quite a while sometimes before finally dropping down to 1/4. sound normal?

Does this happen to you? or anyone else? Im pretty sure i've got the OE radiator on her

Im wondering.. maybe its not working as good as it should be and my engine is running a little bit too hot causing the egr pipe to get to hot and fail? does that seem like a possibility?

thanks for everyones input

 

Mine, I think it gets close to halfway when warmed up but it stays there, doesn't fluctuate at all after it's warmed no matter the temp outside.

 

Your truck's temp runs at the bottom quarter? That sounds odd to me, maybe you live in a very cold environment and your engine isn't warming up all the way?

Mine does the same. Actually I recall reading the owner manual and this is what's supposed to happen. Though I could be wrong..

 

I have the Champion 3 core radiator new 4 months ago. I have a scan guage that tells me EXACTLY the real temperature. The factory guage does not tell you the whole truth.
My scan guage temperature rides at 188-190. Stock dash Guage shows 1/3 .You should invest in a scanguage guage. They are pretty inexpensive now days compared to 5 years ago.
The EGR will NOT change your temperature of your motor.
If your temperature is going high then setting back down it could be one of a lot of issues.
Thermostat
Fan clutch
Radiator getting plugged from over time
Ac issues effecting engine temp
Collapsed radiator hose
Bottom of fan shroud section missing
Loose fan belt or worn fan belt
Etc
Etc

 

Don't first gens call for 5w-30? Is there an advantage to running something different?

Good call on doing the thermostat at the same time. I did my radiator and hoses back in March because the radiator ruptured while I was driving. Luckily the replacement wasn't too bad, and I found that you can get to the radiator bolts through the grill if you have enough extensions and angle pieces.

Ha! I too have an embarrassing squeak while in reverse. I'm starting to hear it a little when in drive too. Can you point me to a diagram of what you replaced? A shop told me it was the carrier bearing going bad. It's on my list of things to replace.

 

okay, thats a good idea, id like to know for sure whats going on with the temp.

good to know

heres the thing though, according to other folks on here, if its correct that its 'normal' for the temp gauge to be about half way, then my temp isn't overheating then coming back down. When I usually notice is highway driving after ive been driving for at least 30 min at *1/2 temp, while really driving her, 4,000rpm shifting, downshifting, not being "gentle", and eventually the temp gauge slowly drops down to where it riding just above 1/4. ill take a picture of it the next time im driving.

info about driving conditions, I live in Colorado, so im at 5280 ft above sea level and Im consistently driving up to the mountains above 9,000 ft, it is moderate temperatures here but temps hit 100s, and when she's been driving she just cools down, but my heater works like a F**kin CHAMP, maybe this could be due to the gauge just poorly reading the "true" temperature of the engine

If it were overheating I would suspect the radiator, im gonna get one of those gauges so that I can make sure my temp gauge isn't completely screwed up and that it isn't overheating, I dont think it is, cause I would have warped some shit by now. its done this the whole 60,000miles i've had it. Ive drove to Telluride multiple times from where I live is a 7 hour drive, no issues, but temp at just above 1/4 most of the way....

radiator hoses are in good shape

fan shroud fully intact

new belts, as far as I can tell they are all tight.

im thinking your earlier comment about a defective EGR pipe is more likely for it breaking.

The temp thing I was just curious of because I thought that half way might be too hot and over heating my EGR pipe. but it doesn't seem like it from what y'all are saying about your temp gauges.

The slightly more than 1/4 is the curious thing but unless any of you guys think I should worry about that im gonna go ahead and stick the defective EGR pipe as most likely, and not worry about the temp, unless I see it going above half.

(*EDIT;DETAILS)

 

ya it will drive for about 30min. at 1/2 then will eventually drop a little bit above 1/4....

 

Well to be 100% honest I cannot claim that there is any benefit or deny that there are any issues with doing it. This is something my Grandpa told my dad when he was young, that on a high mileage vehicle, he always went up in viscosity.

Im actually really glad this came up, does anyone have any actual information on wether or not this helps, hurts, or is benign?
Again this is something ive done through family 'tradition', and ive not ever looked into it all that much.

Any info is much appreciated!!!

 

maybe its the oil keeping my engine so cool

 

Fair enough! Subbed to learn more about this stuff. My truck is at 239,000 miles (I got her at 141,000) and I've been running the high mileage mobile 1 synthetic 5w-30. I'll usually do the changes around 7,000 miles, but I see some people push it much further, while others do it based on time. Not sure what's best, but as long as the oil comes out clean I'm happy.

Edit: Grammar

 

Yup, I’m in Colorado too, Denver and even when I go to the divide 10,000 my temp stays the same.
Get the scanguage and you will know exactly what’s going on

 

I got mine at 286,000 so definitely keep an eye on the things on the list on my OP, ball joints especially, dont let them get to the point of failure, you dont want to risk being lucky like me and having it fail at the end of the drive way instead of on the highway (see post #23)

Another thing family tip I was always told was "NEVER SYNTHETIC it doesn't transfer heat the same"!! Again same as before, I can't say this makes any actual difference or is empirically true, but ill pass it on....

 

awesome thanks for the info! this is really helpful to have some other tacos to compare! Again thanks everyone for the input!!!

im gonna be investing in one of those scangauges asap