general maintenance questions

i just bought an 04 prerunner with the v6. it only has 53,500 miles and from what the dealer told me it was an old man that traded it in for a Mercedes convertible. he said it seemed more like the guys fat wife that could not get in the truck wanted to trade it more than he did! oh well.. my GAIN! ok... so at 55,000 i already plan on changin the oil to Mobil 1 full syn since A. I dunno what he was puttin in it. and B. after readin through the threads on here it seems the best way to go. also goin to change the diff and tranny to full syn. any suggestions on the last two? also goin to do a AFE pro dry filter. anything else yall can suggest? should i do a full tuneup on it? i was told i need to do the timing belt at 75,000 but i think ill wait till 100,000 unless i have any problems. i plan on this bein my last truck for quite some time. so wanna make sure i get it all. Mods so far include new wipers( figured out i needed them on day two!) new kenwood head unit is on the way and so are camo cover king seat covers. TIA and happy to be part of the taco family

 

I would replace pcv valve, fuel filter, spark plugs and wires, and air filter. Don't worry about the timing belt. We have non interference engines, so if the belt broke, it would not cause any damage. My truck has 207k and still has the original belt. I'm not changing it until it snaps.

 

anyone else goin to weigh in? i was expecting half a dozen different opinions at least

 

Agree with Bren's list except I'd recommend doing the timing belt at 90k as it says in the maintenance booklet. No point in letting the belt snap and getting stranded.

Lubricate driveshaft U-joints and repeat every 15k or 18 mo. per maintenance booklet. A dry U-joint joint can fail quickly and it won't always make noise before failing. Failed U-joint will cause the driveshaft to whip around and cause a great deal of collateral damage.

Replace the radiator at 10 years (i.e. now). The seam separating the engine coolant and transmission fluid sections in the radiator is known to develop leaks, allowing engine coolant to contaminate the tranmission fluid and turn it into a "strawberry milkshake", which will kill the transmission.

 

it just took me bout 5 min to read that... that pic is distracting! is that leak a recall if its a known problem? btw.. also jsut took me about 5 min to type this reply hahaha

 

Yea I have AAA and don't stray far from home, so that was my reasoning.

 

hahaha! AAA to the rescue... i think ill just do it at 100,000. its a ways off anyways and its already takin everything i have not to put 2 grand on my credit card on mods as it is. so an extra 300 for timing belt and water pump can wait....

now if i could only figure out my suspension problems. there is way too many opinions on the same topic on here. and the more i read up the more i get confused!!

 

bump...

doin this next week. auto zone has the pcv valve for 18 bucks? anyone know why its so high?? im used to em bein about 4 bucks! and from my research its lookin like denso plugs from the dealer are the best way to go?? what about plug wires? still wantin advice on if i should change the tranny fluid to synthetic or not... tia

 

You aren't getting many responses because the truck has under 60k on it.
There is not much to do until it gets to at least 90k.
Drive it, don't fix it.
Taint broke. Won't break.

 

One final note, screw Auto Zone / Advance / O'Reillys for parts. Get OEM. www.partznet.com.








You're welcome.

 

I think I payed $34 for my pcv at the dealer. I bought my densos and wires at toyotapartszone. Stick to oem.

 

so your saying i should not change the plugs or anything until 90k? just oil changes and such.... unless it breaks. this is my 1st toyota. im used to havin fords that i had to do maintenance on or it would break. and its the newest(lowest mileage) i have ever owned. new concept for me and just want to make sure i have it 10 years from now!!

 

If it were mine, I would follow the Toyota Tacoma maintenance schedule (available online) for everything, but I would replace the coolant with Toyota premixed 50/50 available from a dealer.
Plugs don't age.