New to me truck maintenance

I got a used truck, 2012 DCLB with 112,000 miles with pretty detailed maintenance logs. I've finally had time to go through them all and I've found that there hasn't been much done beside oil changes every 5000 miles. It was serviced by the dealership for the first 55k but since then its been at jiffy lube. At 60k JL did a gearbox lubricant top off which I'm assuming was the rear differential. At 100k JL did an expone engine treatment, fuel system cleaning gas, and coolant fill along with the oil change. I don't really know what the engine treatment or fuel system thing is but what worries me is that the maintenance schedules calls for transmission fluid drain and fill, differential drain and fill and other stuff every 30k that from what I can find has never been done. I am planning on doing all of the maintenance myself in the future and I want to know if I should do these things now or just not touch them. The truck is running fine, no problems whatsoever, and I don't want to screw anything up that was working by trying to make it better. I am leaning towards doing them now but I just wanted the opinions of people more experienced than myself in this regard. Thanks in advance for the advice

Another factor is I'm planning on taking a ~9000 mile road trip to Alaska in June so I need it to get through that with no problems.

 

This thread is a good start. Welcome aboard.

www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2nd-gen-tips-mods-more.7174/

 

Need some details is it automatic, 4x4

 

My bad, its a 4.0L V6 4x4 automatic transmission SR5 trim. Everything is stock so far

 

Just bought my 2011 used 6 months ago with 115k on it. First thing I did was front/rear diff, t-case, oil, spark plugs, cabin air filter, engine air filter, coolant flush, serpentine belt, tire rotation and alignment, then did a can of

$24 BG 44k Fuel System Cleaner Power Enhancer 11oz.

BG 44k fuel system cleaner for good measure. TW has step by step guides for any and every type of maintenance. Your manual should have service intervals as well, you get what you put into your truck.

 

Power steering flush and pcv valve, auto trans fluid flush are other items to address

 

Yep, do them.

This vehicle is likely just fine. But squaring it up is a good idea.

At the very worst you'll have your own 'baseline' to keep on schedule for the future.

To another point, your reading of the records........... do that before making the purchase in the future. It may influence your decision, or at the very least your negotiations.

 

at 191k miles I have done nothing major and this thing just likes to run

 

Here are some things you could do.
1. Coolant flush (Original coolant is good for 100k miles, then supposed to be changed every 50k after that)

2. Brake fluid replacement. I highly recommend this especially if the fluid in the brake fluid reservoir isn’t a light goldish oil color. If its black or very dark it would be good to suck that fluid out, and bleed all the brake lines until fresh clean fluid comes out. You won’t find anything in the manual about this, but if I remember correctly brake fluid is supposed to be changed every 3 years or so.

3. Front diff, transfer case, and rear diff oils. You can find guides on here and they are pretty simple. You shouldn’t have issues but make sure you always take the fill plug out first. If you cannot get the fill plug out and you drain the fluid, you are not going to be a happy camper.

4. You could do a power steering flush. I don’t see them talked about often but I like to think fresh oil will keep the seals in the system happier.

5. Last but not least, you could service the transmission. There is a lot of information out there on how to do it properly on these trucks. If you don’t want to pay for a full flush I think a good alternative to that would be to drain the pan and refill it. Make sure you follow the guides on this site to check and make sure the fluid is at the proper level, since there is no dipstick on the transmission in the 6 cylinder trucks.


Now do you have to do any of these things? No, but it would give peace of mind and if you are a DIYer you can do most of these for realtively cheap and you will know what has and has not been done to the truck. Just my two cents. I bought my truck at 47,500 miles and I did all of the above at 50,000 miles. So basically what I am saying is I might be a nut, but those are some of the items you could do.

Also I forgot to mention, spark plugs. They are supposed to be changed every 30,000 miles because Toyota recommends copper plugs instead of iridium.

 

do this and don't have any worries!

plus do brake inspection!

Original battery? change it!

 

Awesome, thanks everybody for your input! I'll try to get everything you guys suggested done in the next couple weeks.

 

Check your rear brakes. Pull off drums, clean, adjust