Cross Country Trip w/ High Miles

My tacoma has been with me since the beginning at just 7 miles on the odo, she now has 175k. I stayed on top of all maint. and have never had any major issues. I recently drove from the west coast to the east coast. Going over the mountains in AZ caused my radiator cap to fail. Despite having an inspection, belt, and all fluids replaced prior to the trip.

Now that I am heading back to the west coast next year for work, I am concerned.

Whats everyones advice on making the drive back? Should I sell it here and we just pile in my wifes car instead? (with the intention of getting a newer vehicle somehwhere on the other side)

 

When the radiator cap failed did the engine overheat & blow steam, or what? What were the signs / symptoms of it failing?

Also, how soon after the inspection did it fail? Immediately, i.e. within 20-40 miles of the date/time of the inspection & fluids? Or some weeks / few hundred miles after? Is there a chance the mechanic didn't put it on tight?

 

The cap, diagnosed during a pressure test in new mexico, determined it was the gasket on the cap that failed. This was several hundred miles into the trip after being in the mountains (made my 2.7 really have to work getting up those). I had some toyota fluid with me so I was able to fill the reservoir until I got it to that shop.

No overheating or steam. I just so happened to notice the issue a rest stop.

 

Then absolutely, positively NO, you don't sell the vehicle over something like that.
Or, it's a free country, you can do what you want, but that thought would never even cross my mind. I'd buy a new radiator cap & keep on truckin.

AFAIK the 2nd gen 4-cylinder 2.7L is probably one of the more reliable engines out there in the world of passenger / light truck vehicles, full stop. (Though I don't know that much about it -- I have a 4.0L V6 so my knowledge focuses more on that.)

 

Gotcha. I definitely wouldn't sell it because of the cap failure, but more so to avoid any potential reliability issues driving that 3k miles back to the west. It wasn't a huge issue, but enough to cause some decent stress, trip delays and logistic issues. So it was just a thought.

I agree that the thing has been more reliable than ever. But that first huge trip really made her work and I could feel it when the trip was over.

 

Maybe say more about the conditions of the trip, particularly the amount of cargo and/or trailer (?) the truck was pulling?

I'll also qualify by saying that I've never taken my Taco (or any vehicle) over the Rockies. Max altitude / climb has been from sea-level to 8K feet over about 50 miles, with a 4.0L V6 -- a different matter than trying to pull hard at >9-10K and higher altitudes.

If you aren't in a hurry I would just keep the RPMs at a reasonable level while climbing passes, i.e. 3.1 to 3.3K rpms or below, and accept whatever speed that happens to be. I.e. if it's 40mph in the right lane, so be it, just turn on your hazard flashers. Slow & steady wins the race.

Another strategy, if heavily loaded or trailering, or you just feel like pushing 4K+ rpms for long stretches, would be to pull over every 10 mins or so and let the engine cool for a few minutes while idling, not shut off (so that coolant keeps circulating), before continuing.

 

Conditons were not crazy, no towing, moderate load in the back of household stuff. I just think those grades going up the i40 really pushed it to a new place. I'll definitely take all your advice and pull the slow card in the future as well.

 

The radiator cap just isn’t a big deal. I wouldn’t worry about it for a second. You have owned it since new, you know the truck better than anyone. If you feel comfortable with it just go. As long as all your maintenance is up to date just
load up and head west young man.

 

That's one way to look at it. Another for the more engineering / redundancy-minded would be to take an aircraft-maintenance approach. In that industry the tend to replace parts according to an hours/flight cycles basis sometime well before predicted failure.

Course in aviation they test stuff a lot more there to determine what those hours/cycles should be, but for a Tacoma it would not be unreasonable to expect the alternator, and separately, the starter to need replacing at some time, anywhere between 150K & 250K miles, though some people of course get much more out of them and some less. Another item would be the water pump, although this also can go for a very long time in many cases.

No doubt OP is changing the oil at least every 5K miles? If not, definitely reduce your OCI to 5K or less.

 

I agree but we don’t really anything about the truck. Don’t even know the year. Don’t know if or when the water pump has ever been replaced or the hoses, or serpentine belt or alternator or battery or anything else. Unless the op wants to share a detailed history just go for it. I figure maintenance is up to date, inspect before trip was good, it made it out to wherever just fine except minor rad cap problem, just turn that sucker around and head home.

 

Vehicle info: 2011 2.7 4x4, regular maint. and fluid changes at 2 different points in time. Recent fluid replacement was prior to trip. Oil at every 3k. No major issues ever. Once there was a small leak in a coolant hose. 175k Miles.

 

Should be good to go. Here are my guesstimates of the % chance that any of these critical parts will need to be replaced within the next 25K miles:

Starter - 50%
Alternator - 30%
Water Pump - 10%

I should add that the starter & alternator are generally consider as "wearing / consumable" parts, they are not reasonably expected to last the entire life of the vehicle, although they occasionally do.

 

As always, this sort of thing is speculative and anecdotal, but people reasonably expect their 4.0L V6 1GR-FE's (2nd gens) to routinely make it to 300K miles. They also frequently make 350K-400K miles.

From what I understand, the I4-2.7L engine is, if anything even more reliable than the 4.0L V6 (because the I4 is mechanically simpler**) and so can frequently make 400K+ miles.

(**Only 1 cylinder bank + valve train. Avoids issues related to the separate banks in a "V" engine getting gradually unbalanced & out-of-time due to the inherently-uneven amount of slack the timing chain accumulates over very long mileage intervals.)