2005 Prerunner starting to show its age

I took my truck into the dealer today for a rear diff. oil change. They did an inspection of my truck, free of charge, and gave me a run down on what needed attention. I guess my 130,000 mile truck is starting show its age.

For reference, i had spark plugs, serpentine belt, coolant, rear diff. fluid all changed when i bought the truck a year ago with 99,000 miles.

Today, the Toyota dealership recommended i replace spark plugs, a coolant flush, and noted that the front seal was leaking as well as the rear seal connecting the trans to drive shaft.

I'm not a mechanical person and don't have a bunch of tools, or know how, but i'm guessing this will cost a pretty penny.

Beyond this, everything else works great, for now. I hope i can hit 300,000 miles like a member on here. I guess the ounce of prevention is worth it. As much as a new truck with 0 miles would be nice, it'll cost 10x more in the long run than what it would on regular maintenance on a 2005 truck.

 

Its just parts wear out when you drive the truck so just get it fixed and enjoy your truck.

 

If you had the coolant replaced a year ago you do not need it again after only a year and 30K Miles.

 

plugs every 30,000 so do those.

 

That's what i saw in the maint. schedule. I've read some plugs are 100,000 miles, so it's odd that ours are 30,000.

Beyond that, i'll get the seals changed.

I swapped out the suspension within the year to a 2012 TRD Offroad spring/shock, front and rear with only 10,000 miles on them. I also have 2010 headlights, no scratches, no fog, nice and clean!

Thanks guys!

 

thats gonna be very expensive man, climb under it and do some close inspection, do you see and 'wet' spots on front and rear seals? if you can get under there and take some pictures of the engine and where engine attaches to tranny and the front of driveshaft and let some folks here take a look. granted i do alot of maintenance, but my 2005 prerunner has been through hell, run at high rpms for extended times, put in horrible off-road situations, pulled heavy loads and trailers and i have not had any seals go bad. are you loosing oil? check the dip stick like once a week does it get lower? watch your coolant, are you loosing coolant? the dealer maybe trying to get you to do work you may not need.

cheers,
disco

 

Yeah the plugs every 30k is disappointing in this day and age.

 

Honestly, unless you are noticing drips of fluid from the transmission / engine on the ground i wouldnt even bother with the seals...

 

I can definitely take some pictures tomorrow and i'll upload them. I'm painting a bed rack tomorrow, so i may as well see what y'all think.

I haven't noticed any dripping or puddles. I'll check the oil levels and update. Last time i checked, it was topped off. When would you recommend replacing seals? When noticeably loosing a lot of oil?

 

If I see a puddle, or dripping, time for a new seal. If it's just wet and the level is still within spec, don't sweat it. Check your fluid levels at every fill up, and keep on truckin'.

 

exactly.

Seals do weep as they age... but so long as its not to the point where its leaking so bad you are getting small puddles i wouldnt worry about it...

 

Showing age? pshhhh. Let me guess, the oil leak got you doubting, right? All Toyota's leak eventually. It's the nature of the beast. Let her leak. Top her off if need be. Nothing to worry about. Toyota is like a woman. . . She'll leak every now and then, but you can't live without her.

 

You should have said:

All Vehicles leak eventually. It's the nature of the beast.

I have had fewer leaks with Toyota than I have with other makes. That is just my personal experience.

 

Best line ever

 

Front crank seal is a breeze to replace. There should be a DIY somewhere. Look for a write up on installing an NST lite crank. I changed my seal 2 times already, also with the water pump, which is, surprisingly very easy to change also. Your water pump should be going out pretty soon. The toyota water pump is an Aisan water pump for the 2005. It's funny since the toyota logo has a "flat" blank area, like it was ground off. Once the crank is off you can take a flat head and pry the seal off carefully. And watch a video on google on how to install a crank seal. No special tools really needed but just take a sharpie and mark where the notch on the crank and block are for proper alignment. You can make your own tap for the seal with some plastic piping, just clean and round off the edges. FYI, your supposed to change the rear dif fluid every 30k, If you used the toyota fluid, i would use a better 75w-90 full synthetic fluid. I have royal purple in the rear and after the second change it i noticed how clean the fluid was and will be changing every 60k, or doing the finger check. Stock dif fluid is like molasses. Unless you tow you don't need to change your coolant for 60-80k miles.

Things you should change.
Spark plugs, front crank seal, all filters, check for battery leaks (get an AGM sealed battery), Add an engine desludge before your oil change, use OEM filters as they have the largest surface area. https://parts.olathetoyota.com/tacoma-oil-filter-comparison.html
You have the same truck as mine 2005 prerunner, but i only have 108k miles. I just recently replaced my driver side fog light wire as it burned out at the connector (weird). You can add an E-fan and take some parasitic loss off the engine, lighter pulley, better air filter (drop in dry flow).