Any Members in Arkansas?

Happy Thanksgiving to you both. I'm over in TN at my parents' house.

 

I think we're gonna find a spot for Friday night. Happy Thanksgiving Arkansas TWers!

 

I’m going to ignore your sentence about being cheap and just tell you to swap in a 3.4

 

Due to some unfortunate family events of the month, I’ve added to my Toyota collection. Today I detailed the interior, then went to get the state inspection and the free exterior car wash. It’s a 2011 4.6L with 210,000 miles. I just ordered some Firestone airbags for the rear end on a Black Friday sale and I also ordered some new CV boots as both CVs have dry-rotted and cracked inner boots.

 

Those 4.6Ls weren't bad at all. Let us know how it drives!

 

Spent a good chunk of today taking down a cedar tree at my parents' place. Got a bit exciting when the second trunk tried falling the wrong direction, which would have dropped it on a power line. We had to throw a chain around it and pull it over the right way.

First trunk down and almost cleaned up.


Dad and brother starting the pile.


Nephew on grass fire patrol.

 

I’m really not a fan of how it drives, but it’s nice to have a truck around to do truck things that my short bed Tacoma isn’t very good at doing.

The steering is SO light, the steering wheel is small, there is virtually no feedback through the accelerator petal or the steering wheel, the seats are god awful, and the gas mileage sucks. But otherwise it’s a beat up truck that is great at doing truck stuff so I’m gonna keep it.

 

I changed my spark plugs yesterday and they seemed to have a lot of gunk built up on the threads and around the crush washer. Is this normal? I don't remember what they looked like last time I changed them. Also the 15ft lb of torque that toyota recommends on spark plugs scared me a little bit seemed to tight to me

 

Any idea how many miles are on those plugs? That's a huge part of gauging what they should look like. They are a little dirty but the electrodes look pretty good.

I would say not to worry about them looking like that if they were changed when they were supposed to be but it's odd that the 3rd one is cleaner. May be some oil blowby on the top two. Does it use oil? Have you changed/checked PCV valve?

 

They have around 30,000 on them

 

It don't really use any oil. Not sure what pcv valve is i will Google it

 

Positive Crankshaft Ventilation Valve ensures you don't get positive pressure in the crank case. In extreme situations positive pressure can cause oil to blow by seals and rings. Honestly it's a long shot for any issue you may be having but it's a cheap, generally easy to change part that a lot of people overlook.

If mine looked like that at 30k and it's not using oil I probably wouldn't worry about it too much. Maybe run a cleaner additive in the fuel just to be safe.

 

Alright thanks for the info. It's been running fine no issues but I will check it and run a cleaner. Do you torque your plugs to the 15 ft lb?

 

I do. If you don't use enough torque the crush washer may not crush.

Also use antisieze. Buddy who works for a major parts retailer said a manufacturer rep tried to tell him you don't need antiseize for their brand. Doubt the manufacturer rep would come by the house and help me remove a seized plug though so...

 

Esp on plugs. Nothing like fighting two seized plugs on a 4.0 for half a day in a driveway...

 

Alright I did torque them but I was feeling a little uneasy about it seemed pretty tight to me for aluminum

 

I use copper anti-seize on spark plugs. Never had a problem with stuck plugs on airplanes or cars

well, actually I think I ran out of the copper stuff and I have some stuff in a gray tube now

 

Hope y’all had a good day. The weather was awesome here!

 

Looks like that pup is growing up to be a great adventure buddy!

Sunny but cool here, girls went out and took care of all the leaves today while I slaved away on Zoom meetings.

 

The pup is in love with all the leaves on the ground. She’s going to be sad when they all disappear!