Just passed 200,000 miles need advice and maintenance help.

Hello all! My 2005 Toyota Tacoma 4x4 manual 4cylinder access cab just ticked over 200,000 miles. I had the oil changed and a general checkup performed by my local Toyota dealership. The truck is doing great and there are no reported issues!

The dealership, however, was very adamant (almost pushy) about me bringing the truck in every three months for an oil change. This brought up some questions and i figured this was a great place to ask!

1. I drive an average of 100 miles a month. Most months its about 40 miles but some months its a couple hundred. How often should i change the oil and which oil should i request they use?
   
2. Is there any other annual maintenance i should do for my truck considering its age/mileage?
3. Are there any one-offs i should check into? Things that a dealership might have missed on a general inspection.

I LOVE this truck and can't wait for many more years with it. Any advice is much appreciated!

 

Not sure what your capability is, but the oil is very easy to change on these. You can't change it too often so 3000 wouldn't hurt and you'd save a lot of money if you DIY.

 

I haven't done it before but i have yet to run into a DIY that a youtube tutorial couldn't solve! I'm still unsure on how often (ie, how many months) i should change it. 3000 miles is two years of driving at my current rate. Should i do a change every 6 months or still do it every three like the dealership suggests?

 

Change it every six month.

 

I have a 4.0 and get some of the milky froth that indicates water in the oil. This is just condensation from what I've read and it's due to the extension tube for the oil fill cap.

Just saying that there is condensation that forms in the engine same as it does in the gas tank. Those times when you're not driving much, I'd take it for a ride just to heat it up and vaporize any condensation that may have formed. And I'd change it at 6 month intervals.

I run full synthetic and change it about once a month with between 3 and 5 thousand miles. 5 quart jugs of Mobil 1 at wally world are very inexpensive compared to buying 5-quart bottles.

 

Of course a dealership will urge you to come back as often as they can justify. They will make more money if you do. But I don't understand how a Toyota dealer can justify 3-month service intervals since they should know what your truck needs: oil/filter change every 6 months or 5,000 miles, whichever comes first. For you that is 6 months since you don't drive it much. That is the most frequent service your truck will need, since it has no issues.

1. You have 200,000 miles and no issues. Ask them to use whatever your truck has been using. Probably 5w30 conventional and standard OEM filters (or similar). Any name brand oil (including Toyota oil) designed for passenger cars/light trucks will be fine.
2. If they have never been serviced before, I would definitely service the transmission and differential. If they have been serviced before, check the mileage interval - you may be due, maybe not. These are important maintenance items for continued trouble-free service. Severe service will require more frequent maintenance.
3. I suggest checking the U-joints, carrier bearing, and all other major suspension/drivetrain parts -- 200k is approaching "high mileage Toyota" status, and inspections become increasingly important. Serpentine should be changed every 100k or sooner - my first one went nearly 100k and looked great, but it was time.

 

I change my oil every 10,000 miles. I use a full synthetic oil and filter designed for longer intervals. Oil should be changed a bare minimum once a year or every 5-10,000 miles depending if you use synthetic or conventional oil. If you don't wrack up 5,000 mile a year then change around every spring. Cold weather can impact oil's viscosity which hurts it's ability to properly lubricate an engine.

If you have not already I would do a front and rear differential flush and a trans flush. If you don't haul and tow a lot but just drive I would do that every 100,000k.

Spark plugs every 100K (use iridium, not copper).

Engine and cabin air filters every 30K miles or every 2 years.

Maybe look into having your brakes flushed too and your power steering fluid serviced. At least check the quality of the fluid.

Just go through the manual and see what things you haven't done, then do them.

 

Hello Tacoma World. New member here, Toyota owner since 80's though first Tacoma. Just purchased an 07 with 200000 mile .Any suggestions on maintenance items I should be looking at addressing? Thanks for you help.

 

If you only drive 100 miles/week I'd change the oil once/year and at the 6 month mark would put in a fresh filter. That is if it is as easy to get to as my 4.0. If not easy to do just change it when changing oil I used to drive about 20K/year and would change mine at 10K with a fresh filter at 5K. I'm almost to 200,000. For the last 2 years the Tacoma has been driven less, only about 10K/year. I still use the same schedule, it just takes me a lot longer to get to 10K.

There is a guy from NC that posted some info here a couple of weeks ago. He has an 08 with the 4 cyl and is at 1.3 MILLION miles. He changes oil once/month. Somewhere between 8K-10K. He left the factory plugs in for 700,000 miles. Never changed the transmission fluid until 400,000. The engine was still running fine, but needed a head gasket at 800,000 miles. The mechanics wouldn't touch the job so he found another engine in a scrap yard with 100,000 miles that they installed. That engine now has 1/2 million miles on it. I think you'll still be driving it for a while.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/tacoma-with-1-2-million-miles.578886/

 

If your truck runs synthetic 0w20 then I’d say every 9-12 months is fine for the oil, but check for condensation. I just crossed 200k and did a brake fluid flush, power steering fluid flush, diffs and transfer case gear oil, lube driveshafts, coolant, thermostat, and rad hoses. Transmission fluid flush is next.

 

Welcome aboard. For 2nd gen Tacos, the weakness appears to be front wheel bearings for 4X4's and melting headlamp assemblies for those with DRL's. Otherwise, take the usual maintenance measures for vehicles with 200K+. Check/change, accordingly, your fluids (ATF, diff's, transfer case, PS, brake fluid, coolant, etc ...); belts; hoses; thermostat; u-joints; PCV; idler/tensioner pulley bearings; alternator brushes; brakes; etc...

Check out the cheap mods,
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/cheap-free-mods.4838/#post-45403

 

At such low usage, you can't change your oil according to mileage. You will need to be on a time schedule. The issue is not oil life, it is moisture contamination, and the build up of acids in the oil. This happens in low mileage vehicles because they often do not get hot enough to boil off the contaminates. I don't think you would get much benefit from synthetic oil either because you will be dumping it with less than 1,000 miles on it. I would use a good dino oil, and plan on changing it every 6 months. Forget about the mileage between changes. It's a super simple DIY.

 

There are many, many, many threads that indicate that using anything other than copper spark plugs will drastically reduce the fuel economy.

 

I believe the 4 cyl came with 0w20 synthetic and iridium plugs.

 

I haven't experienced that, and can't find research substantiating that. A thread is not conclusive; they are mostly anecdotal. Research shows iridium plugs will last longer and produce a more consistent spark.

https://itstillruns.com/platinum-vs-iridium-spark-plugs-gas-mileage-12210593.html

https://www.sparkplugs.co.uk/iridium-spark-plugs

 

Yes this fatty acids will cause corrosion in the engine. I would suggest annual oil changes with the option of pulling samples for oil analysis as this is cheaper and a lot less waste that an unneeded oil change. Maybe do analysis at 6 months and follow/ consider recommendations from report. It might just be that your driving habits may allow you to go much longer than what you think... or shorter

 

Look I'm totally on agreeance with you that iridium should be better, but I'm not talking about one thread, I'm talking about thread after thread after thread after thread but people constantly reminding one another to not get anything but copper. I was reading a lot of them because when I was changing them I was thinking "whaaaaat???"

If it was truely hogwash then that's great, I'm just confused because that's the first time I've ever seen someone suggests that on here haha.

I don't even really know what the actual reason was, apparently it's just people tried them and the economy became crap. I'm not even really sure how it could affect it, but I don't know enough about iridium as a material to understand it.

We need clarification!

 

I’ve been using iridium without issues for almost 40k miles now. I’ve had no reduction in fuel economy.

As long as they are gapped correctly (which obviously has to be done manually) I don’t see how its going to reduce fuel economy. Iridium just last longer than copper.

 

I don't understand how it would either. I was hoping someone who knew more details would have chimed in by now.