Pre-trip recommendations before taking long trip

So I'll be taking my 2015 SR5 across 3 states for the first time. When I purchased it in Nov. I had my mechanic conduct a complete inspection and found nothing concerning. So I'll assume it'll do fine, but would like to know how some of you go about doing pre-trip inspections. I know to do the usual checking of all fluids, tire pressure (not needed with sensors), inspect the belts, making sure all the fluid housing bolts are tight, etc. Anything else to check for? Thanks in advance.

 

Congratulations on the new truck!

It looks like you covered pretty much everything for a stock truck. I know for me, I do a good inspection of some of the more major mods I've done, for example lie under the truck with the skid plate off while the engine runs to look for oil leaks or coolant leaks.

Also I would definitely recommend checking tire pressure manually before the trip even though you have sensors, including the spare's pressure. The sensors CAN stop working (as did on mine some years ago) or be very inaccurate. Once my tire light came on but not until the tire was already down to 15psi, so your tires may not all be pressured up to spec.

 

Great tip on checking the spare tires pressure!!! THANK YOU

 

Grease your driveline

 

Also check to see if you have everything needed to change a flat.

 

• Manual check tire pressure, including the spare
• Top off all fluids
• Grease the driveline if 4wd (2wd models don't have grease zeros on the drive shafts)
• Replace serpentine belt if it hasn't been replaced in 150k miles (Toyota recommends every 100k, but I got lazy once and pushed it to 150k and started to get slippage)
• Visual inspect water pump for leaks. There is a small weep hole just under the water pump pulley where you'll see dripping coolant or dried pink coolant if the water pump has gone bad. (I ignored the dried pink coolant on my pre-trip inspection, and my water pump failed within 400 miles of my trip in the middle of a highway through Death Valley)
• Make sure all the music/podcasts on your phone is uploaded, up to date, with some new playlists you'll want to listen to

 

Turn spare upside down, so valve is down, and position it so valve is against the pumpkin differential. Easier to check next time, or on any trips. Be sure to have 1st aid kit, jumper cables, flash light with extra batts, gloves, etc.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...before-taking-long-trip.715367/#post-25456332

I dunno, still april fools day thing?