200k Maintenance Cost - Fix up or sell?
 

Hi all,

I'm a new college graduate, 21 years old, out on my own - so paying for 100% of stuff - for the first time. My 2005 SR5 (V6, 2x4 w/ LSD, Leather) has served me well for the past 5-6 years, and is currently sitting at 185k.

I am currently trying to decide whether I should put any money into this thing or sell it now and get something cheap like a Corolla. I expect to either move to the opposite side of the country (East to West coast) or be deployed out of country with my work within the next two-ish years, so I don't want to get a newer 4Runner until after I get back. BUT I could easily rack up 30k (or maybe even 50k) miles in that time, so I know I probably can't just let it roll.

Can you guys help me figure out a realistic operating cost? Since I bought it at 125k miles, I've only done the following:

• Synthetic Oil changes every 5k
• Air filter cleaning
• New brakes 20k miles ago
• New Cats (both replaced) about 20k miles ago
• New starter about 40k miles ago - forded about 3 ft of water in a flash flood and this was the only notable part that failed that week

The spark plugs were last replaced at purchase (so 125k)

My tires (Nitto Terra Grapplers) have almost 45k miles on them but look like this:
https://i.ibb.co/ZfPLFFF/IMG-1054.jpg


I have seen threads mentioning water pumps and suspension, but I need to cut through the wishes and get down to brass tax. Do I really need to drop money on suspension? - I haven't been offroading since moving. I loved this thing, but rode it super hard and accept that it might be time to part ways soon. It's not in the greatest shape anymore, and I really don't want to pay for another job like the catalytic converter swap (my parents covered that, thankfully, but it was like $1800). If I do a serious maintenance overhaul, I would love to add remote start, replace the headlights (I've sanded them down 3x now), and put in a nice stereo with Carplay, but I don't want to sink an extra $1k for those 3 items and then have a $3k issue a month later. I believe I could sell it for $5-6k pretty easily.

So, what maintenance would be smart/worth it, and what do you think I should do?

Edit: Side note - I just moved across the country and have only basic tools with me to work in an apartment parking lot. I'm not afraid of DIY stuff (my dad and I swapped the starter), but I don't even have a car jack here.

Your V6 doesn’t need the timing belt (V6 actually has a chain not like the V8) and water pump replaced unless they fail. Unless it’s giving you problems I could see you getting to double your current mileage relatively problem feee as long as you keep up the maintenance.

The only things you didn’t mention worth looking into are coolant flush, has the transmission fluid ever been swapped/changed, rear diff fluid ever changed, any known issues?

As for suspension if you don’t plan to off-road you can just replace with OEM grade components instead of dumping money on a lift. Something like the quick strut options on rock auto.


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200k Maintenance Cost - Fix up or sell?
 

You’re not even at 200k, and 50,000 more is nothing.

I’m getting close to 300k. Just replace what is needed as it comes. I think I rather stick with a vehicle that you know the history of rather than the new used car gamble, but I’d imagine you’d save a bit on gas if you got a Corolla


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If you do choose to do suspension, you could purchase a fresh set of 5th gen take offs for cheap, and install those...

For support, see if there is any local Toyota / T4R club that host Tech Days..


Good Luck!

You could do a compression test and check the health of your engine, but I suspect you are fine unless you know that you're burning oil and/or coolant. Otherwise... keep it. As everyone else said: coolant flush, transmission fluid change, and rear differential fluid change. All of those are easy and cheap to do on your own.

There's no reason to change full-synthetic oil every 5k miles.

I didn't realize they were compatible. I definitely may do that!

Thanks everyone, I appreciate it. I think I'll keep her rolling for a while longer.

Maintenance items
 

I have a similar vehicle that I just bought last Dec. 2008 2WD SR5. It had the original struts, rear shocks and springs in it. I did the rear springs; got them for $60 from Advance Auto, KYB shocks from RockAuto, also pretty cheap. That actually made a big improvement for the cost, and the originals only had 109,000 miles on them. I'll be doing the struts this weekend, with quick struts from KYB.

Mine really needed brakes so that was my first priority, suspension was second. If you've got the original struts and shocks at 185k I'd look at that.

You mention deployed, if you're in the military you could use the auto craft shops on base. They're very well equipped in my experience, and if you get stuck there are usually knowledgeable people there to help.