Am I nutz? 4runner gurus wanted

[direwolf74]

My beloved o1 sr5 sport has 116, 200 miles on it. I bought it in 2008 with 74,000 miles on her and in fantastic condition. I Absolutely love my truck and plan on keeping her forever, possibly giving her to my 4 yr old son when he's old enough. I finactically maintain my truck (minus 3 things) and have put a fair amount of $ into her. She has original motor, trans, timing belt, water pump, and radiator. My question is: "Am I nutz"? for not replacing rad, timing belt, and w. pump, or subscribe to the school of thought of don't fix it if it ain't broke and just keep on driving her for 1,2, poss 3 years before doing these replacements? Just curious what people think?

 

[GSPRunner]

To ensure your kid gets it someday, yes replace all those.

 

[PoshSnoop]

600 lbs of sin.

Oh, you're nutz alright! Of course, so am i. When my attention is drawn to this forum, my wife always asks, "What are your truck nutz up to?"

See my sig for my T4R specs - it's a lot like yours. My timing belt, water pump, etc. were replaced at 90k. I'm on the verge of diving in to a straight radiator replacement (no tranny cooler yet). At 13-14 years old and above 100k, it's time to do some larger maintenance items. I'm doing mine, and I hope to keep the beastie for a long time to come.

Roll the dice or pay your money and take your chance.

 

[3bears]

yep....your nutz
do the timing belt/waterpump.....etc....etc related to the belt ...NOW

I understand the ....don't fix it till its broke...but some things don't apply...timing belts don't. Neither do lower ball joints or radiators (pink milkshake)

ignore those things till they are broken.....well unless you got tons of bucks....your 4 year old will only see pictures of it

 

[jsukey]

I went 180k on my first T4R without doing the timing belt. I was young, and didn't really have the money to throw at it then. The only thing you are risking with that, is being stranded and without a car until it gets fixed. We have non interference motors, so no damage will occur if the timing belt goes while driving. I don't condone it, but sometimes it's just necessary. The radiator however, will end up costing you if left untreated. It's far too easy and cheap to bypass the radiator and install a B&M trans cooler. The ball joints is something else that should be addressed. You don't want a front tire falling off under speed. That's a death wish!

 

[WallyWest]

yep....your nutz
do the timing belt/waterpump.....etc....etc related to the belt ...NOW

I understand the ....don't fix it till its broke...but some things don't apply...timing belts don't. Neither do lower ball joints or radiators (pink milkshake)

ignore those things till they are broken.....well unless you got tons of bucks....your 4 year old will only see pictures of it

I agree for the most part. However, if you want to risk it you can wait on the timing belt. It isn't an interference engine, so if the timing belt breaks it doesn't damage anything, just leaves you stranded. Most likely you'll get a leaky water pump long before the belt is worn.

I just pulled the cover off and checked my belt and water pump. 158k miles, they're fine. I would go ahead and replace them anyway but I've got other issues right now and am putting off the belt as long as I can.

As for lower ball joints, check the maintenance history. I bought my 4Runner used, and when I registered at toyota.com and put the VIN in their system it showed that the LBJs were changed under a recall at 75k miles.

The radiator, especially in the salt belt, yeah, get on that.

 

[csp]

I agree for the most part. However, if you want to risk it you can wait on the timing belt. It isn't an interference engine, so if the timing belt breaks it doesn't damage anything, just leaves you stranded. Most likely you'll get a leaky water pump long before the belt is worn.

Exactly what I was going to say.