Any Catastrophic Mechanical Failures in High Mileage Trucks?

[lockerc18]

I traded my '04 LTD with 148,000 miles on it for a new '17 LTD. The only real problem I had with my '04 was that the lines to the transmission cooler rotted and needed to be replaced around 90K or so. And, of course, it seemed like every time I brought it in for service at the dealer, they told me I had to replace a brake caliper or two. I actually had to replace all 4 at around 130K miles. I don't think I really had to, but I did anyway. Other than these things, it was running fine.

But, I had read a few threads here about head gaskets needing to be replaced at a relatively early stage. I never found out of that was because of towing a lot or just driving the bejesus out of the truck. But I thought that was a big issue with certain years. No? That was one thing that got me to thinking that I needed a new truck, because I had just gone through a similar experience with a Honda Accord needing a new engine and didn't want to repeat that.

But overall, the main reason why I got a new truck was because of the reliability. You don't need to ask why it's so hard to find a used 4Runner for sale. People keep them for years and years because they just keep on running.

 

[Intruder]

That's good news. I thought I remembered you having some big problem that required engine removal. Glad you didn't.

They had to lift the engine up a bit to replace the steering rack. I think newer Tundras are the same.

 

[ElectroBoy]

I've had two T4Rs, bought new, kept them for high mileage. Never had any breakdown other than flat tires. Now I'm on my third one. My philosophy is buy exactly what you want, maintain it religiously, keep it for 10+ years, then sell or trade it for top dollar value.

Follow the maintenance schedules. Some parts will eventually wear out due to friction, heat, corrosion, age, especially plastics; replace them before they fail. Some candidates are hoses, plug wires, water pump, thermostat, radiator. Budget some money every year for maintenance and spend it. There are a lot of high mileage 4Runners out there. Don't fear the odometer!

 

[jrandom]

My rearview camera very very randomly (and seldomly) doesn't work in reverse. Just a black screen. Haven't been able to recreate it.

A few days ago, I parked my 4runner to nap in it. Woke up an hour later and the battery was dead / the car wouldn't turn to start the engine. Had to jump it with my jump kit. Strangest thing. Nothing was on or plugged in, keys were out of ignition. Never happened again, and is fully charged, holding a healthy charge.

Mine was doing that, dealer replaced the backup camera, problem gone.

If you use a pressure washer to clean/rinse be sure to stay away from that camera, I am 95% sure that is what killed mine, and I had only done it a few times.

They had to lift the engine up a bit to replace the steering rack. I think newer Tundras are the same.

You f'n kidding right? as in unbolt motor mounts and lift engine? WTF. 4runners track record with racks is terrible too, phack!

Oh and good to see you around [MENTION=66300]Intruder[/MENTION]

 

[CutthroatSlam]

250K on a September 2014 SR5. No major issues. Changed brake pads and rotors twice and shocks once. Using non-OEM fluids.

This truck should easily go 300K, if not 500K.

 

[DEF4Runner]

+1 on all of the reliability testimonies.

When I sold my 2008, I had 193K on the clock and had absolutely no powertrain issues with it at all. You'll obviously run into age related component replacement like shocks, coils, hoses, etc that you might not see after trading in after 60K-70K miles, but that's about it.

Rust was the reason I sold my 2008. Keep an eye out there as the truck ages and mamy miles are to be had. As someone out here once said, the only thing that will kill a Toyota is rust.

 

[Jivewalker]

Nothing catastrophic for me, knock on wood. 215,000 miles. Just routine stuff.

 

[Dccork]

High mileage

I’ve got 207,500 miles only maintenance

 

[CutthroatSlam]

2014 SR5 with 342K miles. I do all the maintenance (non-OEM fluids) and repairs.

Alternator went out at 320K miles and I replaced with OEM.

Transfer case leak from input seal at 332K miles. I pulled and replace all the seals.

341K miles the Fan clutch seized causing fan blade to disintegrate. Radiator was punctured, oil cooler line cut, fan shroud and engine cover destroyed, three outie dents in hood with paint peeled away. This happened on the desolate road near Atomic City, Idaho, whilst I was at work in downtown LA. Wife had it towed to Toyota dealer in Idaho Falls who did the repairs, except the hood and cosmetic engine cover per my instruction as I will deal with those. She pulled over asap and shut down. Never lost oil pressure, nor overheated. It is back to running fine, but I will do a preventative replacement of the water pump.

 

[TRD PANTHER]

2014 SR5 with 342K miles. I do all the maintenance (non-OEM fluids) and repairs.

Alternator went out at 320K miles and I replaced with OEM.

Transfer case leak from input seal at 332K miles. I pulled and replace all the seals.

341K miles the Fan clutch seized causing fan blade to disintegrate. Radiator was punctured, oil cooler line cut, fan shroud and engine cover destroyed, three outie dents in hood with paint peeled away. This happened on the desolate road near Atomic City, Idaho, whilst I was at work in downtown LA. Wife had it towed to Toyota dealer in Idaho Falls who did the repairs, except the hood and cosmetic engine cover per my instruction as I will deal with those. She pulled over asap and shut down. Never lost oil pressure, nor overheated. It is back to running fine, but I will do a preventative replacement of the water pump.

Coincidentally, it disintegrated near Atomic City.

 

[flyrv9]

Although not catastrophic, the most failures I remember reading about here are the door lock actuator problem (thread has info, pics and part numbers for replacement) and the gear shift / neutral safety switch jamming which prevents shifting out of park. This is caused by the switch mounted on the upper passenger side of the transmission. It gets corroded inside and fails. Poor design that allows moisture inside. There is a thread for changing this too. If you live in salt country, you will probably encounter this.

 

[mbumpus11]

I just clocked over 186k on my 2015 Trail Premium and I have a timing gasket cover seal leak. Said it isn't "running," just a slight wet spot to monitor. Quoted me $4,100 to fix it (dealership).

Anyone else had this issue?

Otherwise it has only been consumables for me and two brake pad replacements, one set of new rotors.

 

[Jeremy556]

I just clocked over 186k on my 2015 Trail Premium and I have a timing gasket cover seal leak. Said it isn't "running," just a slight wet spot to monitor. Quoted me $4,100 to fix it (dealership).

Anyone else had this issue?

Otherwise it has only been consumables for me and two brake pad replacements, one set of new rotors.

Toyota has had trouble with the spot where head/block/timing cover meet on the 1GR since forever. I have it on my 2011 4runner and had it on a 2nd gen Tacoma previously. It would be very uncommon for it to leak enough to be anything but an annoyance. The VVTi banjo bolt in the same area can also develop a leak that looks like the common timing cover leak, but leaks a lot worse.

At 350k miles, just routine stuff really. Alternator quit is about the only thing that really failed without warning (other than mileage, I think it was around 300k or so).

 

[CutthroatSlam]

Coincidentally, it disintegrated near Atomic City.

I guess you could say it nuked itself. As noted, could have been worse, but I have the wife trained to listen and not drive through shit hoping it gets better.

 

[Ventil8]

I just clocked over 186k on my 2015 Trail Premium and I have a timing gasket cover seal leak. Said it isn't "running," just a slight wet spot to monitor. Quoted me $4,100 to fix it (dealership).

Anyone else had this issue?

Otherwise it has only been consumables for me and two brake pad replacements, one set of new rotors.

Yes, my 2005 had a very slow timing cover leak. It wasn’t even losing a lot of oil. At the time I had it fixed(2018) I had owned my 4R for 13 years and planning to own it forever. I shopped around for quotes around my area. I got a discount coupon for service at the Round Rock dealer location and they did the work at 150,000 miles for around $1800 which included a transmission flush, new serpentine belt, new water pump, and some other minor things.

The work did not have to be done but again, I’m plannnig to keep it forever.

As far as reliability and catastrophic failures, this thing is a beast. I have owned it since Feb 2005, bought new, and mostly maintenance items. I have done some upgrades to make it more comfortable, CarPlay, Bluetooth, backup camera, custom subwoofer, HID retrofit headlights.

I forgot to mention that recently, I did fix the servo assembly for the AC mode when it stopped working 2 weeks ago. There is a write up in the 4th gen section that helped with that. I wouldn’t consider that a catastrophic failure but regular wear and tear on an almost 19 year old vehicle.

 

[Lexington]

I've had two T4Rs, bought new, kept them for high mileage. Never had any breakdown other than flat tires. Now I'm on my third one. My philosophy is buy exactly what you want, maintain it religiously, keep it for 10+ years, then sell or trade it for top dollar value.

Follow the maintenance schedules. Some parts will eventually wear out due to friction, heat, corrosion, age, especially plastics; replace them before they fail. Some candidates are hoses, plug wires, water pump, thermostat, radiator. Budget some money every year for maintenance and spend it. There are a lot of high mileage 4Runners out there. Don't fear the odometer!

Very sound advice! I have my mechanic inspect my car once a year. Finding problems early and fixing them is usually much cheaper than when something breaks. When it does it usually happens at the most inconvenient time and sometime place too.

 

[Lexington]

Stupid question of the day.

My ‘16 is about to pass 70k miles next week or so. I pass extended warranty at 75k. On my previous two 4Runners I traded or sold them at 66k / 56k miles respectively.

I follow this board and all 4Runner groups religiously and honestly I’ve never really heard of a catostrophic mechanical failure (engine transmission) in a 5th Gen. I’m in multiple car groups on FB as I try to increase exposure on a side project and it’s amazing how many people in brand new vehicles (Colorado’s and Duramax) have nearly vehicle life ending failures of engines and transmissions. Of course The occurance is rare and not indicative of the Model as a whole but I honestly can’t remember ANY similar events with the 4Runner.

As I approach my normal tolerance limit for daily commuter I’m tempted for once in my life to show restraint and see how long this truck can go. Should I pop for another extended warranty and buy something out to 150,000 miles? Anyone here sell those?

Pic for attn

I’m at 115,000 miles and no issues. I know many more here have had theirs much longer. The 4Runner is a solid vehicle as long as you do your general maintenance and up keep it will last you a very long time.

 

[mbumpus11]

Toyota has had trouble with the spot where head/block/timing cover meet on the 1GR since forever. I have it on my 2011 4runner and had it on a 2nd gen Tacoma previously. It would be very uncommon for it to leak enough to be anything but an annoyance. The VVTi banjo bolt in the same area can also develop a leak that looks like the common timing cover leak, but leaks a lot worse.

At 350k miles, just routine stuff really. Alternator quit is about the only thing that really failed without warning (other than mileage, I think it was around 300k or so).

Speaking of alternator going out...do you recall noticing "anything" prior to that failure? I ask because every once in a while I will have headlights on in garage and as I press the brake to shift out of P, my headlights will do a momentary minor dim (re: very minor, probably lasts half a second or less, but visible in this dark garage scenario), and I've noticed it one other time when my windows were up, but I was confirming they were all the way up (ride with dog, so just making sure she didn't hit the switch) and as I pulled "up" on the window switch it did the same slight dimming as described above. Hard to really explain so forgive me if I'm not doing a good job. No issues starting, just had service done and they check all of that, of course.

 

[CutthroatSlam]

Speaking of alternator going out...do you recall noticing "anything" prior to that failure? I ask because every once in a while I will have headlights on in garage and as I press the brake to shift out of P, my headlights will do a momentary minor dim (re: very minor, probably lasts half a second or less, but visible in this dark garage scenario), and I've noticed it one other time when my windows were up, but I was confirming they were all the way up (ride with dog, so just making sure she didn't hit the switch) and as I pulled "up" on the window switch it did the same slight dimming as described above. Hard to really explain so forgive me if I'm not doing a good job. No issues starting, just had service done and they check all of that, of course.

When our alternator went out, the headlights and gauge cluster slowly dimmed, then all the idiot lights came on, finally the gauge cluster went dark and I knew it was done. Tests with a voltmeter at the battery with engine running confirmed it.

 

[Jeremy556]

Speaking of alternator going out...do you recall noticing "anything" prior to that failure? I ask because every once in a while I will have headlights on in garage and as I press the brake to shift out of P, my headlights will do a momentary minor dim (re: very minor, probably lasts half a second or less, but visible in this dark garage scenario), and I've noticed it one other time when my windows were up, but I was confirming they were all the way up (ride with dog, so just making sure she didn't hit the switch) and as I pulled "up" on the window switch it did the same slight dimming as described above. Hard to really explain so forgive me if I'm not doing a good job. No issues starting, just had service done and they check all of that, of course.

Nope. It was working fine when I drove to the ski area in the morning; moment I started it up to leave, the battery light was on the dash and the dash volt meter was way to the left, same as ignition on and engine not running. Technically, it didn't leave me stranded, I ran it just on battery for the 45 minute drive home.

Mine has always done the headlight dimming on the original and replacement alternator. The brake booster/ABS system is electric instead of vacuum powered and it has a huge amp draw. If you look in the engine bay fuse box, ABS has 80 amps of fuses