Bought 4Runner V6: Maintenance Item Recommendations?

[luke87gt]

Hi guys,

My wife and I just bought a 2006 4Runner V6 with about 120K miles. Besides periodic oil changes, lets assume nothing has ever been replaced. What do you recommend I change?

1.) I will be changing the oil this weekend with 5W-30 and a Toyota brand oil filter ( 90915-YZZD3 ) as the MAINT light just came on indicating 5000 miles has passed since last oil change.

2.) Transmission fluid change: How often is this recommended? And do these cars come with internal transmission filter or no?

3.) I bought a set of Denso spark plugs that I will be replacing soon.

4.) I had planned to replace the fuel filter, but learned recently that there is no external fuel filter on these cars.

5.) Engine air filter was changed recently.

6.) Cabin air filter was changed recently.

I had also planned to clean the MAF. What else do you guys recommend as preventative maintenance?

Thanks!

Luke

 

[Morphyne]

I have an 07 t4r and an 05 gx470 (lexus version ).

Anyway the brake calipers sieze up on these models so be prepared to replace the front calipers on your vehicle.

Also the CV axle boots rip, spraying axle grease all over the underside of your vehicle. This isn't that big of a deal and if you are at all handy you can replace the CV axles your self. They are about 80 bucks a piece at autozone. Don't forget the outer oil seal and the inner axle seals when you do this.

The drive shaft needs grease in all 6 of its zerks every 7500 miles so basically every other oil change if you are going on the five thousand mark. This maintenance item prevents the driveline clunk that some feel when stopped at a red light, it kind of feels like you got bumped from behind.

The v6 has a timing chain so there will be nothing that you need to do with that.

But at 120,000 miles I'm guessing the coolant has never been changed. The best advice I was given was to drain out as much coolant as possible from the radiator and then refill with regular water run the engine drain again and keep doing that until it runs clear. Then refill with undiluted coolant as these engines carry about 2 gallons so you have one gallon of tap water and 1 gallon of coolant.

Oh and if you are driving and you hear a hum in one tire or the other and it goes away when you turn the wheel in one direction that means your bearings on the front are going out wheel bearings are sold by a guy on here who made who are awesome. They are really high quality and again not very terrible to replace.

When doing the bearings and or the cv axles I recommend doing the axels the bearings and all for oil seals at the same time. I have tried to do one at a time and they quickly follow each other in failure. If you run into a whole bunch of extra time and some extra cash and want to be preemptive about the whole deal you could just go ahead and replace the calipers axles and bearings all of the same time and know its done and won't betray you later

If if we are considering that nothing has been done to it then that means that you are due for shocks as well if you have a four wheel drive the most popular option on this website are the Bilstein 5100. Do a search and you will see. But I will say that if you do shocks then you're probably going to want to do tires and spacers and a lift and all that jazz and oh by the way welcome to the madness.

 

[Bluesky 07]

If it's 4WD, change the gear oil in the transfer case & front/rear diffs. Bought my '07 Sport last year at 96K and wish I'd done it then (just did it last week).

As you've probably guessed, there are how-to threads on this board for just about anything you will need to do.

Welcome!

 

[luke87gt]

Thank you for the input. My car is a 2WD.

I was not aware that there were greasable zerks on the driveshaft. Where exactly are these 6 zerks? And a standard grease gun should do the trick? Standard automotive grease?

Good call on the coolant.

Luckily, this is my wife's car so there will be no mods (hopefully lol). I have too much of that with the other cars.

Thanks again.

 

[Morphyne]

Also there is a filter in the transmission but I am told that it is not necessary to try and replace it most people just do the drain and fill method when replacing the transmission fluid. I am getting ready to do to both of mine this week. Basically drain out three quarts you put back to courts and you do that 3 or 4 times and you are good to go.

 

[Morphyne]

Since you are two wheel drive then you only have the rear differential to change and fill. As far as the grease zerks are concerned you now only have 3. Two u joint zerks and one slip yoke zerk that extends the drive shaft

 

[luke87gt]

Since you are two wheel drive then you only have the rear differential to change and fill. As far as the grease zerks are concerned you now only have 3. Two u joint zerks and one slip yoke zerk that extends the drive shaft

So these three fittings are right before the driveshaft mates to the diff?

Is there any special kind of grease needed?

And lastly, where is the coolant drain plug on these cars? Is it on the radiator or on the block?

Thanks.

 

[Morphyne]

The u joint zerks are in the U joints and the slip yoke is on the shaft. You'll see them.

as far as the coolant drains. there are drains on both. but the block drains are a PITA hence the method I use for my coolant changes.

 

[z28forlife]

I have an 07 t4r and an 05 gx470 (lexus version ).

Anyway the brake calipers sieze up on these models so be prepared to replace the front calipers on your vehicle.

Also the CV axle boots rip, spraying axle grease all over the underside of your vehicle. This isn't that big of a deal and if you are at all handy you can replace the CV axles your self. They are about 80 bucks a piece at autozone. Don't forget the outer oil seal and the inner axle seals when you do this.

The drive shaft needs grease in all 6 of its zerks every 7500 miles so basically every other oil change if you are going on the five thousand mark. This maintenance item prevents the driveline clunk that some feel when stopped at a red light, it kind of feels like you got bumped from behind.

The v6 has a timing chain so there will be nothing that you need to do with that.

But at 120,000 miles I'm guessing the coolant has never been changed. The best advice I was given was to drain out as much coolant as possible from the radiator and then refill with regular water run the engine drain again and keep doing that until it runs clear. Then refill with undiluted coolant as these engines carry about 2 gallons so you have one gallon of tap water and 1 gallon of coolant.

Oh and if you are driving and you hear a hum in one tire or the other and it goes away when you turn the wheel in one direction that means your bearings on the front are going out wheel bearings are sold by a guy on here who made who are awesome. They are really high quality and again not very terrible to replace.

When doing the bearings and or the cv axles I recommend doing the axels the bearings and all for oil seals at the same time. I have tried to do one at a time and they quickly follow each other in failure. If you run into a whole bunch of extra time and some extra cash and want to be preemptive about the whole deal you could just go ahead and replace the calipers axles and bearings all of the same time and know its done and won't betray you later

If if we are considering that nothing has been done to it then that means that you are due for shocks as well if you have a four wheel drive the most popular option on this website are the Bilstein 5100. Do a search and you will see. But I will say that if you do shocks then you're probably going to want to do tires and spacers and a lift and all that jazz and oh by the way welcome to the madness.

I work for Lexus and the coolant and fluids are obviously good to change at that mileage. I have to respectfully disagree with you though on the axles and calipers/wheels bearings. I've seen hundreds of cars/trucks with 200k plus miles on original wheel bearings and calipers. Also, when one goes that doesn't always mean the others will follow. The axle boots do tend to be torn on higher mileage ones but those are easy fixes. Mainly just do all your fluids and keep a look out for any noises or vibrations and deal with them when they come up.

 

[Bluesky 07]

There are useful write-ups as I mentioned previously but YouTube is also your friend. For example, here's a great how-to on cleaning the MAF.

 

[Ralph Blake]

If it were mine in the condition you posted,i would put some injector cleaner in with gas and just drive it.
If it's running good why start replacing everything?

 

[RoadDogT4R]

I have an 07 t4r and an 05 gx470 (lexus version ).

Anyway the brake calipers sieze up on these models so be prepared to replace the front calipers on your vehicle.

I had to replace both front calipers on my 04 when I had it. It had approximately 100k on and the inner Pistons were seized solid so do not overlook this. :bump:

 

[chips2002]

I would also flush the power steering fluid. Take the return hose out of the oil reservoir and keep putting new fluid in with the engine turned on and off until new fluid comes out.

 

[Okie4runner]

Also new 2006 T4R owner

I am also a recent 2006 4runner buyer and couldn't be happier! I am going to take the info from this thread to start my baseline maintenance.

I am having starter issues already hwell: so if someone can point me to a thread for replacing the starter or starter contacts I would appreciate it.

Thanks.

 

[luke87gt]

Thanks again for all the input.

It's helpful to know that people have had some issues with the front calipers, axle boots, and wheel bearings, but I put these three items in the category of "if it ain't broken, don't fix it".

I will go ahead and grease the driveline and change the coolant (in addition to oil, spark plugs, and MAF cleaning).

Also, I have read a lot of references that say to not change the transmission fluid... ever. Interesting.

After that, we're gonna put some miles on it.

Luke

 

[fdbyrne]

Since the OP's 4Runner is a 2WD, it won't really apply to him, but I'll add this for the people that find this thread down the road and have 4WD versions..... Engage your 4HI, 4LO, and lock your differential monthly to prevent actuator problems. Actuators are expensive and the ones in our rigs will fail if not used on a semi-regular basis.

 

[DisguisedRope]

I am also a recent 2006 4runner buyer and couldn't be happier! I am going to take the info from this thread to start my baseline maintenance.

I am having starter issues already hwell: so if someone can point me to a thread for replacing the starter or starter contacts I would appreciate it.

Thanks.

Someone pretty cool wrote this writeup that should be of use.

 

[luke87gt]

By the way, any specific grease I need to use for the driveline zerk fittings?

 

[fdbyrne]

The manual calls for lithium at the u-joints and moly for the slip yoke. There's a constant debate on the forum here as to whether two different greases are necessary. I chose to use the two separate greases at the different grease points, for whatever that's worth.

 

[Bluesky 07]

Thread with pics of the zerk locations. Title says V8 but that doesn't matter for this procedure. Many use Mobil1 synthetic grease in all fittings but that's your call.

Any topic you need is on here somewhere and can be found through searching.