New Tundra Owner, Anything To Be Aware Of?

Hey all,
Just bought my first Tundra about a month ago and really like it. I had been driving a 17 y/o Infiniti QX56 for 13 years and while it was running well, the sun had taken a toll on its exterior and I had been wanting a pick up truck for some time so I found a nice 13' Tundra Rock Warrior version up near the Bay area. The original owner took really good care of it. It only had 24K miles, he replaced the interior with black leather, added a trailer brake and Leer camping shell, had some carpeted inserts made for the bed, upgraded the wheels, and added running boards. Overall, a great vehicle and it was about exactly what I was looking for.

It's got a few service issues I need to address like brakes and an imbalance in the wheels causing the steering wheel to shake at higher speeds, and a few others. Other than typical service things, the stereo sucks so that will be coming out soon and will be replaced with all new speakers and head unit. The back passenger side door does not open from the inside so I think the cable end has broke free from the door latch. Will need to pull the door panel and investigate ...I'll do that when I swap out the speaker on that door. This truck is really hard to see out the back so I need to get use to that. The rear view camera screen is up on the rear view mirror in a tiny little screen so I need to find a head unit that has a camera connection and use that to see better. I hope this is something that is not too complicated.

My question is ...is there anything in particular that I need to be aware of, common problems I should proactively address, or common upgrades that I should consider? I wanted a 2013 because that year was one of the more reliable model years so I'm hoping that pans out. My QX56 I previously drove went through transmissions every 60-70K miles so I don't want that kind of situation again.

Thanks all!
Steve

 

Be sure the child safety lock isn't on and preventing that back door from opening.

With 24K miles, I wouldn't expect much in the way of issues. The kinds of issues you'll eventually run into will be things like the water pump needing to be replaced, cam tower seals leaking oil down the back of the engine, and worn wheel bearings.

The cam tower leak is pretty expensive to fix (still probably less than a QX56 transmission), but I think it's rare to have to do it more than once. If your truck is a flex fuel vehicle, there can be some definite shenanigans with that which will require software updates from the dealership.

 

Welcome neighbor

 

Yes, you bought the wrong color.

Welcome!

 

Agreed…

 

Biggest concern in my opinion is the weight of your wallet after spending too much time on this forum.

 

Good one! I would have preferred something a bit more sexy but this is the color I need. The truck is too big to park in my garage and so it needs to sit outside. The QX56 was black and the sun absolutely tore it up, literally baked away the clear coat and paint such that the primer was visible on the top panels. I purposely wanted white so the paint would last longer sitting outside. I'm in Southern California and the sun is intense here ...I don't have it quite as bad as others who live further inland, though. I'm about 4-5 miles in from the ocean and so we get the marine layer here often times but nonetheless, I need a light color if parking outside.

 

Nice pics ~ thanks for sharing . . .

 

Yeah, that was the first thing I checked. No go there ...child lock was not engaged. Thanks for the heads up on these service things. I will be sure to watch for this stuff. I do have the flex fuel motor and I see on the CarFax that in 2015 at 9,324 miles, there was an 'Engine/powertrain computer/module reprogrammed' and 'PCM reprogrammed' performed by the local dealership. Maybe this was taken care of already?

This truck does not sound beefy enough for me with the stock exhaust. I think I need to add a catback system from Borla, Magnaflow, or the likes.

 

With that low of mileage, it’s obviously sat a while. I’d definitely run a tank with some Royal Purple Max Clean fuel injector cleaner. Also check the date code on the tires to see how old they are. They may look good, but they do dry rot. Also, check the spare tire pressure and make sure it’s not rusted in place.

 

Welcome!

 

I'm in Moorpark, same problem. That marine layer floats through during the early morning and makes washing my cars pretty futile.

I'm just gonna pretend your truck is "light black".

 

Yeah, had thought about the injector cleaner. I typically use Lucas fuel system cleaner every so often in my vehicles and so will be doing this on the Tundra soon. It's got BF Goodrich All Terrain tires that look to be on the newer side ...I looked for the date stamp when I bought the truck but did not see it on these. The original owner had said he replaced the original tires and wheels but he didn't say when. I will check on the date stamp again. I'm sure the spare is OE and probably needs to be replaced as I had a glance at it and it's not a BF Goodrich.

 

I like your profile pic. My personal e-mail is gosdpadres

 

Around here, we are fans of Keith over @dirtydeeds for exhaust. Explore there 1st

 

Welcome from Nevada

 

Welcome...I just bought a low mileage 07' (53K~) and the inspection checked out clean aside from a leaky water pump which turns out to be very common on these!

Had a shop put in a new water pump, coolant, thermostat for around $600 and all is well.

Nice truck, hopefully stays trouble free and lasts you as long as you want it around!

 

Welcome from NY.

 

Welcome from SoCal. Nice find! In the fastest color to boot! Just ignore Darkness, he's just mad he's always getting passed by the superior 040s.