Preventative Work

I was thinking of doing some preventative part replacement on my 12 crew cab. I'm approaching 150,000 miles in a couple.of months and although it has run great and there are no current issues I was thinking of going ahead and replacing starter/alternator/water pump before they eventually fail. My truck is used daily and I use it to tow atvs up to Colorado a couple of times each summer so I don't want to get stranded with a bad starter and have to wrench in an O'Reillys parking lot lol. Is there anything else I should consider doing while I'm at it? Again fluids are all kept up with so nothing needs changed there.

 

I would not waste the money. Those items rarely flat out stop working. There is usually signs they are starting to go, at which point there may be something else to do or fix in that area. There's a reason for the saying if it ain't broke don't fix it.

 

FYI, have heard the starter is more than a parking lot job for most. Even a mechanic job for most; supposedly really buried.
That being said, still don't know anyone replacing preventative. You could conceivably get a crappy new one out of the box.

My 07 is at 153k miles, and everything seems to be going strong.

 

This is true….. Mine went out at almost 220k, and no way was this going to happen in the driveway…. freakin' $1200 repair!!!

 

So the starter is doable job c'mon man. But it's not for the beginner.

Watch a few videos on YouTube that should let you know if you can DIY it or not.

 

Lol....ya i know I can do it...I plan on doing it all myself. I just don't want to do it out on a trail or in a parking lot.

 

It's pretty rare for a starter to just flat out die 100% out of nowhere. Usually you can hit it to get it going at least once

 

Yeah but getting to the Tundra starter in any gen is somewhat an excercise in futility no?

 

If I get into an extensive job, I might replace components that are easily accessible depending on age & mileage (i.e. replacing water pump when doing the timing belt on a 3rd gen T4R). I would not just replace working components, especially quality Toyota OEM parts with aftermarket parts. Just asking for trouble.

 

Our Denso starters are bullit proof, just not the copper contacts in the solenoid. Mine failed around 120K with intermittent click of death but for a few months it would nearly always start on second or third attempt and eventually wouldn't start. I did the job in my garage and took me about 4 hours start to finish because I would watch a tube video and then meticulously proceed. Intake has to be removed. Easier if you removed TB so hoses don't have to come off. Be very careful with electrical connectors not to break any. If you do toyota sells the connectors and you can repin them. May want to replace water pipe o-rings and gaskets while there.