2015 Tundra Maintenance

My 2015 Crewmax has 86k miles. I recently sold my daily. My tundra is now my daily. For the past 4 years, I have driven it about 3 days a week. What maintenance besides oil change and tire rotation should be considered at this point?

 

If you want minimal effort, just check air filter and assume rest is good.

If you do towing or stop n go traffic and have never changed oil in rear differential, would be good idea to change that.

If coolant, brake fluid, and power steering fluid levels are in correct range, I wouldn't worry much about anything for a good while.

If you change engjne oil regularly, you're already better than a lot of people.

 

What services have you done beside the oil changes? Original owner?

 

I'd change the spark plugs. With OEM Densos bought from a Denso authorized seller (can get list from their website).

 

just dealer recommendations. I run BG 44k every 25k miles or so.

 

Plugs and trans fluid are what I’m thinking. Maybe diff and brake fluids as well.

 

Definitely do the diffs and transfer case, they're long overdue. A trans dump and fill would be on the list also.

 

Drivebelt, thermostat, battery, radiator and heater hoses, brake pads, and radiator cap are all getting old and have a few miles on them now. I don't like engine cooling problems, especially in the summer.

 

Second time recently I've heard someone mention replacing the radiator cap. I never thought of it as a maintenance item and if it where leaking you'd sure know it, whats the logic on that one?

 

It is a valve that regulates coolant pressure and should be replaced every 5 yrs minimum. If it leaks yes you can see it. But what if it doesn't open properly? Then the pressure becomes increased and is applied to other components that could fail such as the radiator itself, a hose, head gasket, heater core, etc. Engine cooling is simply critical.

 

Fuel injector cleaning, air filter, brake fluid flush and bleed are a few others that I haven't seen mentioned. If you want to take care of the truck, I'd get busy.

 

Another simple list, lube your door, hood, and tailgate latches, and maybe replace your wiper blades. If you can, grease the u joints and front suspension components. Some have grease fittings and some don't. Not sure about a 2015. At about 140k I'd suggest replacing the u joints altogether. I bought and installed SKF branded units with grease fittings for my truck and found the splined parts of the driveshaft weren't greased very well from the factory. Many people have had driveshaft clunking occurring and often it is from lack of lubrication.

 

If it's your daily and you have a short commute, consider doing the oil changes more often as well. Short drives are hard on engines and cause additional condensation because it doesn't get up to full operation temp to burn off the moisture. If you can, try to only run pure gas in it as well. You'll get better fuel economy with ethanol free fuel and it won't attract moisture the same way either.

For maintenance, pop open the owner's manual and make sure everything suggested in it up to your mileage is done. If things have gone undone for the life of the truck you might even consider doing everything it mentions up to the 100K mark. The big thing is that there is no such thing as too much preventative maintenance, and it's cheaper to properly maintain what you have than to try to fix what breaks or replace it with a different vehicle. Loved my Tundra as a DD.

 

I rarely have short commutes even though I work from home. The majority of the maintenance has been done at the dealership. The age items are my concern.

 

If the dealership has been doing the maintenance according to the maintenance schedule I wouldn't worry too hard. The diffs and transfer case are in that list already, and things like the belt, plugs, etc. should be getting checked by them as well. The only thing I'd add that they might not already do would be a drain and fill on the transmission. This is all dependent on whether or not you trust that they have actually been doing the work, though. Some are great about it, but others are not. @ColoradoTJ did you have a Lexus that they failed to do some work on at the dealership?

If you've got a good dealership with good techs, I don't think you have much to worry about just from moving the truck to daily driver status. You should be solid for years to come.

 

I agree. Changing spark plugs may be the only thing at 86k i would consider if you havent seen or heard anything off putting. If you maintain your oil changes early or on time than you are doing better than most on preventative care. I work from home too and drive about 3 days a week and haven’t had any issues. I just hit my 100k maintenance and spent $1300. My friend owns a mechanic shop and said no issues were present and typical maintenance was performed. My gas mileage went from 320 to 386 avg.