Seeking High Mileage Tundra - What to look for

My 2006 Honda Ridgeline just died and looking for a new truck. (Yeah, Yeah - Ridgeline is not a real truck) Prices on the older Ridgelines are so high thought I would see if I could move up to a Tundra. Found a few in the same price range with the 5.7 V8 with 200k+ miles. What are the problem areas to look out other than frame rust, which I already know about?

Found a 2010 for under $11k that has been in 3 accidents. Would you consider this one? https://www.carfax.com/vehicle/5TFEY5F13AX098168

-NotYourBrotherMike

 

200K on a 5.7 is not so bad I think. As long as it was well taken care of. That truck in the carfax link... I wouldnt put my money near that thing. The poor service history listed and accidents make me say no from the start, the RWD and wheels confirm it.
The listing is from Ohio. Perhaps if you can, get a truck from down south and take a road trip home. You would likely find a truck with much less rust than the area of the nation you are in.

As an example... Here is a similar priced truck in CA, with excellent service records. Another one, again excellent service records on a higher mileage truck.

Telling us what you plan to do with the truck and some other info might help... Do you need 4x? What matters to you on it?

Like every truck. look under it for rust, check all the things to make sure they work right.

 

Thanks for your input. I live in the Columbus Ohio area and we are below the snow belt. They don't use any road salt down here and therefore the local vehicles typically don't have any rust. I'm aware of the accidents on the listing, that's why the price is so low.

I have teenage boys that will be driving this truck, so it's gonna get banged up anyways. Looking for a mechanically well maintained truck with some cosmetic damage that I can get a price discount on.

I have no plans to take the truck off road, but would appreciate having the larger tow capacity compared to the Ridgeline. I was towing the smallest uhaul trailer from Ohio to Chicago and back when the tranny gave out on the Ridgeline. At 260k miles and with multiple teen dents and scrapes on the truck it's not financially feasible to repair. The Ridgeline has some features I would miss, like the 51" wide bed with no wheel bumpups and the under bed storage trunk.

 

The 2 i listed from CA. are within $500 - $1K of your listing, have good service records, and no accidents.

I would search around further to find a better example. Even if found closer to home.

 

Wow, that's a great price on the 07 Limited. Your advice is sound, thanks. Are there any common problems with the Tundras? I looked at the Dashboard Light Reliability rating and the Tundra gets a 100 out of 100. The Ridgelines are pretty reliable, but I don't see too many listed with over 250k miles on them. I think the transmissions on the larger Honda vehicles are less durable than the Toyota vehicles.

 

Overall the trucks are pretty much bullet proof with proper maintenance. If you had service records or proof of proper fluid changes, I wouldn't hesitate to buy a high mileage tundra. The biggest issues I can think of are timing chain noise and leaking head gaskets. Timing chain tensioners can get plugged up with long oil change intervals and cause chain noise. Old neglected coolant becomes acidic and actually starts to eat the coating on the head gasket. A recent trend that's arising now that these trucks are getting up there in age. Also struts, wheel bearings and lower ball joints seem to last to around 250k ish, but that's normal wear and tear stuff.

 

Great Info - Thanks. What is the recommended mileage between coolant changes? What about trans and diff fluid changes?

 

I just bought a 2007 Limited crew max for 8700 has 215k on it. Runs so smooth very quiet motor and shifts amazing. Even the interior is in good shape for the miles. Im in houston tx and truck lived its whole life in texas.

 

Must have been a 4.7 V8 at that price

https://www.autotronixx.com/details/used-2008-toyota-tundra/108082157

 

It is a 5.7 v8

it is Rwd tho

 

One of the million mile Tundras was a 4.7, so they must be reliable. Not a fan of a timing belt, though.

 

I'm not sure on milage actually. I think the coolant is 5 years or 60k miles and the gear oils and trans are the same if not very close. With the coolant I'd be more concerned with the age over the miles. But the opposite with the other fluids.