Honest Opinions Needed

Hey dudes - trying to get some honest opinions. I've owned two tundras; a 2010 TRDOR crewmax, and a 2013 TRDRW crewmax, both with the 5.7l. I loved both trucks, and am looking to buy another one. I found a 2011 TRDRW crewmax locally... with 235k miles on it. The dealer gave me the carfax, and it is a 2-owner truck, has been in the south it's whole life, and has been serviced/taken care of on time. The price is perfect, the only thing making me nervous, and keeping me from pulling the trigger is my 2013 needed timing chains and timing chain tensioners at 77k miles (under warranty obviously). I thought that was probably an outlier, as I hadn't heard of it before that, and the dealer hadn't had one with that issue before mine. It still makes me a little gun shy; for $13k, would you guys pull the trigger or pass?

 

I think (don't hold me to it) a Timing Chain replacement goes for around $1500, obviously most of that is labor. If you are comfortable with spending $400 on parts and doing it yourself, just for piece of mind, go for it.. I have 250K on mine and I'm not worried at all about it. There is a lot of information on this forum about the chain tensioner, which you may want to take a look at. You can always have your mechanic do a pre purchase inspection on the truck to check out everything. These are good engines. Sound like you had a bad experience on one of your previous Tundras. I would be more concerned with the Cam Towers over the timing chain (much more expensive to fix), but that's just me.

 

Yeah I definitely agree they’re good engines and good trucks! I mean, I guess anything could happen but the price seems really good and it’s a configuration of the truck that I really like. I am probably going to go for it…

 

I would be less worried about the chain and more worried about rust. You can inspect the chain by taking off a cover and checking the guides as well. If you see the paint marks very clearly on the chain then that means it has at least not overheated. You could probably check the tension on it too. If there isnt rust or anything like that and you like everything else about the truck, then I would go for it.

 

MadMaxCanon is totally right, I don't know why I had it in my head that you were down south somewhere. Check the frame real well. Rust is something that is stupid hard to get out in front of. And again, a PPI will let you know anything else of concern.