Low mileage maintenance

Hi all, I have a 2018 tundra I bought with just under 10k miles back in 2019. Since then I have only put on about 16k miles for a total of about 26k miles. I usually have just done 1 oil change a year with mobil 1 extended performance and matching oil filter. As I'm coming up on the 30k mile mark and it's been 5 years I'm not sure if I should do fluid changes (drain and fill) for my transmission, coolant, diff and transfer case. Was also thinking about changing spark plugs as well. My tires also are gonna need replacing soon too. Should my fluids be ok or should I just replace them? I know 30k miles is a big milestone according to Toyota maintenance plan

 

I’m with you on the tires. I’d let the fluids go another few years with that low of mileage.

 

Brake fluid….

 

What type of driving are you doing when you do drive it? Do you only use it to tow? highway trips once a week? Short stop and go trips?

I think these are some things that will help determine some of the fluids.

 

The stuff I do on a time interval is brake fluid and coolant. Brake fluid every 2 to 3 years. Coolant every 3 to 5 years. Edit: I do power steering flushes every 2 years as well.

Engine oil, transmission fluid and gear oils are what you're comfortable with being consistent at.

For engine oil I do every 5K or 6 months, for Gear oil I do every 30K, and for transmission oil, I'll do every 25K miles. That's just me.

 

If you want to keep it 10+ years: Brake Fluid, diffs, transfer case, power steering (turkey baster method). You'll be surprised what the rear diff fluid looks like, I bet it's pretty dark and 'glittery'. My transfer case is a lot smoother with Redline MTV than with whatever Toyota or the company that made the transfer case put in. Toyota makes great vehicles no doubt but I think they use the minimum specs on their fluids, nothing great, a cost saver for sure.

All easy stuff to do and by doing it yourself you can put top-shelf synthetic fluids and still save a pile over a mechanic.

 

Oil degrades and their additives degrade over time as soon as you open the bottle, same for all the fluids in your vehicle. Follow the time recommendation in your manual if you don't hit the mileage. Like your engine oil, you should change it twice a year if you don't hit the mileage intervals.

 

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. Most of my driving is just short trips no longer than 20 minutes in town. I used to work 5 minutes from home so I did that for 2 years. I have hauled some 800 pound loads to the dump here and there. The only thing I have replaced is the battery. I think I'm just going to do drain and fill everything to be less paranoid.

 

Ok so I just noticed this but my coolant temp gauge is slightly above the halfway mark. I could have sworn it was always at half before. I noticed this before I drained and filled with new coolant but it's still at the same spot after the drain and fill. I drove it around town and hit the highway for about 25 minutes and the temp gauge stayed at the same spot. It's not like 3/4 of the way up and it's not spiking or anything just slightly above halfway.

 

Weird. Your oil pressure and voltage are a bit high too. I'm usually showing a bit under half for oil pressure once warmed up and at speed. I've never seen more than 14 volts.

Then, of course, who ever has a full tank??!!

Might be worthwhile to get an OBDII reader to see what your actual coolant temp is. I'm usually around 185-195F and just under half on the gauge. If your motor is that hot, i would figure that fan would be howling unless you have an air pocket in the system.

 

Did you burp your coolant after the service? Air pockets will cause low flow and you will run hot

 

I burped it for like 45 minutes with the heat on max and the radiator fans were definitely going. Squeezed both radiator hoses after revving it up to 3k rpm for 10 seconds every couple minutes. It was at this level before I did the drain and fill too so I'm not sure what it could be. The a/c and heat work fine too.

 

I feel like this may be a dumb question but does it start at the bottom when the engine is completely cold?

 

Yes it starts at the bottom and goes up as the engine gets to operating temps. It gets to a little past half and stays there once it gets up to temp.

 

Gotcha. Just ruling it out that it was a faulty gauge.