What to worry about on a truck thats been sitting since 2012

Since the last couple Tundras I looked at fell through, I'm looking at another one. It's a 2000 Access Cab still V8 and 4WD. is the listing on FB. It's missing some parts, but he says it has a "new" (in 2012) frame, new tires and a new timing belt. And I added frame pics.

I pulled the Carfax on it and it had 251,960 miles in 2012 and only went up to 256,115 when the current owner bought it in 2022. The new owner has put 8000 miles on it since purchasing. What things should I be concerned about on a truck that sat for that long?

 

Above my pay grade to advise on anything. Decent looking truck for the $, maybe question why the new owner is selling it after only driving 8k miles?

 

I wouldn’t call that sitting, I mean 8k miles isn’t nothing. And the 200k-plus before that means it was definitely broken in. And how did they do those 8k miles? That could have been a handful of long trips, or 2,000 trips to the corner gas station to buy smokes and beer - those short trips can be bad for valve corrosion, she shifty’s stickied “So you bought a…” post section on low miles vehicles. I think the other usual issues are seals and gasket material drying out and cracking.

 

I'm not really worried about the 8000 miles in the last year. Its the 4000 miles between 2012 and 2022 that scare me.

 

I read wrong, sorry. I think the logic still stands. Check out that post where shifty has collected pictures of dudes’ valves, especially the one closest to the driver (8?), the get grody and really varnished from stop and go short trips.

 

Ensure all fluids have been replaced by new owner. Verify operation of everything to ensure no electrical issues. Rodents like nesting in idle vehicles and snacking on electrical wire insulation.

 

FWIW, I've had mine more than 4 years, put about 12k miles on it (total). I'm the 3rd owner of my truck. The truck has 75k miles on it (total). It is what it is. And it was considered a fleet/business truck because the original owner bought it as a "company" truck ... he worked at a bank, and this was his daily driver to make the short few-mile partially-dirt-road trek to and from work every day. Based on your comments, I wonder what potential 4th owners would say about my truck when considering purchase?

My reality is, if I needed a highway warrior, I wouldn't have bought a truck. I use my truck as a truck: Landscape/yard/utility, and fishing/camping/outdoor. I use it for a truck more than 75% of the other dudes in my neighborhood who have one but sure as hell don't need it. That's one of my pet peeves: Dudes who buy trucks just to check of the "yup, got a truck" man-cred box.

But back to the point of the post... Maybe the previous owner got their use and moved on?

@Kraken, I may not have any better insight than others on this, but off the cuff, here's my thoughts.

You're got three considerations here: Metal degradation, mechanical degradation, electrical degradation.

If you're concerned about mechanical degradation - timing belt, axles, driveline, suspension and steering, etc. - or electrical degradation - rodent damage, gremlins like corrosion inside connectors, water intrusion into circuits inside the cab, etc. - get a pre-purchase inspection (PPI) with a dedicated Toyota shop. They'll tell you everything you need to know. Change all fluids to get a baseline for maintenance when you get the truck. Don't forget to confirm 4HI engages before purchase.

I think the bigger thing to address here that'd be highest on my concern list is metal degradation. If the frame was in bad enough shape it warranted a replacement, you need to understand to things. First, all the stuff that does not get replaced during frame replacement, any bolt that went un-turned, any steel bracket under the hood, any suspension component like the knuckles that are raw steel, things like O2 sensors ... you will be fighting with those things later down the road when you go to remove them. You will stockpile Kroil or PB Blaster and learn to use it religiously. Second, there will be body rot and other rotten stuff. The body stuff won't be outwardly visible at simple glance, you'll find it hiding under flares like this, which ultimately turns into this (reply #12 is a truck with his frame replaced, and he's currently cab-swapping because his cab corners/rockers are toast also). Here's why/how it starts. You'll have it in the cab corners and rockers eventually too, like some of our Kentucky members have. Any bare steel or black-painted steel bracket on the truck will likely be impacted also, like on this member's truck.

Since the frame looks f'n amazing on that truck, I would be focusing my personal attention on everything in the last chunk of text I sent, and if I'm not getting a PPI, I've be bringing my own scanner to see last time codes were cleared (that does get logged in the ECU), testing 4WD, confirming operation of the A/C, confirming every button works, looking for evidence of aftermarket alarm and/or wire splicing under the hood and in the driver kick panel, etc.

 

I also think it's dumb to buy a truck just to have a truck. I usually get by just fine with my Versa. The four times I've needed a truck in the last 5+ years, I've been able to borrow one. We are planning on moving out to Oregon next year and living semi off grid, so now I actually have need for one.

Yeah PPI definitely. I'm going to ask the guy to meet me at a Toyota service center to have the truck looked at before I test drive it. Hopefully he either did all the work to get it going good when he bought it, or he didn't and the last year of driving it f'ed it up enough for Toyota to fail it. Good call on the rust under the flairs, I should be able to feel that on the inside of the wheel wells right?

I've been thinking about getting my own scanner just in case I run into an issue in the future. Are there any nice ones that aren't too expensive? I've heard some good things about BlueDriver, but mostly on review sites I haven't heard much directly from people.

 

Looks like a good deal from here. Appears to have new(er) exhaust too, maybe they took care of other stuff (suspension, etc.) when the frame was done.
Follow @shifty`s advice and you’ll probably be good.
For how clean it appears and having a relatively new frame if everything else pretty much checks out I think that’s a good deal.

 

Possibly.

I bought the OBDLink MX+. It's not inexpensive, I think I paid around $100 for it? But it works across mutliple vehicles and is basically a "power" tool, it comes with lots of programmatic add-ons if used with their (free!) smartphone app. Their tech support is personalized, fast and awesome too.

Others are using Bluedriver stuff, I've seen. It definitely seemed more finicky to me, and more catered towards Android users. I'm a forced-iOS user thanks to my job. And that ultimately landed me with OBDLink.

 

Might have to get the OBDLink. I use androids, but it looks like OBDLink has some more features than BlueDriver. Thanks!

 

Potentially sludge. Unless the owners changed the oil based on time and not mileage