Excited owner of 2011 Tundra- 1st time in

Hello all,
I’m an excited new owner of a 2011 TRD double cab -125k miles. Got a good deal I think @ $11,500

I need to take in to our trusted local mechanic for inspection in the next week or so. Im wondering what I should ask to be inspected and what fluids and such should be changed? I was told that it was babied and it has new tires, brakes and recent oil change but I was provided no service records nor details.

Everything seems near perfect but without actual information I want to preemptively maintain best practices. So, any advice from the Tundra hive mind is appreciated.

There are two things I’ve noticed in the couple days of owning:
1- half the dashboard light are out in the evening. I haven’t check the fuses or relays yet but there is an errant wire hanging loose driver side, far left se to peddles.
2- it seems to rev high for a few seconds at startup


Anyway I am an excited new tundra owner and hoping for years of service with proper maintenance.
Laura
PS- I’m in the Catskill Mountains, NY

 

Welcome from NY.

 

Welcome from the AV

 

Welcome from NC

 

Welcome to the second gen supremecy!


For fluids:

-Check the oil, if it looks new change it after 2000 miles just to be safe this time and then every 5000 miles after.

-Definitely change the coolant. Toyota coolant gets changed every 50k or 5 years. If you do not know the history of the truck get this changed. Overtime coolant becomes acidic and can start eating away at things like your water pump and head gasket. Second gen tundras are starting to get head gasket failures now because of owners not changing their coolant and it becoming acidic. It costs $90 in fluid to do and is super easy.

-For brake fluid you wanna get that tested. There is no proper interval to change brake fluid. You change it when it has collected moisture. This can be done using a brake fluid test strip

-Differential(s) get that changed. This should be done every 30k, but again since you dont know its history it doesnt hurt to change it now. Its probably the easiest fluid to change.

-Transfer case (4wd only) get this changed too. Just like the diffs it should be every 30k and its super easy as well.

-Power steering check the color of the fluid. If its nice and red its good. Otherwise get this flushed. Its pretty easy, just pump out the old fluid with a hand pump and then fill the resivoir back up. Then start the truck and turn the steering wheel left and right to full lock a couple of times and then repeat the flush till the fluid is red.

-TRANSMISSION FLUID. Oh boy... this is the kicker. If you are over 100k miles and you have never done a drain and fill on your transmission its best to leave it alone and never change the fluid. You can do more harm now by changing it than good. You generally change the transmission fluid every 60k, which you are nearing that interval. But if its never been changed before DO NOT do it now. I would highly recommend asking the previous owner if he had ever done this or not. Look at the maintenance record on the car fax. If unsure just leave the tranny alone.



Other maintenance items:

-Spark plugs. The spark plug interval is every 120k. If it was not replaced since the truck came off the assembly line get it changed now

-Serpentine belt. Again if it doesnt look relatively new get it replaced. It should have been done at 100k

-PCV valve. I would recommend doing this as cheap insurance. The part costs like 20 bucks and is easy to do. DO NOT have the dealer do this. They will charge over 200 for labor on this super easy job. You can do it yourself in 20-30 minutes.

-Brakes. Get the pads inspected by your mechanic to see how many millimeters of pad material is left. Replace if needed

-Battery. Get it tested and replace it if it is getting bad. A weak battery will kill your alternator faster. Batteries are cheaper and easier to replace than alternators.

-Air filters. Replace if dirty

-Suspension. Have your mechanic check your ball joints, bushings, shocks, tie rods, and wheel bearings for any play.


Tundra specific things to get inspected:

-The good ole cam tower leak. Look around the front wheel wells above the shock mounting plate. You can see the side of your engine from here. See if there is any oil leaking from either the valve cover or a little lower where the cam tower is. This is a common oil leak on the tundras

-Front cover leak. Look around the front of the engine where the belt system is. That is your front cover. See if there is any oil leaking from the seal of the front cover to the rest of the engine.

-Timing chain tensioner. The timing chain tensioner (typically on the driver side) can go out and you would end up hearing a ticking noise from the engine usually when cold. Only way to inspect this is by listening to it or taking off the front cover which you wouldnt do unless you hear it ticking.

- Coolant leaks. There is 3 common coolant leaks on the tundra. First one is on the radiator. Some of the seals between the plastic and aluminum parts of the radiator can degrade and cause a leak. You can look for this by just getting under the truck and looking up at the radiator. The second one is the water pump. To look for this one you will also have to look under the truck and find the water pump. If you see the pink crusty coolant around the water pump that means its leaking. The final leak is the valley plate leak. This is underneath the intake manifold. So to get to this you would have to take off the intake manifold, but you can also just get under the truck and see if there is and pink coolant dripping down near the front of the transmission/rear of the engine area.

Hopefully your truck doesnt have any of these specific issues. If it has a coolant leak you definitely wanna get that fixed. It isn't terribly expensive to fix these leaks. The oil leaks on the other hand are super laborour work and can cost a few thousand to fix. However, you dont need to address it unless its leaking a lot, which is super rare. Usually if you have an oil leak is very minor and doesnt need to be addressed as long as you regularly check your oil level so you dont run low on oil.


Good luck! Hopefully this helped you out and will help make your Tundra last as long as possible! Let me know if you find any of these issues or if its completely clean!