Preventively replace stuff, or not?

My 12-year-old Tundra has almost 200K miles on it and it has given me virtually no problems.

This summer I plan to take it on a multi-thousand-mile road trip, some of it offroad and a lot of it in the middle of nowhere, the Canadian Rockies.

On strictly a preventive basis, should I start replacing things that would leave me dead in the water if they were to fail.

I was thinking of replacing the starter this year, and next year replace the serpentine belt, the water pump and thermostat.

I really can't afford to do both those things this year.

Most people, including my mechanic, try to talk me out of doing this, but I'm just concerned something is going to fail when I'm in the boonies.

Thanks.

 

Starter isn't a bad idea. Mine went out at 215k, but there's also starters that have gone much longer. I got lucky and mine died getting breakfast so it was a short tow to the house. The other stuff I wouldn't worry about, they're not a catastrophic failure (immediately) if they fail and you could at least limp.

In general I don't do preventive maintenance though, I think you'd be better off investing in safety/survival gear since there are lots of single point failures and you can't prepare for all of them. Get a Garmin inReach or other satellite communication system, food, fire starter, space blankets, water, filter, etc. if you don't already have those. Starter going out really sucks, but you're probably more likely to blow two tires or have the fuel pump die or any number of other issues--point being that replacing parts doesn't really future proof anything imo since freak things happen and for all you know your starter will be good to 400k. Spend money in preparation of when anything can happen, versus one single thing possibly happening. Just my $.02

 

Depends , if you’re naturally intuitive about things and tend to be right when you get feelings about needing to do something to your truck or whatever, I suggest it. Only because I’m the same way and if I get a feeling about my car or my tundra or something needs done, everyone try’s to tell me it’s all in my head yada yada. But when someone who actually knows what they are doing looks at it, 99% of the time I’m always right, which is exhaustingly expensive lemme tell ya. I’m all for preventative maintenance if it is something that makes sense and you think it’s about time for it. Most people aren’t “in tune” with anything and that includes their vehicles.. some are

 

How’s the tie rods, ball joints and steering connections? Leaf springs? That’d be more of a worrisome then what you’ve posted. Especially if off roading.
Thermostat seem too fail open running the motor cool, vs closed and overheated. Water pumps usually give you warning and as long as you have access too water, you can go for a while until you make civilization and a mechanic too do it, if you do t do it yourself.

 

Definitely agree with that statement. Have your suspension checked out and retorqued if needed. But if you’re like me and just know shit then go with it

 

Can't say much about the big parts to preemptively replace but personally I keep an eye on the things that are prone to failure on our gen/your year tundra. So water pump, camtower leak, air injection pump, etc.
I just recently burned out the starter and had the fuel pump go out on my 07

 

My '08 started seeing some issues after about 230k, such as starter (230k), AC compressor (235k) and a couple of other 'non-major' items. If you are paying someone to do your starter, it'll set you back over $1k. The good news about the starter, at least in my case, is that it gave me warning. I started having weird noises from it about 10 days before it crapped out; almost sounded a bit like there was a struggle for it to engage (my understanding is that the solenoid is what went out in my case) properly. I got maybe 40-50 more starts out of it once that happened. Not sure I'd replace it preventively though...

Regarding water pump, t-stat and serp belt... I wouldn't replace these preventively either, but I've done 2 t-stats and one water pump over the vehicle's lifetime (water pump just over 100k miles and t-stat was done w/that and again at about 190ish). Now the belt, I do consider more of a wear and tear item. But, take a look at. If it's worn, cracking, etc. then replace it. If it's good; it's good!

Definitely another vote on having a once-over done w/your brakes, tires, suspension, etc. Don't replace anything that doesn't need to be fixed, but these three can get you into an accident if they are not up to snuff. The other items... Well, they always have the potential to cause you significant cost/inconvenience, especially if they crap out on a trip, but for the most part aren't going to put you or your family at risk for accident, etc.

 

@Underdogg at what mileage did your fuel pump go out? I got 280k on my truck.. and I am the 3rd owner.. it would be good to understand fuel pump fail symptoms and change it if it gracefully fails.

 

Right before 80k. Crazy right? I got it at around 68k and the previous owner was not very diligent with maintenance so I imagine that had something to do with it.

Side note: I just sprayed and scrubbed the throttle body the other day and my god it made a huge difference in acceleration and power. Pedal used to be very jumpy. After cleaning it the car started weird and drove odd for about 10 miles then it was smooth as butter after that.

 

Yeah so preventive means different things depending on the place that you live and the season. Living in harsher environments makes maintenance from good to do to absolutely mandatory.