High Mileage Maint

[AZCamry]

As I approach a quarter million miles, I'm thinking about preventative maintenance that I should do before I'm stranded somewhere in the middle of my 160 mile daily commute. I'm not referring to the typical stuff (belts/hoses/timing belt/water pump/plugs/brakes) which have been taken care of. I'm referring to other items that certainly will wear out over time/use, like rear wheel bearings, CV joints, fuel pump, steering rack, etc. Currently, motor/tranny run strong with no issues, last major service done at 220k (timing belt/belts/hoses/plugs/water pump). Is there a fuel filter? If so, it has never been touched. Shooting for 350k before I retire her.

thanks

[bcsbadboys]

Can't add much, congrats on the 250,000 mark!

I thought the wheel bearings were sealed and didn't require service, might want to have somone confirm that. The others you mention, CV Joints, fuel pump... I would probably leave them, but if you have the extra $ and don't want to take a chance, it couldn't hurt anything.

The fuel filter however is another story. It's supposed to be a "lifetime" filter. And it very well could be. I changed mine for the first time at 130,000 and it didn't show much accumulation at all. But for peace of mind I replaced it with a new one. That's about all I'd do, if anything. Congrats on the mileage.

[n0rad]

have you flushed the brake fluid at all? im at about the same km's so i flushed my brake system. also drained and added new power steering fluid.

just some thoughts.

[Kep]

I actually wouldn't worry too much about the items you listed. They should give you fair warning before they fail. Failure of the cooling system, the lubricating system, or the ignition system could result in having to stop the car. These are all pretty well covered in the maintenance time schedule of the owners manual.

I have always been big on cleaning the engine components. The throttle body, EGR, and IAC are the most commonly neglected. I also like to run a cleaner like Techroline in the gas twice a year as well as Sea Foam through the vacuum port twice a year. A lubrication system cleaner like Sea Foam is good once a year or so. I use a harsher cleaner (Five minute Gunk oil additive) every 100,000 miles. I also add Slick 50 to the engine oil twice a year.

I am a proponent of draining the transmission and replacing the ATF more frequently. Since it only drops about 2.5 quarts each time I have begun changing it at every oil change. I figure that that way it will more than replace the transmission fluid every 30,000 miles as recommended.

I guess that the trick is to recognize the symptoms of an impending failure and correcting the problem before it fails. It isn't real cost effective to replace everything but it isn't cost effective to break down either...

Kep

[toyomoho]

To prevent abnormal wear and failure the best thing to do is keep all the fluids clean and fresh, this being engine, PS, brake, trans, diff, etc. The CV joints, wheel bearings, steering system will let you know via noise, leaks, steering feel when they have a problem and normally give you lots of time to address the problem.

As these cars age, items such as suspension bushings, engine mounts and other non-metallic parts can wear out but not before showing signs. Give the car a good inspection and change parts as required.

Change ALL coolant and radiator hoses including bypass hoses, once hoses age they can fail quickly. If the radiator upper/lower tanks are plastic this area can form cracks resulting in leaks. These leaks usually start very small but can increase in size very fast stranding you somewhere. Keep in eye on the coolant reservoir level as an indicator of problems.

Change the alternator brushes; normally the only indication of when these brushes are worn out is the alt light coming on. Toyota and after market parts dealers sell the brushes only at low cost. No need to take the alternator apart but will need soldering iron.

Changing the fuel pump might be a good idea but have not heard these were more failure prone then other makes/models.

If the car has an automatic trans (no push the car to start option), carry jumpers or replace the battery regularly.

[AZCamry]

Thanx for the great replies, I didn't think of the brake fluid, it's never been touched, just topped off. I did have an overheating problem last summer (almost pegged the gauge) which I solved: The radiator fins were clogged with bugs. Since 95% of my mileage is at 65mph or over, this was predictable. Removed the radiator and shot compressed air backwards through the fins and solved the problem. Car runs great, never any problem with anything.

[touringcamry]

As the brake fluid ages, it will absorb moisture which can boil and turn into a gas when the brakes are applied. I had this issue a while back (even though I live in the SoCal desert and there is little humidity) where I would overshoot my target by at least 20 or 30 ft when I had to brake from over 40 MPH or so because I would have to apply more and more pressure to the brakes because the moisture was boiling off. Even fully pegged, the brakes wouldn't lock if I was trying to stop from 65 or so.

It takes about 1 hour to flush all the brake fluid with a 1 man bleeder kit.

The fuel filter is under the air filter box and is supposed to be lifetime, but there's no harm in replacing it. The filter costs about $20 when I bought mine from Napa.

Originally Posted by Kep

I am a proponent of draining the transmission and replacing the ATF more frequently. Since it only drops about 2.5 quarts each time I have begun changing it at every oil change. I figure that that way it will more than replace the transmission fluid every 30,000 miles as recommended.

IMO, that is excessive. I think you could probably do it once every other oil change and be fine perfectly fine. When you drain the transmission, that is about 1/3 to 2/5 of the fluid in the transmission system.

[touringcamry]

Oh, don't forget about the differential fluid. The differential fluid is Dexron III like the transmission, but it is separate from the transmission. It takes about 1.5 qts or so to do a drain and refill.