First Toyota

[Sfgsr1]

Hows it goin, I just bought my first Toyota and its a 96 avalon with 118,000 miles. This is a great running car that we fell in love with as soon as we test drove it. It has had alot of work done to it already like the hydraulic tensioner, timing belt, cam seals, all four struts, thermostat, and rear brakes all at the dealer at 55,791 miles. I was wondering if there is any maintenance i should do to it now? or have anything inspected? Hope to be here for along time with this car, thanks for the help

[HATEnFATE]

Sounds pretty decent. I would have the suspension inspected. If you've got any noise in there you might need to replace a couple things.

Front strut mounts can be weak/noisy
Rear control arm bushing(have to replace the whole arm)
timing belts are 90k invterval replacement
Power steering rack's are known to leak.
have someone check the condition of the brake and fuel lines that run under your car to make sure they aren't rusting out.
Make sure the engine doesn't have any sludge in it.

Other then those things, off the top of my head, there isn't anything that you should have to look for other then regular maint. keep your eyes and ears open for anything that might come up and stay of top of it. They are VERY nice cars and I love mine to death.

welcome to the club.

[NRecob]

Welcome!!!

What HATEnFATE said. These ARE very nice cars! I change my oil religiously and keep meticulous service records (as did the original owner [my upstairs neighbor]).

Enjoy your Avalon--I'm lovin' mine ['95 XL--188k miles-runs GREAT!]

[Sfgsr1]

Thanks for the tips, I was just able to look at it today since it's been raining, there is a bit of sludge on the oil cap but the dipstick looks good, what can I do to inspect it more and mostly what can I do to fix the problem.

[NRecob]

Originally Posted by Sfgsr1

Thanks for the tips, I was just able to look at it today since it's been raining, there is a bit of sludge on the oil cap but the dipstick looks good, what can I do to inspect it more and mostly what can I do to fix the problem.

Other forum members have experience with more in depth inspections (pulling valve covers etc)[just do a search you'll see them] but one of the first things I'd want to know is "When was the last time the oli was changed?". Even if looks good I'd change it if you don't know--that way you have a mileage/date to work with for your next oil change and you know for sure what oil you're running

[pmesfun]

Originally Posted by HATEnFATE

Sounds pretty decent. I would have the suspension inspected. If you've got any noise in there you might need to replace a couple things.

Front strut mounts can be weak/noisy
Rear control arm bushing(have to replace the whole arm)
timing belts are 90k invterval replacement
Power steering rack's are known to leak.
have someone check the condition of the brake and fuel lines that run under your car to make sure they aren't rusting out.
Make sure the engine doesn't have any sludge in it.

Other then those things, off the top of my head, there isn't anything that you should have to look for other then regular maint. keep your eyes and ears open for anything that might come up and stay of top of it. They are VERY nice cars and I love mine to death.

welcome to the club.

+1
Have a ?, HatenFate which ones are the rear control arm bushings in the this photo?


I thought the trailings arms are the ones that have to be bought from Toyota? Please help, I'm confused on the wording.
And I'm getting these for the rear strut arm(control arm?!?!) bushings from es parts.
http://www.energysuspensionparts.com...?prod=8%2E3118

[HATEnFATE]

Well, through Toyota, you can't replace the rear control arm bushings, They are part of the arm.
48710A and 48720A(front most rear control arms)
48730F and 48740F(rear adjustable control arms)

Through a dealer, I have to order you the complete arms to get the bushings on those.

On the trailing arms(48780A qty. 2) the frontmost bushing is part of the arm itself. The rear bushing is part of the knuckle. If it's bad, you have to repace the knuckle.

If you order the energy bushings(which are a good deal BTW) you'll have to do a bit of work to get the old bushing completely out and likely have a metal ring in there that will have to be removed also. If you're not comfortable with doing a little grinding, you'll probably want to take it to a mechanic that you trust and have him do the work.