200k miles and 15 year preventative maintenance?

[BigMaineWomen]

Hey folks,

I finally got around to doing the heater T's and the hot side just crumbled. I really feel like it could have went any day. This being the wifes car that she hauls our 2 kids in (both under two years old) i want to make this rig is as reliable as i reasonably can. Do you have any suggestions on hoses or smaller items that i should be replacing at this point as preventative? I was considering the radiator. No problems at this time but i know they like to leak around this age and mileage. January/February in Maine we often will go a week without temps getting above freezing and i want to do my best to make sure she doesnt get stuck on the side of the road.

Thank you

 

[JunkCrzr89]

Everything

But in all seriousness, without knowing your previous service history up to 200k miles, there are multiple items worth checking out and/or planning to replace in the near future, if they've not already been repaired/replaced.

Hoses:
1) Since you already started with the cooling system (heater Ts), might as well knock that out. Those hoses that the Ts connect to? Replace them along with the upper and lower radiator hoses and radiator (if it has >100k miles). The above items would all be easier to do if lumped in with a timing belt and water pump job (when was the last one done?). Heat and collisions seem to be the only things that can kill these engines swiftly and with certainty, so take care of the cooling system.
2) Transmission oil cooler hoses (between radiator and trans, radiator and external cooler, and external cooler and trans). In freezing temps at 15 years-old, one of the aged hoses could bust and leave your vehicle unable to move under its own power (happened to my brother's rig in PA after a couple weeks straight of sub-freezing temps).
3) Vacuum lines. Not that many on the 2uz, relative to older Toyota engines, and they're cheap and easy to replace.

Other items:
1) Flush transmission, power steering, and brake fluid, and change the oil in transfer case and both differentials. Change engine oil religiously at appropriate interval.
2) Repack/replace wheel bearings, check/replace CV axles and hub flanges, check/replace brake pads and rotors, replace upper and lower ball joints, replace inner and outer tie rod ends, etc.
3) Check/replace all suspension and steering bushings (in front and rear control arms, steering rack, stabilizer bar, front differential, etc.)
4) Check function of brake booster pump motor (directions on top of reservoir), and start putting cash aside to replace it. It will die at some point.

Do the above and it'll probably last another 200k miles.

 

[BigMaineWomen]

Thank you for your detailed response! I have 52 pages of service records from the Lexus website so general maintenance has been well kept up to 2018.

TB/WP was done 42K miles/4 years ago and the vehicle does not get driven as much now (only about 6k/year). I don't want to wait the years to do radiator and related pieces at the same time so i will plan on doing them this spring. How much of a PITA are those oil cooler hoses?

 

[JunkCrzr89]

How much of a PITA are those oil cooler hoses?

Not bad at all. Drop the front skid pan to get the ones coming from the trans. I removed front bumper cover (9 bolts) to get the ones at the external cooler, but you could also just remove the grille instead. I didn't try to pull any of the old ones off, because presumably they're stuck on there pretty good after 200k miles, so I just cut them off.

 

[kevin2i]

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My immobilizer fix

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