Back again: 04 GX 470

[cek347]

Hi guys, Couldn't stay away. Had an LX 470 that I fixed up but sold it to hunt for a VW Van. Apparently between Vanlife and 80s nostalgia Vanagons are way over valued. I owned 3 in my past. Anyway, I probably prematurely threw in the towel and went LX hunting again but stumbled into GXs. I regretted selling my LX soon after selling but the GX looked like a good value. Test drove 3 and just found a nice one on my 4th try.

04 Ash Blue Mica with 140k. Mostly dealer serviced for its entire life with records to prove it. Also drives great which proves it.

I'll be back to post some more pics and details. Was just happy to share tonight!

 

[HomersCanyonero]

Nice find. My favorite color. Looking forward to your mods.

 

[I6turbo]

Congratulations. I expect you're gonna like it. '03 Ash Blue non-nav, non-KDSS GX here, and possibly, all things considered, my favorite overall vehicle I've ever owned. Somehow it's just very satisfying, and IMO, the GX 470 was one of the last that still has that Toyota-ness that seems to be diminishing with every new platform introduction these days. IMO.

 

[joabmc]

Nice find! I’m stilling getting used to my GX. First road trip this weekend and have been thoroughly impressed.

 

[cek347]

So, Just a few days into ownership. It's my second car so I don't drive it daily so I haven't gotten a lot of seat time yet. I did place an order with partznet.com for an air filter, cabin filter, hitch bolts, under hood clips, wipers, and crush washers for the diffs and transfer case. If you are in the philadelphia area partznet has great prices for oem stuff, pickup in Conshohocken. Also ordered an OEM hitch (the smaller one) from amazon. Looks like my truck may have had it since I have the notched bumper piece. Plan on getting a bike rack for that. I'll upgrade to the larger hitch if we get a camping trailer.

So my three issues that I need to take care of first are:

1) I knew this upon buying but the radio decides when it wants to work and when it doesn't. Looking into the search for that. Seems like amplifier is the issue for most but I'll diagnose a little first. (Mark Levinson w/ Nav)

2) I didn't notice at my test drive and when I got under the truck but there is a small oil leak which as I search I'm now fearing is the transfer case seal/o-ring. I haven't gotten under to find it exactly but upon moving the truck yesterday it had marked its spot after a few days of sitting. Looks to be the middle of the truck. So the PO was not truthful and I trusted him when he said it had no leaks. I would have still bought it but would have shaved a few $$ off the price if he let me know that. This could be why he sold this one and kept his other GX..... Lexus serviced its whole life too and nothing in the reports of an oil leak. I'll get under this weekend and see exactly where it is and report back. Lots of info. on transfer case leaks in the search, have plenty to learn.

3) Rear hatch handle is broken. Once again, search shows that as pretty common. I'll figure that out. My daughter loves the third row so she want the handle.

I'll dig in and start on a little maintenance this weekend and see where I'm at with the leak. Other then that I want to put some miles on it and enjoy. This is a really solid truck and drives awesome. Suspension feels tight, selectable ride works, Height control works. Of the 4 total I test drove this one feels awesome. One of the other 3 was pretty nice but had clear coat starting to fail on roof (Cypress Pearl) and AC compressor was making an odd noise. One had a pretty severe accident in its life, much higher mileage, and has the codes popping up for the air pump failure. And the other one felt severely used, kdss light was on, air bags didn't seem to be holding, and everything felt loose and worn.

So mine is 14 years old, 140k, and has some issues but is clean, stops ,starts, and drives great.

I'll get some more pics this weekend also. Who doesn't love more pics!

 

[bigsaus]

You could probably van life pretty comfortably in a GX with the amount of room in the back... I'm working on a sleeping platform with drawers for mine. Congrats on the purchase.

 

[PDXGX]

You could probably van life pretty comfortably in a GX with the amount of room in the back... I'm working on a sleeping platform with drawers for mine. Congrats on the purchase.

If you fold down the 3rd row its almost level with the rear seats. You can then fit a queen size inflatable mattress and its quite nice. I had a great snowboarding season with this setup in the gx.

 

[cek347]

If you fold down the 3rd row its almost level with the rear seats. You can then fit a queen size inflatable mattress and its quite nice. I had a great snowboarding season with this setup in the gx.

That sounds like a nice setup. I'll keep that in mind if it's just 2 of us. We have a queen air mattress.

You could probably van life pretty comfortably in a GX with the amount of room in the back... I'm working on a sleeping platform with drawers for mine. Congrats on the purchase.

I'm not looking for Vanlife. We have a sweet tent that's easy to setup for the whole family. I just wanted a vanagon to have some fun camping with the kids. I'm 40, living in a van down by the river suited the 20 year old me. I had a 69, 74, and a 91 VW back in the days before kids. Got into these Toyotas back in 2010. Had 4 4runners and lastly the LX470 since then.

Looking forward to some basic maintainence goods for the GX showing up tomorrow!

 

[cek347]

Truck has a good records history but I thought I'd do some very basic maintenance to start getting to know the truck.

Replaced all the missing engine cover clips, cabin filter, wiper inserts. Anybody know the Toyota/Lexus part number for the rear wiper? I picked one up with what I thought was the right part number but it is smaller then original.

I replaced the radio fuses hoping that magic would happen and the radio would work.... no luck. I did find the TSB for checking the radio and got the following. I'll search and jump in a radio thread or start a new one though to see if I can get this fixed.

 

[cek347]

Installed the small hitch yesterday. Only going to use it for a bike rack. No big deal to install. Well, as long as you have a 17mm ratcheting wrench.

If you haven't done it before there is a piece in the hitch place you remove first.

You can see the blue clips which hold the small bumper cover on. If you got them off without breaking then you are a better man then I.

Finished.

Bad news. I 100% have the actuator leak. I missed it when I looked it over. PO said no leaks so I didn't look as hard as I should have. I looked under on drivers side. You can really see it on the passenger side. Damn.

Radio has been coming on when it wants to. It never goes off once it's on. Just won't turn on when you ask for it.

 

[cek347]

Someone backed into the GX while I was at work and the truck was parked.

Truck will be down for 2 weeks if everything goes well. Saving towards some new tires and wheels. Maybe mid summer.

 

[Don65GX]

So my three issues that I need to take care of first are:

1) I knew this upon buying but the radio decides when it wants to work and when it doesn't. Looking into the search for that. Seems like amplifier is the issue for most but I'll diagnose a little first. (Mark Levinson w/ Nav)

Any update as to your radio issue? Mine seems to be doing the same thing.

 

[cek347]

Never solved the radio issue. Hit a dead end in searches so I lived with it till I sold it.

So kept it through the summer, took a huge family trip down to Florida and back. Truck ran great. AC so cold in the 3rd row my daughter had blankets on. Hand calculated the MPG the whole trip and averaged just under 19 over the 2k+ miles. I needed a few bucks for some home improvement so I put it on craigslist and it sold in 2 days. Regretted it immediately! So back in the hunt. Looking forward to getting in the seat again. I'll start a new thread when I get it home.