My 2008 Tundra (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Feb 8, 2007
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Location
Northeast Georgia (Habersham)
I figured I'll make a thread since I plan to do a lot of things to my Tundra over the next few months that way it's all in one spot.

I picked up my tundra with 150k miles on it. Clean Car Fax showing services every 7500 miles since new. 5.7L engine, 4x4, Double Cab, tow package with the 6 speed auto trans and trans cooler with gauge, TRD package with bilstein shocks.

I'm still learning a lot about my Tundra. I have a question if any knows I'd love to hear back. My truck has what appears to be gray vinyl or leather (I can't really tell). Did they have vinyl or a composite material in 2008? Whatever it is, it has held up incredibly well.

I swapped the nerf bars for these N-FAB bars from amazon and put Carhartt SeatSavers and Husky Weatherbeater mats.

My tundra was a trade in at the local Kia dealership so I got a steal on it. To top it off I noticed a weep on the rear main seal. I told the salesman and he said he'd take care of it.... I really don't think he knew it was such a major job, but needless to say, I got a new rear main seal installed for free fifty!

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Seat covers are breaking in and fitting better; they are super tough and the husky mats are awesome!

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Are you all running 87 octane in your 5.7L engines? I put 89 and some lucas in to see what my MPGs will be. Currently at about 80 miles and 1/4 tank is gone... lol not so great!
 
Just talked to Toyota and I have an open recall on my Tundra. They said they will inspect the frame and treat it with an anti-corrosion spray for free. I have zero rust and just sprayed it with Fluid Film so I'll wait till Spring and have this done.

I love FREE. Has anyone else done this so recall?
 
Follow up on the Carhartt Seat Savers. I'll get a photo now that they are starting to settle in a bit. For some reason the passenger side keeps coming loose when passengers get in and out. I just called Cover Craft to make sure I wasn't missing a piece because the installation instructions were super generic.

As per the conversation they are how they should be, but the rep said it is probably because I have them on leather seats and they are slipping. They offered to have me mail them in and have some grip material sewed on the inside. In an attempt to avoid that I said I would go ahead and try to sew some straps with clips on and see if that worked first. They then offered to mail me some strapping and clips for free. I could complain I paid $400+, but I think I can make them perfect for a few bucks and a little time.

The biggest positive was CoverCraft customer service; they were great. The lady I spoke with was hilarious and the whole experience almost had a small town America feel to the company. It was refreshing to speak to actual people that knew what they were talking about. I'd support them all day just because of this.
 
I didn't swap shocks yet, but I did pick up some Rock Warrior rims. Do you all think going to the 17's will have any negative effect on the ride quality? Would it have any effect on my mph or mpgs? I need to calculate out and see how much difference in circumference, if any, comes from that change.
 
I was too curious; seems to be so close I don't think anything would change with speed, etc. As long as I got the sizes right lol It's early and I did it off of memory.
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Quick question:

What are you all getting for MPGs? I'm driving with a light foot, 99% city stop and go, and getting 13 mpg flat on 87 octane.

At what mileage did you replace your spark plugs?

I've got right at 150k. I don't know what was used in the truck in the past, but since spring/summer is approaching I'm thinking about 5-20 synthetic. Any reason I should do 0-20? I've read a ton on this, just looking for further guidance.
 
Update: (everything you need to change your fluids is listed)

So I changed my front and rear differentials, as well as my transfer case fluid this week. I went with a Lucus Synthetic 75-90 all around (tons of research made me decide this was fine). My rear diff was a little dark, but the front diff and t-case looked almost new.

You'll need a 10mm allen head to remove the from diff drain/fill plugs and 24mm for the rear diff / transfer case (I used a 15/16")

7.4 quarts total 4x4 truck.
Torque specs:
Front differential: 29 ft/lb
Transfer case: 27 ft/lb
rear differential: 36 ft/lb

I used close to the 7.4 quarts mark. I also got these fill/drain plug washers off of amazon and they were perfect one stop shopping https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017V4BAXI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s02?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I also pulled my plugs and changed them out. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002FOO884/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Amazon had them for $6.97 each, which was only $56 for all 8. I have no idea how many miles were on the plugs, but this is what they looked like.

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Some had a little bit of oil on the threads. I also noticed a slight amount of oil in the air intake tube (a very minor amount). I think it's time for a PCV valve so I ordered this one from Rock Auto. https://www.rockauto.com/en/parts/s...v+(positive+crankcase+ventilation)+valve,5052 STANDARD MOTOR PRODUCTS V453 {#1220438010} Intermoto

I got the plugs back in, put a dab of anti seize on them, and snugged them. I had the battery disconnected during this process. When I fired it up after, it fired right up, however in town it was super low idle (450 rpms) and it sounded like a diesel (injectors knocking)

Apparently it cleared the ECU and then had to relearn. I drove about 20 miles in town and it wasn't really getting any better. I read online to fire it up when cold and let it idle till warm without touching the gas. I did this and it is idling perfectly now. Also, I turned the key on and slowly depressed and released the gas pedal 5 times to help it learn the throttle / pedal position. Honestly it seems more responsive now and less sensitive.
 
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Also, I have only had my truck for a couple thousand miles, it's at a little over 153k now. I noticed before a little bit of a gear sound from the front, like a "wooom woooooom wooooooom". Nothing bad, but enough to pay attention to. I did a bunch of research and found a TSB on 2007-2008 Tundras for exactly this and mine seems to have all the signs/symptoms.

It has a low gear sound between 10-35 mpg, but it goes away when in 4 high. It almost sounds like a bearing, but not consistent. I found on toyota service records that my truck had been brought in before for this and wheel bearings had been changed . I also found the TSB.

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I found this kit too for a bushing that replaces the needle bearing and corrects this issue:
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Attachments

  • TSB TUNDRA.pdf
    3.4 MB · Views: 104
Decided to change my PCV valve. Will report back on what I observe, but so far it seems my RPMs on idle have increase a couple hundred.

The valve was super easy to get to and took about 3 mins to change. I hand snugged the new one since it was plastic on plastic.

I used a 7/8" deep well socket because I didn't have a 22/23mm (whichever one it calls for)

First pic is location, second is my PCV valve that was so stuck it wouldn't move when I shook it and I could blow through / suck through it with no resistance. Don't judge my nasty engine bay lol. Also I had noticed a little sludge under the oil cap and the same sludge was here (look at the yellowish nasty gunk) I had read online this was a sign of a bad PCV valve. I guess it was correct.

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Hopefully this brings awareness to the need to change it, as well as the ease. Some things I read said you had to remove the intake?!?! Clearly they were wrong
 
I’ll post for my own records, as well as any interested parties.

Post plug change, pcv, air filter, fluids, etc. after reconnecting my battery and having to let the computer relearn I did 100 miles almost all stop and go city driving ( under 35 mph, numerous 1-2 miles trips). I also had to let the truck idle and warm up to temp a couple times while letting the computer learn; I got 12 mpg per my computer display. I did a 56ish mile round trip on the highway and it bumped my mpg up to 13.9 mpg. I’ll prob top up on gas today and see what I get this next week now that’s I feel it’s baselined. Doing all those short trips it took a while for the computer to learn and level out the idle; I didn’t get any stalls but a really low rpm at idle a few times.
 
I had an 08 too. Best vehicle I’ve owned. Sold it for 14,500 and bought a new 2015 F150 for 60,000 lol.

Yours is an SR5 so it came with cloth. Some had leather wrapped steering wheels and some not.

If it’s 4x4 run bilstein 5100s on the middle setting to keep your angles good.

Was running 295/65/18s on the factory TRD wheels on the middle setting and it looked great. Anymore lift and you either get angle issues up front or load capacity issues.

Heavy tires really kill the mpg. I think it would sit on 12.8 but I do idle, have a heavy foot, and am around town a lot.
 
Oh and 17s or 20s are great because you can find lighter tires. Those E rated ones really kill the mpg and ride from what i remember. Ran a couple different sets.

I wouldn’t stray too far from the factory Engineering.
 
This is good reading because I am looking at Tundras. And have actually have an eye on an 08 at CarMax.
 
I had an 08 too. Best vehicle I’ve owned. Sold it for 14,500 and bought a new 2015 F150 for 60,000 lol.

Yours is an SR5 so it came with cloth. Some had leather wrapped steering wheels and some not.

If it’s 4x4 run bilstein 5100s on the middle setting to keep your angles good.

Was running 295/65/18s on the factory TRD wheels on the middle setting and it looked great. Anymore lift and you either get angle issues up front or load capacity issues.

Heavy tires really kill the mpg. I think it would sit on 12.8 but I do idle, have a heavy foot, and am around town a lot.

I wonder why mine has leather seats then? Right now it has the stock bilsteins, but I have some take offs from the 1894 edition tundra that will go on since mine are ten years old and worn out. If I come into some extra money I might splurge on the 5100s.

I don't plan on lifting because I want to keep the ride quality and I have enough lifted vehicles lol Trying to for once keep it stock.
 
This is good reading because I am looking at Tundras. And have actually have an eye on an 08 at CarMax.

Awesome, glad I can provide some insight. What I will say is find one with a 5.7L, 4x4, and the tow package. From my research the front diff issue is common an a lot of years so not specific to 07-08. Check rear main seals too as that seems to be the other major issue at this mileage/year range. From what I have read the transmissions are work horses and don't really have issues.
 

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