Heya, everyone!
Way back in 2005, my wife and I purchased a 2005 Sequoia 4X4 Limited off the showroom floor. We raised our family in this truck, and will own it forever. So much sentimental value... so many memories! Changing the little ones diapers under the rear hatch in a Walmart parking lot, the kids first camping and fishing trips, kids watching Spongebob Squarepants DVD's on the rear screen. A few bad ones, too... rushing family members to the hospital with the hazard lights flashing and the gas pedal smashed to the floor. Somehow, this truck has managed to become a member of our family.
We live in the desert southwest, and unfortunately our Sequoia has never seen the inside of a garage. The desert sun finally had its way with the factory paint over the last year, so I'll be repainting the entire car. I haven't painted a car since high school auto shop circa 1985, but YouTube and forums are a great source of information. I'm hoping to take a few pictures of the process to post here and possibly on another Toyota forum... I'm not sure if it's against the rules to say which one it is, so I'll just leave it at that. : ) I'm hoping others will learn from my car painting mistakes and victories.
The clock reads around 225k miles on her now, and she has been darn near flawless. We've done all scheduled maintenance, although the timing belt is now due, and there are a few suspension related parts that need to be replaced. We also had to replace the rear air bags. The only really nagging issue we've had is that the the opening mechanism for the rear hatch has been replaced so many times I've lost track. Oh, and the endgate window hasn't rolled down for many years. My wife got in an accident, and the auto body place had a real problem getting the electronic components in the rear to work. We thought they finally had it fixed, but about six months later the window stopped rolling down. I know that Toyota had a Service Bulletin on this, but we were too late to the party to have it done on their dime, and even if we weren't late, my conscience wouldn't have allowed me to make Toyota pay for what was likely an auto body shop problem. The shop wouldn't make good on their repair, so we've just dealt with not having an operative endgate window and intermittent rear defroster.
I've always owned at least one Toyota vehicle since 1983. Every one of them have been dead reliable. Thinking back, the Sequoia has had the most "problems," (if you can even call them that on an 18 year old vehicle), but even so it has never left us mechanically stranded somewhere. It has been dead reliable. The 2UZ-FE engine has a well earned reputation that I can personally vouch for.
Well, shoot. I certainly didn't mean to write a wall of text for an intro, but what the heck else are you gonna do when you just can't seem to get to sleep??
Anyway, I'll shut up now. Looking forward to learning from you all!
--Phlier (pronounced "Fly-er" ; ) )
Way back in 2005, my wife and I purchased a 2005 Sequoia 4X4 Limited off the showroom floor. We raised our family in this truck, and will own it forever. So much sentimental value... so many memories! Changing the little ones diapers under the rear hatch in a Walmart parking lot, the kids first camping and fishing trips, kids watching Spongebob Squarepants DVD's on the rear screen. A few bad ones, too... rushing family members to the hospital with the hazard lights flashing and the gas pedal smashed to the floor. Somehow, this truck has managed to become a member of our family.
We live in the desert southwest, and unfortunately our Sequoia has never seen the inside of a garage. The desert sun finally had its way with the factory paint over the last year, so I'll be repainting the entire car. I haven't painted a car since high school auto shop circa 1985, but YouTube and forums are a great source of information. I'm hoping to take a few pictures of the process to post here and possibly on another Toyota forum... I'm not sure if it's against the rules to say which one it is, so I'll just leave it at that. : ) I'm hoping others will learn from my car painting mistakes and victories.
The clock reads around 225k miles on her now, and she has been darn near flawless. We've done all scheduled maintenance, although the timing belt is now due, and there are a few suspension related parts that need to be replaced. We also had to replace the rear air bags. The only really nagging issue we've had is that the the opening mechanism for the rear hatch has been replaced so many times I've lost track. Oh, and the endgate window hasn't rolled down for many years. My wife got in an accident, and the auto body place had a real problem getting the electronic components in the rear to work. We thought they finally had it fixed, but about six months later the window stopped rolling down. I know that Toyota had a Service Bulletin on this, but we were too late to the party to have it done on their dime, and even if we weren't late, my conscience wouldn't have allowed me to make Toyota pay for what was likely an auto body shop problem. The shop wouldn't make good on their repair, so we've just dealt with not having an operative endgate window and intermittent rear defroster.
I've always owned at least one Toyota vehicle since 1983. Every one of them have been dead reliable. Thinking back, the Sequoia has had the most "problems," (if you can even call them that on an 18 year old vehicle), but even so it has never left us mechanically stranded somewhere. It has been dead reliable. The 2UZ-FE engine has a well earned reputation that I can personally vouch for.
Well, shoot. I certainly didn't mean to write a wall of text for an intro, but what the heck else are you gonna do when you just can't seem to get to sleep??
Anyway, I'll shut up now. Looking forward to learning from you all!
--Phlier (pronounced "Fly-er" ; ) )
