Evaluating Maintenance

Hi All,

So I'm brand new to Off Roading. But I like camping off the beaten path so I bought a runner. For context, I know the principles around various parts of vehicles but I by no means consider myself a mechanic, even an amateur one. An oil change here and there, or air filter changes is the limit of my mechanical experience.
I'm sharing the above for context of my question: Despite my 2021 ORP being Toyota Pre-Owned Certified with 50K on it, how can I further evaluate how well it was maintained previous to my purchase of it? The CarFax report was pretty spotty with the maintenance records. I live in California. I know it started it's life for a year in New York and at some point went to Montana. Then ended up at a dealership in California. CarFax only shows one oil change in Montana over 2 years. I'm pretty sure they did some that didn't show up on the report but may not have.

I know 4Runners are pretty much indestructible if properly maintained so I just want to know what I should be looking for in the event they literally just did one oil change in 50K miles.

I appreciate anyone who has the patience to respond to this. Thanks

 

Overthinking it. Just drive and do maintenance.

 

I’m in the same boat, er… truck. I appreciate this question. Right now I have to take it on trust that I was sold what the dealership said it was selling. But I’ll still put over 1k on it before I go “off the beaten” path. I’ve already done some light off roading in it, and didn’t notice anything strange during or after. Maybe just start slowly to build up trust in the vehicle if it’s already passed the CPO inspections.

 

I would assume anything needed to be done by 50K hasn't been done if there is no documentation, perform the maintenance for peace of mind and move on.

Off the top of my head...

Front and Rear Differential oil
Transfer Case Oil
Brake Fluid
Drive Shaft Spider and Yolk lube
Air Filter
Cabin Filter
Engine Oil and Filter

 

Welcome to the forum!

My daughter’s certified pre-owned 4Runner came with a warranty that is better than the factory warranty that came with mine when I bought new. What type of warranty did you get?

 

Trans fluid
Coolant
Steering fluid

 

I thought about those. Sure if you really want to hit the reset button, but I probably would not have replaced any of those on my own vehicle at 50K, maybe power steering fluid...

 

just ticked over 83,000 on my 2018 and did all the maintenance listed above (trans drain/fill, front/rear diff oils, transfer case oil, greased driveshaft) and I'm by no means a mechanic, but there are enough how-tos and videos both on this great forum and YouTube to make it easy as hell.

 

If you’re concerned, just replace all the fluids and filters, and start the regular schedule.

 

Agree, just treat it with TLC from this date forward and odds are you will be fine.

 

I just got the basic. It lasts for 15K or 1 year. Covers everything but cosmetic issues basically.

 

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I think I’ll implement most of these suggestions.

 

Next oil change do these (Especially if you will be doing off roading).

Front and Rear Differential oil (Usually done at ~35k)
Transfer Case Oil (Usually done at ~35k)
Trans fluid (Usually done at ~35k)
Brake Fluid (Usually done at ~35k)
Steering fluid

I missed some of these and did them at 50k, which is fine. But definitely need to be proactive if off roading.

 

Just drive it and do maintenance per the manual. I think it's safe to assume that somebody was probably fairly consistent with oil changes on their 40k vehicle.

I bought mine at 6 years old with nearly 80k on it, 4 years and nearly 80k miles later, it's fine. Maintenance I've done in the meantime has been front and rear diffs, transfer case fluid, and transmission fluid around 100k miles. I've also replaced the air filter and cabin filter a few times.

The filters are extremely easy, replace and fairly inexpensive, I would recommend just doing those.

For everything else, just go by the manual. For instance, somebody mentioned engine coolant. If I recall correctly, the interval recommended by the manual is 10 years or 100k miles. No need to touch that now.

 

the eng oil changes 10K .... 50K frt/rear diff /transfer case /greasing the drive shafts U joints /rotate the tires / inspect the brakes .changed the engine air filter ..

transmission fluid is around 80k-100K miles ...flush it out ...clean that pan ...

 

For the Toyota dealership to sell the vehicle as certified was any maintenance completed by dealership such as engine oil change, air filter changed etc and were fluids inspected such as pH of coolant, water content of brake fluid, levels of drive train fluids checked and did they give a copy of vehicle inspection with sale ?

 

They don’t specify the details of the various fluids. They check to make sure they are full. The only thing they change is the oil and filter.

 

Carfax is usually an incomplete report.

It's possible the previous owner did most of the maintenance themselves and it wasn't recorded. It's also possible no maintenance was done. That's the risk you accept when buying a used car.

Change the oil, oil filter, and air filter immediately.

As for the diffs, trans, and transfer case, I changed mine around 75k. You can do them now if you want.......or wait a bit.

I'm at 90k now and haven't touched the coolant, power steering fluid or brake fluid yet.

 

Apparently the break fluid is extremally important to change every ~25k as per Toyota or 60k in general. Dirty fluid can cause early failure of Master Cylinder or Wheel Cylinders.

 

I have not seen this recommendation in the manual.

Maybe I'm missing it?

 

I think I’m going to view it as no fluids have been touched other than those irregular oil changes. I plan on changing out those other fluids in the next few weeks as a sort of reset especially since I don’t really know how hard it was driven previously.
Thanks for all the feedback everyone.

 

I just took a look at the Warranty and Maintenance Guide. It says to check the level and condition of the brake and power steering fluids every 15k miles. The guide describes service intervals out to 120k miles, and it never mentions changing those fluids as a matter of course. It recommends changing the transmission fluid at 60k and 120k but only if your vehicle was frequently used for towing. The guide says to replace the coolant for the first time at 100k, and then every 50k thereafter.

 

The powertrain is 100K on Toyota certified.

 

the brake pads changed it and then the brake fluid is bleeding of the right rear left rear left frt and the right frt calipers ..I was using the stick of the brake pedal dropping it and then bleed it out .....doing the 20 times of that brake pedal dropping the stick LOL ....

 

hell no ...... power steering fluid ! 80K miles ..... look up your dirty steering fluid ? my 4runner is 50K miles and that steering fluid is very clear a light brown ...