2008 GX470, The Blue Whale

Truck has been mostly working out ok.  I've been ignoring the split in the seat, eventually I'll probably buy a set of Wet Okole covers for both front seats, that seems to be the least expensive way to fix it.

Rather more troubling is I'm hearing a whine coming from the engine bay.  Initially I thought it was an idler pulley going bad but the GX guys universally say its my alternator.  I'll pick up a multi meter today and check it.  Unfortunately I have no time to fix it, seems like its a 4 hour job the first time you do it. 

Generally I have Fridays off to wrench but my son is out of school as of last Friday and his camps don't start until not this week but the following.  Not sure the alternator will make it two weeks and we're in the heart of hail season here, so I don't want to drive the 911 to work and park it outside.  Argh, another shop bill...

I've definitely found the point where everything wears out, 11 years and 120-125k miles.  Hopefully soon stuff will stop breaking on this truck...

Used my new Harbor Freight multi meter to confirm a bad alternator.  Argh!!  Now I've got to see if I can find some time to replace it myself, ih8mud is saying up to 4 hours.  Crap!  I may have to bend over and take it to a shop.

Got the SUV back with a new alternator.  Labor was reasonable but they charged me over retail price for the alternator itself, which is a pet peeve of mine.  The parts profit for a shop is the delta between their wholesale price and the retail price, not $130 over retail!

The alternator also took out the battery, luckily O'Reilly's warrantied that and I just popped it in.  I also replaced the burned out drivers side tail light bulbs. 

The shop noted that my drivers side axle inner boot is torn, as well as the rack and pinion seals being bad.  Awesome.  I'm picking up a rebuilt axle from CVJ tomorrow and I've ordered a rope axle removal tool so hopefully I don't nick the axle seal like I did on the passenger side.

I'm gonna ignore the rack and pinion and just monitor the fluid level until it gets worse.  This truck is really costing me a bunch of money this year!

Surprised to see all the costs this year 

i buckled down and did

steering fluid

radiator fluid

trans fluid

spark plugs

diff front and rear and transfer case

did all of that this morning. Hope not to touch it in 36 more months except oil change

In the last year I've done...

Tire, brakes, alignment, spark plugs, air filter, cabin air filter, serpentine belt, both front axles, radiator, alternator, shocks, drivers side brake light bulbs. 

I need to replace the rack and pinion, figure what I'm going to do with the split seam on the drivers seat bottom and the timing belt/water pump is due in another 15k miles.

I keep telling myself I'm running out of stuff to break on me but I'm getting really irritated at the amount of time and money I'm spending on this SUV.  If something else breaks on it I'm throwing in the towel and will abandon my plan to run it as my DD for another 2 years before giving it to my daughter.  I'll just sell it, get myself a much newer DD and then pick my daughter up something like a 6MT GTi.

I made the mistake of mentally tallying up the amount I've spent on the truck in the last year and even with the used parts, rebuilt parts and doing much of the work myself, I've still spent over $5000 . 

I'm replacing the drivers side axle next Friday and if anything else breaks on it, I'm out.  Will sell it and replace it with something new(er) and under a long warranty.

In reply to docwyte :

I keep a running excel sheet with costs myself

but i never add it up :D

In reply to mr2s2000elise :

I wasn't expecting this onslaught of maintenance.  We've owned it since 39k miles and it was rock solid up to around 114k miles.  I should've dumped it last year.  I kinda feel stuck with it now that I've got so much into it, like what else can go wrong at this point? 

In reply to docwyte :

My brothers GX he bought new has 315k miles. His wifes has like 75k 

You made me curious, so I sent him a text asking about his maint costs

is secondary air injection a GX problem? I know thats a pricey repair on the Tundra forums 

our 200s have been bulletproof. Radiator and alternator are the weak points

In reply to mr2s2000elise :

Yes, they go bad, as does the rear air suspension.  Both are original on my truck.  Most people bypass the air injection when it goes bad but they check it here for emissions, so I can't delete it. 

My 99 100 has been fine but I bought it with 420k miles(it was dealer serviced at the interval at the same dealership it was purchased from new until I bought it) and it has 428k on it now, All I have had to do is a coil. the horn went wonky but I just replaced it with a button. It is also showing the signs of needing a starter but this starter has 250k on it.

Though I will say my 100 is a low spec early model. 1st year, No 3rd row so no rear A/C, No lockers except center dif, no fancy suspension.  I know the front dif is weak but I will be replacing it with a locker anyway.

Did an oil change yesterday and I'm just about done putting the drivers side axle in.  I boogered up the threads on the axle nut and O'Reilly's should have a new axle nut for me in about 20 minutes.  I used this Handy Rope from Treaty Off road to pop the axle out of the diff, no leaks!  Woot!

Have a hand shake deal on the truck, hopefully get the funds for it in the next few days.

docwyte said:

In reply to mr2s2000elise :

Yes, they go bad, as does the rear air suspension.  Both are original on my truck.  Most people bypass the air injection when it goes bad but they check it here for emissions, so I can't delete it. 

Well your next owner will have to deal with secondary injection failure 

not your problem any more, while you enjoy APR tune on the R under warranty:) :) 

In reply to mr2s2000elise :

Pretty much!  Axle is in, I'll return the old one today at lunch and get my core charge back.  I hope the new owner likes the truck and it treats him well.

I guess take the good with the bad, The early model 2uz's don't have the egr or sai so I have never had to replace them, on the downside I have the 4 speed trans and about 40 less hp.

Sean

docwyte said:

In reply to mr2s2000elise :

Pretty much!  Axle is in, I'll return the old one today at lunch and get my core charge back.  I hope the new owner likes the truck and it treats him well.

I sell some of my cars often and have a good amount of turn around in one part of the garage 

i always get weird when a buyer wires me deposit or leaves me cash deposit and will take delivery in a week or later 

i never drive it. But i am paranoid if something else goes wrong before delivery

looking forward to your R thread :) 

In reply to mr2s2000elise :

I haven't gotten a deposit yet, just a hand shake.  Hopefully I get full payment soon, once I do, I'll stop driving it.

Well, got paid for the car Wednesday afternoon and watched it drive off yesterday afternoon.  Ironically Facebook popped up a post from 7 years ago when I sold my wifes B6 A4 Avant to buy this GX470. 

Want to sell my B6 A4 Avant  to buy this GX470. Anyone facing issues with it?

^^^^^^ CANOE ^^^^^^^