Spoke to the owner. He said timing belt and water pump were done at 90,000 miles. It has 157,000 on it now. Is this an item that's supposed to be done every 100,000 miles?

Asking $9,000. Is that reasonable?

quote:

Originally posted by Edmond:
Spoke to the owner. He said timing belt and water pump were done at 90,000 miles. It has 157,000 on it now. Is this an item that's supposed to be done every 100,000 miles?

Asking $9,000. Is that reasonable?

I'd keep an eye on it. How does the belt look? This is an interference engine, for what its worth.

At that price point, assuming it hasn't been seriously crashed, I'd be interested in it. The engine bay looks VERY clean as does the interior.

Nowadays, $9000 is about a year and a half, maybe less, of car payments. You should get a ton more life out of this vehicle.

Of course, I'd also wave the $7500 in their face to see how motivated they are.

quote:

Originally posted by Edmond:
Spoke to the owner. He said timing belt and water pump were done at 90,000 miles. It has 157,000 on it now. Is this an item that's supposed to be done every 100,000 miles?

...

Recommended interval per Toyota is 90,000. Many will go longer than that, but running any timing belt, no matter who makes it, much past 100-105K is asking for trouble.

quote:

Originally posted by MikeGLI:
I think RobLew has a Sequoia of this vintage.
I'd check on the timing belt as suggested by others, outside of that, it should be a very good car.

Mike's right. My '05 has been solid. Nothing I can suggest beyond what has already been said.

You're definitely due for a timing belt pretty soon, so factor that into the cost. If you're handy, you can do it yourself. I have the ~4000 page factory service manual pdf and if email doesn't choke, can send it to you.

You may need a couple of special tools - a pulley holder and a 250 ft-lb torque wrench...an impact wrench is always a plus to get off the crank pulley. I use this as an excuse to acquire more tools.

Besides the normal fluids, filters, tires, the only thing I've had to replace is the lift gate latch because it wore out.

What would you buy if you didn't buy this? Buying a new car - between new car payments, insurance, registration, property tax as applicable (frickkin Virginia), the amount of time you could drive this car to come out even isn't that long as some have noted.

Yeah, buying a 12 year old car is somewhat risky, but from the pics, it appears this one has been well cared for. Gamble $75 and have your guy go thru it with a fine tooth comb.

Rob

Rob,

Not sure I really want to tackle that job by myself. But the mechanic I would have do the PPI on the vehicle said they do it for $1,300 so he would be my go to.

While buying more tools is fun, I just don't envision spending my weekend off working on a car I just bought.

If you trust what the previous owner says in terms of getting the belt done at 90k, then you have about 23K miles before you need to do that service again. Don't know how much you plan on driving it, but for me, that's a couple of years.

Remembered something else. Definitely check out the air suspension. I bought the SR5 because I specifically did not want to deal with an issue with that rear leveling suspension option.

Do a search on million mile Tundra. It is a '07 and the larger body style. It has the 4.7 and when Toyota took the guys truck in it was at 1, 020, 130 on the clock and still a good running truck.

I just sold my first gen 2006 2wd Tundra with 344K miles on the 4.0L V6 for $5900 to a buyer who did his due diligence. Condition and maintenance history is everything in an older vehicle. This one looks like a keeper. $9000 seems reasonable given condition. I think you'd be looking for quite a while to find one as nice.

My dad got a Sequoia when they first came out, I think 2001. It has 220k miles on it, and I honestly don't think he's even replaced the timing belt. I should probably recommend he do that! But these days, its serving as a farm truck instead of a daily driver. He hasn't had anything major happen since he's owned it. Its been a great truck.

quote:

As it stands right now, if the vehicle were to check out fine, I was thinking about offering $7,500 or so. Does that sound fair/reasonable?

Yes. I paid about that for a 2008 4Runner... but I had to buy it out of Hurricane Harvey to get that deal. My bid was around 6K, but it was over 7K by the time I paid fees and transport. The only damage was to the carpet, which needed a good shampoo.

They are good vehicles. Runs great.

quote:

Asking $9,000. Is that reasonable?

You'd be getting a bargain at $7,500. $9,000 is reasonable if the maintenance is all up to date. Maybe $8K?

quote:

Originally posted by RobLew:
If you trust what the previous owner says in terms of getting the belt done at 90k, then you have about 23K miles before you need to do that service again. Don't know how much you plan on driving it, but for me, that's a couple of years.

Remembered something else. Definitely check out the air suspension. I bought the SR5 because I specifically did not want to deal with an issue with that rear leveling suspension option.

It was bought from a local Toyota dealer. I wonder if they would be willing to run the VIN to verify that service was performed at 90K.

Either way, the mechanic I would have do the PPI said if it can't be verified that it was done, set aside $1,300 to have it done. That makes sense to me.

I had a 2005 Tundra--same engine. Never had a lick of trouble with it. I changed the timing belt and water pump at 100k. The only problems I had were cv boots tended to crack (we live in Vegas so quite dry and bad on rubber), and had to replace the ac condenser and the rack and pinion--both had leaks.

If this is a 4x4, find out if the owner put it into 4x4 occasionally, if not, the first time you do, you might get some leaks in the seals in the transfer case--that's about a $1500 fix.

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:
You'd be getting a bargain at $7,500. $9,000 is reasonable if the maintenance is all up to date. Maybe $8K?

I think if I make the $7,500 offer and he balks and we end up going back and forth, I think $8,000 would be fair. He did mention that he's paying insurance on a car he's not driving.

quote:

Originally posted by henkelphoto:
I had a 2005 Tundra--same engine. Never had a lick of trouble with it. I changed the timing belt and water pump at 100k. The only problems I had were cv boots tended to crack (we live in Vegas so quite dry and bad on rubber), and had to replace the ac condenser and the rack and pinion--both had leaks.

If this is a 4x4, find out if the owner put it into 4x4 occasionally, if not, the first time you do, you might get some leaks in the seals in the transfer case--that's about a $1500 fix.

How much work was it to change the timing belt and water pump?

Looks like if it's just parts, that will cost less than $400 or so. Seems labor intensive.

I'm not sure if it's 4x4, to be honest. I'll bring that up to the mechanic.

Nathan's DIY (independent BMW mechanic) on YouTube has the same model, different year. He has over 400,000 miles on his and it just won't quit. He mainly uses it to tow a car trailer and pick up/deliver customers BMW's for repair.

I'd easily pay 8 Grand for it, provided your independent mechanic check it out ok.

You might go over to YouTube and see his Sequoia videos, Nathan's DIY World, would give you some ideas.

If the timing belt was changed anywhere reputable, it'll be clearly marked under the hood with the date and mileage. If it's not there, I'd not believe a thing the owner says.

quote:

Originally posted by SIG228:
If the timing belt was changed anywhere reputable, it'll be clearly marked under the hood with the date and mileage. If it's not there, I'd not believe a thing the owner says.

This^^. Every timing belt service I’ve had done came with a sticker the dealer or mechanic put on the plastic cowl covering the radiator timing belt area or the under side of the hood. Should have the date and mileage when done. Obviously this isn’t always the case, but most reputable mechanics do it.

I believe that Toyota usually marks AWD models as the Limited trim level. So maybe check for hi/ko mode and locking center diff?

 
My wife picked up an '03 in '08, and it is still going strong. Still <100k miles. She got the fancy model with the gold stuff and extra inside trim.
 
After finishing a full rebuild of an FJ-40, I crawled under her Sequoia, and yes (to the above comment) it is very Land Cruiser-like. The suspension is more modern. The drive train, especially the split transfer case, appears to be made up of very much the same components (probably updated inside). I had just finished rebuilding my TC. Her's is an auto, though.
 

To echo everyone else who mentioned it, is there actual documentation the timing belt and any other maintenance has been done? If not, then proceed as if it hasn’t; the sellers word means absolutely zilch.

If you don’t mind me asking, are you looking specifically for a Sequoia or just a good deal on an SUV? Have you looked at 4Runners? They’re about 1,000 lighter in weight and I imagine the fuel mileage would be better because of that.