I’ve posted about this car before. It’s a 2007 Toyota RAV4, 2.4L engine, front-wheel drive, with only 41K miles on it. It’s in amazing condition…but 17 years old. It’s used mostly for short trips around town, but it sometimes has to make highway trips of a few hundred miles.
Yesterday I broke down and put new tires on it. The old ones were 14 years old, though tread was good and there were no signs of dry rot. The front brakes needed to be replaced, too, which is not surprising considering that my driving is mostly local stop-and-go. They flushed the brake system at the same time.
So I’m wondering what else I should be thinking of doing as far as maintenance strictly due to age. The oil gets changed every 3K miles. I had the coolant flushed two years ago. Fluid levels and conditions all have been great. I also replaced the battery last year.
Maybe go ahead and change the serpentine belt? It’s rubber, so I’m thinking age is a factor. It’s supposed to last about 80K miles. The timing chain is supposed to last a lot longer and I don’t think I need to consider that.
Any suggestions or ideas? I suspect that rubber products and components will be the most affected by age. I don’t want rude surprises and I don’t want to buy another car in the near future.
See:
rav4 2007 scheduled maintenance guide
Sounds like you’ve taken very good care of it.
It may be premature, but I would go ahead and change the spark plugs. Not because they’re bad, but to prevent the threads from becoming seized in the head. I would also change the transmission fluid. The struts/shocks are also probably worn.
Thank you for the reference. I do have that already. But it is clearly geared towards mileage, rather than age. I’m looking for opinions about items that might fail simply because they are old, not worn due to mileage.
Thank you, Crafter_Man. I can’t take all the credit. BTW, the interior, including the dash, handles, and controls, are also almost like new. No cracks, everything works great.
What about other fluids in the car like power steering and transmission. They probably deteriorate with age.
I agree with rubber parts like hoses and belts.
What kind of a climate are you in? The snowbelt is bad for rusting things at the bottom of the car. For example my brake lines went bad on one of my vehicles–rusted through causing leakage. Did you check your exhaust system?
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The cooling system hoses and plastic parts would be a good preventative fix. Age will harden them and make them brittle. When they are under pressure, they tend to fail catastrophically with no warning.
I think those are good suggestions about the cooling hoses and other rubber products. A transmission flush probably wouldn’t hurt.
I’m in the southeast, so no “snowbelt damage” to the frame and components. And I’m not near the sea, so no sea spray.
I also replaced the plastic wheel covers as they were definitely getting brittle. But those are purely decorative.
This was also prompted by the fact that a few of my rubber body plugs have come out due to getting less flexible with age. So far, I’ve been able to replace them. New ones are ridiculously expensive. ($18 for a square rubber plug? Really?)
That reminds me… I own three, old Saabs, and all of the vacuum hoses rotted in each. (And when they start to rot, then engine runs rough and throws an OBDII error code. The code won’t say it’s a vacuum hose.) I replaced them with silicone vacuum hoses.
And premature perhaps, but I would go ahead and replace the fuel filter. (It’s something people routinely neglect, and only replace it after their cars dies on the highway.)
I’m surprised that you didn’t have dry rot on tires that old.
Strangely, I didn’t. They were only 13 years old, not 17 years old. But they definitely made me nervous. Tread was great.
Vacuum hoses. Good catch!
Lots of the plastic and rubber parts deteriorate when the car is not driven for long periods of time. That means a car that lives at the lake house, and is driven 2000 miles in June and July will suffer much more than something driven 200 miles every month.
The parts dry out, and driving will circulate fluids through the hoses, and help to keep them intact. They will still wear out with age, but not prematurely.
It’s also probably reasonable to set an 8-10 year age limit on anything that is mileage based in the maintenance schedule. For example, if they call for spark plugs at 100,000 miles, do them every 10 years regardless of mileage.
Otherwise, keep up with things that break and leaks and stuff.
I’m another person with a low-mileage vehicle (2016/18K). I take it in for oil change every couple of years, whether or not the mileage indicates it, mainly so they can also do a full vehicle check on things like hoses, belts, wipers and the like. I intend for this car to outlast me, if at all possible.