I just bought a 2006 GX470 w/ 154k miles this past weekend. I've been putting together my list of maintenance To-Do's and was wondering if anyone thinks I'm missing anything. The truck was last seen at a Lexus dealer for service at 118k (it's had service since then, just not from Lexus). I'm waiting on the BMW dealer that I bought her from to email me a list of services they did when getting it ready for the lot, but I'm not optimistic I'll ever receive anything or that it'll be accurate.

Here's my list:

Fluids
- Engine Oil
- Front/Rear Diff Oil
- Coolant
- Brake
Filters
- Engine Air
- Engine Oil
- A/C
Other Stuff
- Spark Plugs

I frequently see "Lubricate driveshaft, re-torque nuts/bolts" in the service guide. Can anyone shed any light on this job? Does this need done every 15,000 miles in the absence of towing? Anything else I'm missing?

 

Has the timing belt/water pump service been done? If you don't know, put it at the top of your list. It's a good time to flush your coolant as you'll have to drop it all to change the water pump anyways. Check your radiator for signs of seeping at the same time, pink coolant makes it easy to spot dried leaks.

Change the transfer case oil at the same time as your diffs, takes the same gear oil.

There's a cabin air filter you should change as well that you've missed (unless that's what you mean by AC), and while you're at it do the fuel filter as well.

Check the front calipers for seizing, very common issue on these trucks.

Lubricating the driveshaft is the kind of thing you should do a couple times a year, on a flat surface you can put the truck in neutral and roll it forward/back so you can access all the zerks, or even better do it while it's on 4 jackstands when you rotate the tires kind of thing.

 

there's a fuel filter? hmmm, where would that be? I have never seen that mentioned here or on the maintenence schedule....i thought it was in the gas tank?

 

Right after i bought mine with 165k... i did the following

Front Diff / Rear Diff / Transfer case fluid
Lube all U joints + shaft
Spark plugs
Brake fluid DOT 4
transmission fluid with Vavoline max life
Timing belt water pump pulley tensioner erc
Drive belt/ tensioner/idler
radiator + coolant
upper and radiator hoses

Will have my thermostat + o ring soon.

 

I also have valve cover gasket + spark plug seal for when the valve covers decide to leak..

also have intake manifold gasket ready for when i want to remove it for ***** and giggles to clean up the old coolant that crusted in there...

 

Here's a couple more things to consider. When I purchased mine at 150k, I did everything you listed plus these:

Transmission drain and fill (not flush)
Transfer case fluid
Check battery and replace if needed
Check drive belt and replace if needed
Check CV boots and reboot if needed (recommended to replace with OEM or reboot if CVs aren't making noise)

As another member stated, make sure the timing belt and water pump was replaced at 90k or recently. If not, that should be #1 on your list before anything else.

The driveshaft has a couple zerk fittings which require periodic regreasing. I believe there are two U-joints and a slip joint, may be more. Keeping the joints greased minimizes the infamous "clunk" with some driveshafts as the joints wear.

 

Fuel filter was along the frame rail, it's roughly halfway up the truck, not in tank (there's a sock filter in there as well I believe). Another one to consider is the PCV valve.

 

yea PCV valve + hose should be replaced if they are fouled up pretty bad... the 2uz PCV is pretty robust however.

But cheap preventative maintenance.

 

Thanks guys.

Timing belt was done at 92k, so not worried about it for now, but should have to deal with it again in a couple years.

I read the transmission was a "sealed" unit and that doing a flush was absolutely brutal PITA. Is this not the case? What prompts the change - a mileage interval or feel?

 

It's sealed in that there's no dipstick, which does suck. There's drain and fill plugs on the housing, you need to bring it up to temp and get it into service mode via tech-stream or a fancy sequence of button pushes and lever movements so that you can get the final level set. You can flush via the trans cooler lines to get the fluid changed, and then go through the process to get the level set. There's a DIY sticky at the top of the main page.

 

 

I have read that debate, i thought my dealer had a good approach to this..drain and fill early...like 50-60K, get out anything that may be floating around and then doing the entire system flush at 150K....He agreed that doing the flush without a prior drain may force stuff into places you dont want it to go.

 

I still don't get why having a dip stick makes things that much better for the transmission.

Yes 04+ have sealed transmission .drain and fill is actually easy in my eyes compared to ones with a dipstick.

unbolt fill bolt.
​​​​​Unbolt the drain bolt and drain .
​​​​​​Bolt it up with a new washer .
Unbolt overflow bolt
Fill the transmission up... Should take almost a gallon.. like 3.quarts. in my case I loaded a gallon up.

Go inside the car and short out the obdii thing to get I to maintenance mode...

Turn on car and shift all the way down to L then back up .. then do the sequence to go Into transmission temp mode or whatever..

Sit back and wait till u get a solid A/T Temp light.. then go down and unbolt overflow . Wait till the solid stream turns into a flutter and bolt it back up