Hello all,

I have a '97 4Runner 5 Speed manual 4x4 sitting in my garage... It has sat there for the past six months since I U-Haul'd it from my old house. I love this thing, but have no idea what is wrong with it. I'll explain.

Two years ago, at 200k I decided to replace the plugs, wires, do an oil change and change valve cover gaskets etc... for regular maintenance. It sat for about six weeks in the mean time without running. After I put it back together, I tried to start it and it sounded like a bowling ball in a dryer. I pulled the plugs and tried cranking it again and fluid shot out the plug holes, (fuel I think). I decided I was going to try and pull the heads and check it out myself.

Here I am, two years later, and I have all the accessories off the motor, but the camshafts are still in the head. I don't know how to remove them, and basically have no idea what I'm doing. The Runner is black in color, has the auto rear window and working moonroof, and nice size mud tires on it (LOOKS GREAT!)

What do I do? Should I try and buy a new motor for the thing? Will a 3.4L from a 2wd auto work in this? Or should I figure out how to pull the cams and finish removing the head to check for damage to the cylinder walls etc? I still have all the parts/bolts/nuts/screws etc. but know I need to buy a new radiator and some other things. Or should I say screw it and sell it? How much would I ask?

Thanks in advance for those of you who chose to read my story of my Toyota.

V/R

Bud

If it was running before you did the "Maintenance", I would find a mechanic near you and tell them to figure it out. I can't imagine it being too expensive to repair.

So, are the heads still on the engine then? What exactly did you pull off? And before your tune up, how did it run?

I would try to fix it, it sounds like it shouldn't be much since it was running fine before, six weeks shouldn't do anything too bad, maybe a longer start and a dead battery. It's up to you, if you have time and some money I'd fix it, if you have no time and are looking for money you could sell it.

It was running great before I decided to try and do the "maintenance". The bowling ball in a dryer sound worried me greatly and I wanted to check and make sure I didn't do any damage. The heads are still on the motor, but I have not pulled the cams out yet to get to the head bolts. It has been sitting for two years.

It almost sounds like you dropped either a bolt or a socket into the head when you were doing the VCG's.

If you decide to sell it as is, I might be interested.

I'd be interested as well, as I have a motor that I could swap into it.

Looks like OP is in Florida, though...

I live in rosamond, ca...

I'm out then. But CoB could be in.

Definitely in.

I'll buy it if the price is reasonable. I love projects.

Wanna sell, tampabud?

Maybe you could fix or drop your engine for the OP, for a price of course.

Why can't you be in FL?!

There's nothing wrong with it from just sitting. The rough running could be caused by a few things like mismatched plug wires, wrong spark plugs, that fluid in the cylinder or lost tools "FOD".

The "fluid" has me worried. If it was sitting with no plugs in it, I'd write it off as condensation. So was it a mist or projectile vomit?

Did it actually run when it was making this "bowling ball" sound?

What plugs did you use? (NGK seem to be the favorite)

Got any missing tools?

Double check the plug wires.

Put this thing back together, leave the plugs out, crank the engine over a few times with the EFI relay pulled. Listen for your noise.

If it sounds like there's no interference, throw the plugs and relay back in and it should fire right up.

If the noise is still there and you didn't see anything under the valve cover, run the engine with them off.

Good luck hope you get it running