agree with you fully here, a fuel filter is less than $10 on rock auto.. i change them once a year with roughly 15,000 km a year, surprising how much small particles are in the filter when i cut them open. i may pull the tank next year and check .

Like I mentioned, the PO gave me maintenance docs from Toyota. He followed the recommended service schedule and the paperwork is a little over an inch thick. They were an older retired couple that garaged it and really seemed to take care of it. It had very little rust but it gave them issues over the years. They had the radiator milkshake, two broken antennae motors, faulty fuel gauge/sending unit, quite a few CEL's related to sensors, no starts, leaking evap core, failed starter, faulty 02's. The truck had issues with ABS and CEL popping on at 1600 miles.

I had to replace the steering rack, both rear axle seals, both cats, both 02's, injectors, pcv valve, fuel pump, ball joints, vc gasket, shocks, rear springs, etc.

The gas tank was clean with no debris and pump filter looked good when I did the pump so I doubt it was dirty fuel causing the issues. The fuel filter was replaced by them at one point when diagnosing a no start and again by me a few thousand miles ago.

Sometimes i call it the black sheep of Toyota. Despite all the issues I will probably still keep it around and convert it to a winter only vehicle for when the lady needs 4wd. Gonna run it till it runs no more.

Overall 3rd gen 4runners (I've had 3, just bought #4 yesterday) and its cousin 1st gen Tacomas (I've had 2) have been the most reliable vehicles I've owned. I only had 1 that I had to do anything major on before 300K, cause the jackass I bought it off ran down to only 1 quart of oil and wrecked the motor. I run these things 1,000 miles per week fully loaded with heavy gear, so I really see what these things can do. Hopefully you can get past those quirks and have the satisfaction that the majority of us have with our rigs.

So I just clicked 401K, and my timing belt was last changed at 307K. I cant find a scheduled interval for changes with this many miles.... What would you recommend? Do it now- is what I am feeling....

congrats on your odo achievement. yep, i'd concur with that. i just did mine today at a comparatively light 192k with the previous one rumored to have been done at 114k. it's better to be safe than sorry, for sure. make sure you get grill clips. even recent ones shattered on me.

I agree with Dogtail. I own 5 3rd gens and have had Toyotas for close to 30 years. I drive a 3rd gen as a DD. I fight PO neglect and rust more then part failure. My 98 has the highest mileage at 260k. We even have a member on here with over 720k with one engine rebuild and 5 clutches.

Looks like 400k to 500k is the average for engine overhaul. Which is extremely good for a gasoline engine.

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Dang. Mine is only at 216K miles and very few issues. I just listed it for sale and now I'm rethinking that. Maybe I should just keep it. Probably wouldn't drive it much. Maybe I should just stick it in the garage...

They are "For-Sure" vehicles. Not many models of any make reach this level of high build quality to have this many survive the ages. I'd keep it. A need will come along sooner or later.

Mine has 80k to go, about 5 or so years at my rate (1 of 3 DDs)....to 400K.

Luck and enjoy the Runner.

My baby is getting ready to roll over on 430k, probably within the next week or so - its a 2001.

Currently at 368k. Will probably roll over 400 sometime next year


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I finally joined the club last month!

I am 15k away from the 300k mile club.

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congrats...we all are headed in that direction

That is awesome! The 400,000+ mileage sticker made me laugh. I hope to buy one of those stickers some day.

2004 4RUNNER ALMOST 500,000 MILES and a Question for Y'all

I got on here in hopes of posting a new thread and receiving opinions, but have just seen the 15 post minimum. I understand that, and I'll post here because I was hoping to reach 500K and want your opinions. Shoot it, Bandage it, or Fix it?

I've got a 2004 4Runner V6. 467K on it. It's been great. I did my own head gasket job on it two years ago, but I believe I made the mistake of checking for flat surface on my own and did not take the heads in to a machine shop. In the last two weeks white smoke, Cylinder 3 misfire, misfire at start up then smooths out, and in extremely cold weather twice now I've had to crank it 15 to 20 times before it started roughly but then cleared up and ran great.

I just scoped all 6 cylinders. Cylinder 3 has antifreeze seeping in (no small leak), and signs of antifreeze in cylinder 4, and possibly also cylinder 6.

Here's my Question: Would you fix it again or use gasket sealer for now and hope that it holds until car prices drop more over the next year? I know sealer may last a decent while or no longer than a week and possibly gunk other things up. I was hoping to take it to 500K just to say I got a car there. But can't decide if it's worth it. Thoughts?