Ok folks, this is the 4th 4Runner I've ever owned…
My first 4Runner was a 1999 SR5 that blew a head gasket at 265k & I sold it for more than I purchased this one for.
The 4Runner Gods have seriously blessed me with this 1 owner, 1998 Limited 4Runner with 151,000 miles equipped with a rear locking differential that is in immaculate condition. This purchase came within 1 week of buying my
2000 Limited from a Co-worker.
This rig was owned by a middle aged woman called “Marcene” who was my GF’s mom’s long time family friend (over 40 years). Dave (the husband of Marcene) was a “MAC TOOLS” sales guy in the truck & was forced to retire when he got hit by a UPS driver getting caught between the two trucks destroying his leg on so many levels. Because of this, he was forced to retire & go through over 8 years of surgery & operations to try & repair the damage that had been done. This guy had been dealt a horrible deck of cards & even 8 years later still hasn’t fully recovered from the events of the accident.
While having a random conversation with my GF’s mom one night, I mentioned I was looking for another 4Runner & somehow we got on the topic of how her long time family friend/co-worker had a 4runner & explained it was having a problem. Dave (the husband or Marcene) being a MAC TOOLS salesman, was plenty capable of fixing said problem, but he was in a leg cast up to his groin & in a wheelchair at the time, so his ability to diagnose the issue was difficult to say the least. My GF’s mom & I called them one night & I offered to come over & help Dave fix the issue. A couple days later we made the hour drive over there to see what the issue may be.
The truck was running rough & was basically running on only 5 cylinders. It had a CEL, but would start fine. It started to misfire at a certain RPM (around 3-4k) & upon further investigation we found a spark plug hanging out on the drivers side fender. The spark plug had blown out of the cylinder & the spark plug wire had been mangled from shooting out of the cylinder. I guess overtime spark plugs can loosen up since the torque spec is not the tightest in the world. Either that or the person that installed the spark plugs didn’t tighten them to spec. Anyways, I went over to their house, tightened up the spark plug & the CEL was gone. Dave & Marcene were grateful for my help.
2 days later I got a call from Dave thanking me for my help & him offering to sell me his 1998 Limited Desert Dune 4Runner with a factory e-locker. He initially asked me if I wanted to buy it for $X,XXX but I talked him UP by $500 because honestly it was the right thing to do. This is the first time I ever bought something & said “I really need to pay you more”. I mean seriously, have any of you ever told someone I need to pay more than what they are asking?!> hahaha
All said and done, even with talking him UP, I still got the deal of the century on this 1 owner, 1998 Limited Desert Dune 4Runner, with only 151,000 on the clock.
Upon driving it home I realized my “fix” didn’t really fix the problem with the misfire as the spark plug wire to cylinder 6 was all cut up from being shot out of the cylinder. I bought some new spark plug cables & installed them & everything is happy now. The spark plug itself was in good condition & despite shooting out of the cylinder, it is still running the truck as we speak & working fine.
So, with all that said, let’s “
try to keep this one stock” as it will be a truck to help haul stuff & maintain good gas mileage. My GF will probably be driving it when summer comes around as her AC in her 2004 Jetta GLI is not currently working even after an attempt at recharging the system. Diagnosing the AC system is a little bit beyond my pay grade so we will take it into her “trusted” VW repair shop when the summer comes around.
The Paint on this thing is immaculate as they kept it garaged & they obviously took very good care of it. Dave had all the records for it & took time talking to me about all the options he ordered on it from the dealership in 1997. The most exciting feature being the
RR Diff lock option which at the time was only $350 as stated on the original window sticker! WOW! What a good deal!!!
Future plans are to:
1. Fix the leather seat rips/tears
2. Convert the 98’ center console to a 99+
3. Standard maintenance like LBJ’s, fluid & oil changes & light mods like trans cooler & tint. Nothing crazy… for now
Because the tires needed replacement & were almost “bald”, I found some 5 star rims/wheels on some decent tires with a NEW spare tire in Santa Cruz, CA for a decent price & then recouped some coin by selling the rims/wheels that came on the rig. These rims were in excellent condition for being 20 years old.
So now, we start this “build”
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Linear Mode
