So a while back my 4runner died, the wife was backing it out of a parking spot and it stalled never to start again. I took it to the mechanic, they pulled the started, plugs, timing belt with no luck. They figured the motor seized up. I finally got it in the garage and talked to a couple of mechanics about it and they were shocked it was the motor. So I decided to drain the transmission and take a look at the fluid. After draining I dipped a magnet inside and outcomes some metal. But I had the Transmission fully serviced less than a year before it died. Flushed new filter the works. I was expecting some but the pieces are kinda larger than I expected. What do you guys think?

4runner - Google Photos

99
V6
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4WD

Can you turn the crank shaft at all? I'd take the heads off I guess.

Very weird

How many miles on the clock?

That fluid looks pretty nasty like brownish red. Does it smell burnt? Only a year and it looks like that. :/

So if I am understanding correctly this 4 runner hasn't ran in a year.

You had the starter plugs etc all checked and no reason for the engine to be stuck.


If I were to guess. I would suspect your Torque converter failed and has the engine crankshaft stuck.

Before complete lock. Did you notice noises coming out of the transmission? It would want to stull when stopping in drive?

You would have to give it more gas to get it to go? Hard shifting into gears or slow response

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The crank doesn't move at all.

About 175,000, so not enough.

It's only sat for a couple of months.

The fluid doesn't smell burnt.

I had it stall on me once at a red light might have slipped once or twice, no noises.

And yes starter, plugs, timing belt have been pulled. It doesn't turn.

I could pull the pan on the transmission and see what that looks like.

I am suspecting Complete failure of the Torque converter. That is not very many miles on the clock.

The Torque Converter is what lets it sit in Drive with the brake on. Its the Clutch that lets that happen. Not only does it do that, it also regulates the flow of tranny fuild to your transmission pump as well.

Unless the engine didn't have any oil in it or it milkshaked.

What does the engine oil look like clean? { I am suspecting it looks normal}

A complete flush and new transmission filter would do nothing if the TC or Transmission itself is severely damaged.


Lets see what other forum members are thinking. Its extremely rare to have crankshaft seized.



If you put the transfer case in Neutral and the Transmission in Neutral what does it do?

Probably the most cost effctive would be to buy a totalled 3rd Gen 4runner on Craigslist, seen a few for around a grand and swap out the motor and trans.

Not in my area. I put mine up for sale for $2k and it was the cheapest for miles I had people out of state interested. But I really want to fix it.

You can manually turn the motor over by hand with a ratchet at the crank in park.. If it doesn’t move, junk the engine. Unless the tranny was slipping or making a whining noise, assume it may just need a driveway flush with new fluid.

I saw one on Craigslist for 900 in Denver and 4runners are pricey here. May be look closer to Miami.

Could also be a seized transmission pump causing the crank to be unable to turn. Happened to my brother in a yj wrangler.

I'm now leaning strongly towards my motor.
I pulled the pan on the transmission. It has some metal in it and the filter. I'm not sure how well it got cleaned out when the transmission was flushed.

I drained the coolant and pulled the radiator it doesn't look good. It has a lot of sediment in the bottom clogging the lower radiator hose. The coolant looks black. I had the system flushed with in the last 2 years. It probably got everything nice and loose and deposited everything in the radiator. I'm going to pull the front diff and pull the pan on the engine and see what that looks like next weekend.

4runner - Google Photos

Ah. Keep us posted. I am curious what exactly is causing the seize.

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