What do you guys think of this one?

Would like to get some opinions here.

Long story short a family member bought this 2000 4runner, 3.4, manual trans, 148K miles. They probably paid to much for it and now I have the opportunity to buy it.


They have put a few thousand miles on it and the engine seems to run good. "check engine" came on a couple times but a new 02 sensor and air flow sensor cleaning seems to have resolved that.


The sun roof was leaking when parked out in the rain but just cleaning up the seal seems to have fixed that.


Some of the suspension bushings will need replaced.


The rear axle housing is pretty bad, so probably replace that.



The frame looks ok. Only rust looks to be surface rust.



The body however has a mess brewing on the rocker panels in front of the rear wheels. Would be nice if I could wire wheel this to clean metal and paint the rockers with raptor liner or something. Not sure if the rust is coming from inside or out.





Rear passenger door has some damage but works fine.



Tires are bald, so needs new tires.



Interior is pretty clean.



T case is leaking. Hopefully just a shifter gasket, looks to be coming from up top.



AND of coarse a mystery issue... a vibration in 5th gear. Appears as soon as you shift into 5th. For now I will just assume it needs transmission work. The rear driveline has been worked over by a local shop, I assume in an attempt to fix the vibe.


So if you have read all this let me know what you think. What should I pay for this thing? What kind of a mess am I getting into? I'm used to working on old trucks, so I will be doing the work myself, other than the transmission rebuild (If needed). I've been DD'ing and 84 4x4 pickup for the last 14 years and this looks a little more comfortable.

Speaking as one who lives in the rust belt, that truck looks pretty darned good - especially for a 21 year old vehicle. You won't find anything like that up here since they've long since rusted away.

Speaking of rust, much of what you pictured is indeed surface rust. The bubbled stuff however is originating from the inside. Still, it's very repairable.

Too Stroked said:

Speaking as one who lives in the rust belt, that truck looks pretty darned good - especially for a 21 year old vehicle. You won't find anything like that up here since they've long since rusted away.

Speaking of rust, much of what you pictured is indeed surface rust. The bubbled stuff however is originating from the inside. Still, it's very repairable.

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He lives in Washington though, and I can say that's pretty out of the ordinary for vehicles up here. Must live near the ocean or something. Thankfully the frame doesn't look nearly as bad, kinda weird how clean it is looking at the axle

If you're looking for a project car of sorts and don't mind making the repairs already mentioned then I'd think it'd be alright if you get it for a cheap enough price. Manuals for sale are very few and far in between around here and I'm sure you (OP) have seen how stupid the market can be at times. If you're looking for a daily driver I'd debate passing for something cleaner - partly because it's not hard to find near rust free 4Runners up here, but mostly because those rocker panels are a pretty concerning situation. However if you want them raptor lined or something similar, you could always cut them out and weld in replacements then repaint them that way (At least I'm fairly positive I've seen replacements being sold before)
If it's open diff in the rear you could always shoot for a locker and replace the rear axle while you're at it too, instead of modifying your own...
On second thought I vote for keep it :rockon:

Agree with the others. I’d personally check on the INBOARD side of the rear lower trailing arm mounts up by the weld seam. Hit those with a hammer and see if it’s solid there. Outboard side in the photo looks good.

The rust bubbles on the rockers is my main concern with the rust, sounds like you all agree.


It being a manual is a big plus to me. I would be buying it to be my daily driver and hopefully keep it for a looong time. The other part to this is I don't make a lot of money. I'm thinking this might be a way to get into a newer vehicle for a fair price and fix it up as $ allows. What do you guys think would be a fair price on this thing? Right off the top it needs tires and possibly transmission rebuild.


Devbot, I'm not by the ocean but who knows where the runner has been. I agree it's weird how rusty the rear axle is compared to the rest of the truck. I found a lot of dirt in the rear frame rails, like someone had it in the mud. I cleaned it out and shined a light in there and it looked fine. someone that liked to play around had their hands on it for a bit I'd say.

btw nice username, I was just getting ready to do the Naches trail for the first time before they closed the forests! Heard it's quite a beautiful trail and has a lot of history to it
Price is kind of a weird one I find, and pretty subjective. Personally? Really I wouldn't want to offer more than $5000 - I feel like that would be more than fair considering the pros and cons (good mileage vs rust, manual trans vs needing a rebuild eventually, needing tires, etc), but some people look at some of the loonies charging $15-20K or more for some very average 4Runner and start getting crazy ideas. $5K might even be pushing it

To answer your question of where the rust is originating from on the rockers; it's starting from the inside. Salt and moisture sit on the rocker and rust from the inside out.
This truck may very well have come from the midwest or east coast, and a carfax should provide you with that answer.


All things considered, this truck looks manageable and finding a rear end for it shouldn't be too difficult since it's not e-locked (at least it appears to not be e-locked given the absence of wires running to the differential).

Devbot said:

btw nice username, I was just getting ready to do the Naches trail for the first time before they closed the forests! Heard it's quite a beautiful trail and has a lot of history to it
Price is kind of a weird one I find, and pretty subjective. Personally? Really I wouldn't want to offer more than $5000 - I feel like that would be more than fair considering the pros and cons (good mileage vs rust, manual trans vs needing a rebuild eventually, needing tires, etc), but some people look at some of the loonies charging $15-20K or more for some very average 4Runner and start getting crazy ideas. $5K might even be pushing it

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I’m in the market for a 3rd gen too and it’s crazy what some guys are asking for their rigs.
Found a 99’ with low miles and in good shape but the guy was asking $19k...crazy.


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JOSEACEVES said:

I’m in the market for a 3rd gen too and it’s crazy what some guys are asking for their rigs.
Found a 99’ with low miles and in good shape but the guy was asking $19k...crazy.


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Those people just blow my mind dude. Luckily it's not as bad as last year and the market has started to come down some; a lot more rigs being aptly priced around $6-8k or even as low as $4k occasionally. Maybe it's because instagram is moving on from the overlanding trend :hippie:
That said in Washington a manual trans always seems to tack on another couple grand if not more IF you can even find one for sale. So if OP was keen on having one this would seriously be a good chance, else they might have a tough time finding one
Hell I almost drove to southern Oregon for a manual 2000... :fish:

my 97 that lived most it's life in Wisconsin has way more rust than this truck based on the pictures and she's still chugging along. Even the axle housing isn't that bad. I would take a wire brush and knock off the loose rust then use krud kutter rust remover. Spray it down and let it soak for a few hours. You can then put a fresh coat of frame paint on the axle housing and it should be fine, that's what I did.

I do agree with others that you should poke around with a hammer/screwdriver to make sure the frame isn't rotting out anywhere.

My rockers were starting to rust and I cleaned them up and put bedliner on them. It looked great for a couple years but unfortunately, the rust was just getting worse under the bedliner. I wouldn't use bedliner if I was to do it again.

She obviously needs a little TLC but what truck doesn't that is 20 years old.

If the price is right, I believe this truck has lots of life left in it. Good luck either way!

Devbot said:

btw nice username, I was just getting ready to do the Naches trail for the first time before they closed the forests! Heard it's quite a beautiful trail and has a lot of history to it
Price is kind of a weird one I find, and pretty subjective. Personally? Really I wouldn't want to offer more than $5000 - I feel like that would be more than fair considering the pros and cons (good mileage vs rust, manual trans vs needing a rebuild eventually, needing tires, etc), but some people look at some of the loonies charging $15-20K or more for some very average 4Runner and start getting crazy ideas. $5K might even be pushing it

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I love the Naches area. I didn't know they had things closed down out there. If you haven't been you definitely have to get out there. It's great in the summer and some of the easier sections can be a lot of fun at the end of the season when the snow starts setting in. Always beautiful.

As for the 4runner I think we are in the ballpark of $3000 right now. With it needing tires and the vibration issue we assume is the trans, I'm still a little hesitant, knowing what that will cost. Then the Rust on the rockers isn't real exciting. I'm leaning toward going for it though.

NachesPass4x4 said:

As for the 4runner I think we are in the ballpark of $3000 right now. With it needing tires and the vibration issue we assume is the trans, I'm still a little hesitant, knowing what that will cost. Then the Rust on the rockers isn't real exciting. I'm leaning toward going for it though.

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Seems a pretty good deal judging from the pictures. Looks low rust to me.

The rockers get chewed up from the factory running boards, you can see the outline where they used to be on it. They damage the paint.

Rockers can be protected from the inside as well. If you pull up the sill trim under the doors, there are a bunch of nice holes to spray a rust preventative of your choice. I do mine every 2 years, 1/2 a can of spray in each side. It will drip out every hot summer day but it does the job.

NachesPass4x4 said:

I love the Naches area. I didn't know they had things closed down out there. If you haven't been you definitely have to get out there. It's great in the summer and some of the easier sections can be a lot of fun at the end of the season when the snow starts setting in. Always beautiful.

As for the 4runner I think we are in the ballpark of $3000 right now. With it needing tires and the vibration issue we assume is the trans, I'm still a little hesitant, knowing what that will cost. Then the Rust on the rockers isn't real exciting. I'm leaning toward going for it though.

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Yeah they closed things down sometime last month or before cause of the wildfires, though I still see some people out riding dirt bikes and whatnot so not sure what the word is really - whether they don't know or just don't care
$3000 would be very fair if that's about where you're at. In this market I'd have little problem paying that

Kanoe said:

Seems a pretty good deal judging from the pictures. Looks low rust to me.

The rockers get chewed up from the factory running boards, you can see the outline where they used to be on it. They damage the paint.

Rockers can be protected from the inside as well. If you pull up the sill trim under the doors, there are a bunch of nice holes to spray a rust preventative of your choice. I do mine every 2 years, 1/2 a can of spray in each side. It will drip out every hot summer day but it does the job.

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This is good info, thanks. I'll see about pulling up the trim and get a look at what's going on inside

NachesPass4x4 said:

The rust bubbles on the rockers is my main concern with the rust, sounds like you all agree.


It being a manual is a big plus to me. I would be buying it to be my daily driver and hopefully keep it for a looong time. The other part to this is I don't make a lot of money. I'm thinking this might be a way to get into a newer vehicle for a fair price and fix it up as $ allows. What do you guys think would be a fair price on this thing? Right off the top it needs tires and possibly transmission rebuild.


Devbot, I'm not by the ocean but who knows where the runner has been. I agree it's weird how rusty the rear axle is compared to the rest of the truck. I found a lot of dirt in the rear frame rails, like someone had it in the mud. I cleaned it out and shined a light in there and it looked fine. someone that liked to play around had their hands on it for a bit I'd say.

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Yeah it looks like either mud or perhaps someone had a habit of driving it on the beach and never cleaned it up. All the rust in in places that would get a decent amount of spray but obviously wasn't all the time as the frame looks solid enough.

I'd say any price under $3000 would be a decent deal for a manual. They are getting harder and harder to find now that the 3rd gens are starting to show up at the wreckers and pick n pull lots.

The rust wouldn't bother me much. You can likely just paint the rear axle. Yeah running boards will do a number on the rockers. I remember regularly pulling literally 10 lbs of dirt out of them before I got rid of them. And snow was worse. It looks like the base trim though with thin chrome fender trim, I don't know if they ever had running boards. If the drain holes in the rocker pinch weld clog with dirt for a long time it will rust out from the inside and start looking like than. I'd poke at the rust with a screwdriver if you're able to.

The transmission thing sounds like something I wouldnt want to deal with though.

JOSEACEVES said:

I’m in the market for a 3rd gen too and it’s crazy what some guys are asking for their rigs.
Found a 99’ with low miles and in good shape but the guy was asking $19k...crazy.


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The prices being asked have me looking at 100 series Land Cruisers.

I’d rather have the 4Runner, they seem to be just the right size.