I was immediately leaning toward this when I saw the list of repairs made within the last 5,000 miles. I mean, good maintenance is key, but if the seller doesn't have a good reason for doing all of that work and then selling it shortly after, then it would raise some red flags with me. A few of the repairs listed are basic maintenance on a vehicle that old (shoot, I've done these too), but they could also indicate a problem that the previous owner is still chasing.

Ah, the fun of buying a used vehicle...

All below w/in 5k miles:
New Timing Belt/Water Pump/Thermostat/Pulleys
New OEM Gas Cap
New OEM Radiator and Hoses with coolant flush
New OEM Evap Canister and evap hoses
New 1x OEM Ignition Coil Pack
New OEM Spark Plug Wires
New OEM 2x Lower Ball Joint (both sides)
New OEM Clockspring
New OEM Intermediate Steering Shaft
New Fuel pump
New Spark Plugs
New Valve Cover gasket (upper and lower)
New Power steering pump
New Rack and Pinion
New Leather Seat Upholstery for Driver and Passenger Seats

Good old parts cannon!

Well, there could be some valid reasons. They may have been chasing evap issue. It could also be that the guy just wanted everything baselined. I am kind of that way with mine, I just change everything.

Maybe they ran out of money? Maybe they decided that old vehicle ownership wasn’t for them? Maybe they couldn’t figure it out? Maybe they got divorced? Maybe it was funded by Biden Bucks? Who knows.

Regardless, I would at least make sure that the OBD monitors I have completed their run cycle. I realize that not everybody knows how to do that. I just carry a little blue driver dongle with me and plug it in and scan the vehicle. If the monitors have been reset, then I’ll throw up a few flags. I use that to my advantage, though I don’t view that as a problem, depending on what else is going on that said, my pricing is adjusted accordingly and I do so in cash with a willingness to walk if I have to.

It’s probably worth discussing just to make sure people don’t have their rose colored glasses on. But, I think expectations probably need to be realistic. These vehicles are incredible and about as reliable and long-lived as it possibly gets. But, there’s still things that it will require if you want it to be at a high level of fitness. I bought mine with way more miles in rough condition, but I also bought it pretty cheap at $2000 because it had issues. All fixable, and everything but the bodywork done by me. My $2000 4runner is more like a $10,000 4runner now….eeek! I probably should total up my receipts, one of these days, but I’m scared to look. But it’s armored, has a nice suspension, a winch And what not. It’ll be really nice once I get this front suspension job done hopefully this weekend. I have like $1500 in new cat converters to install while I’m there too. I really hope I can get the rusty nice loose on the manifold, otherwise that’s gonna be a fun job.

I think where potential gaps occur with individuals is when a person buys an old car, and expects a new car experience Without being able to do the work themselves or just being independently wealthy I guess to pay someone else. To me, my ownership experience has been fantastic. And yes, I’ve done a lot of work. In fact, I just got finished replacing all of the seatbelts in the car. the last guy that owned it acted like it was a nightmare for him, because he had to spend too much at the repair shop with drive lines and a steering rack …… so it’s all relative I guess. I don’t even know if I had to pay somebody for all this work or what it would even cost. Oh, Lord, I can’t even imagine. I would easily have 10 K, in just labor, maybe more. But it’s all really fresh now. Lots of new parts throughout the whole vehicle. engine and transmission run fantastic, but if I get to the point where it’s not, it won’t be a big deal. I’ll pull them out, re-power and go again.

I am kind of a J shift fan myself. I don’t have any experience with the other style. An open transfer case all wheel drive would be super sweet to have though for the high speed rally. But I’ve had too many bad experiences in my life with electronic four-wheel drives Dating back to the 90’s Chevys. Makes for a sucky day when your electronic four-wheel-drive leaves you in a terrible pickle. Since then, my policy has always been mechanical four wheel drives. What sucks is now practically every vehicle is an electronic four-wheel-drive these days. Even the ones with levers, most of them are just moving an electronic actuator.

My work tundra really caused me some hell here a couple years ago over a unit wheel bearing causing issues with the ABS speed sensor. Somewhere in the FMVSS wisdom, they decided that if yaw control isn’t able to be maintained, we’re just gonna limp everything out in the name of safety. I would argue vehemently that the opposite is true. It’s a huge safety issue doing that as you could be up in the mountains somewhere, have a tire chain wipeout a speed sensor wire, and then your super EFFED. I’ll because some pencil D@&$?!ed bureaucrats decided it’s for the children…..

Shit, even the Jeeps now are having electronic issues as guys have to buy a taser harness to work around the stupid Dana sensor that will prevent lockers from working. That’s a shit day when you’re in the middle of some rock garden in your lockers decide not to work because of the federal motor standard baby!

Here’s the .. issue.. the truck is 5 hours away from me so i haven’t seen it in person yet. It looks solid from the pics but you know how that goes. I have a cpl undercarriage vids and the owner shifting from 2wd to 4wd but I can’t get them uploaded..? And of course I wouldn’t buy it site unseen.

Attached Images

             

No e lockers..

[QUOTE=aontkos;3766913]I was immediately leaning toward this when I saw the list of repairs made within the last 5,000 miles. I mean, good maintenance is key, but if the seller doesn't have a good reason for doing all of that work and then selling it shortly after, then it would raise some red flags with me. A few of the repairs listed are basic maintenance on a vehicle that old (shoot, I've done these too), but they could also indicate a problem that the previous owner is still chasing.

Antkos, supp he’s having a baby and they got a van so this needs to go.

I have a cpl vids of the owner shifting 2wd to 4 Wd but I can’t get them to load. Can we post vids here?

The Toyo dealership will do a buyer ck for $185. Could they confirm or deny all of what you listed?

how to tell you need regearing? drive the car and of it feels slow then needs regearing. (according to my knowledge)

high milage 300k is raising a lot of speculation, how ever age is just a number, mine 300k+ and running strong.. some pass 150k and they are in bad shape, its about how it had been used and look after.

i would advise to check engine yourself and maybe to compression test to get the accurate image about its health.

[QUOTE=flygirl0344;3766943]
That makes sense, this was probably a passion project for them and now life changes happened.

7K doesn’t buy much these days though, unfortunately.

It looks really straight from the photos. That’s a huge plus. obviously I need to see it in person to really make a good judgment, but I don’t think I’d be scared by it.

Maybe the question we all should really be asking you here is what level of appetite do you have for fixing things? Maybe I missed it somewhere else, what are you planning to do with the truck? Daily? Adventure rig? Both? Just cause?

game freak, this is all great info to consider. I def dont want any major issues with this after Im driving it home 5 hours. Thanks for sharing!

Romeo, what are your thought on what gamefreak said regarding potential issues:

"....That means bearings are worn out. The bushings are worn out. It will creak, rattle and things are coming loose. All rubber hoses are deteriorated. The engine is losing compression. The valves will be out of spec. The transmission clutch plates are worn out (if an auto). Need I go on? Sure, he replaced some items and upgraded the suspension but there's a lot more to a vehicle than that. I see most major engine damage happening between 300K to 400K miles. I think you'd be buying a time bomb. Go for a lower mileage 4Runner"....

They could, the biggest thing would be a compression check. Other things like worn bushings in the control arms, sway bars, etc. they may not check for as they can't check everything for $185.

I agree with the comment above and it does very much matter if you are able to do your own repairs. It is assumed that at 300,000+ miles you're going to have things break. I've purchases a few junker 4Runners over the past 5-6 years and parted them out and most engine failures I saw happened without warning over 325,000 miles. I bought one with a cracked piston like that. The thing still ran though!!

These 4Runners have a great reputation of lasting a very long time which is deserved. The problem about buying one is that this last owner was only one of many and we all have no idea how it was treated or taken care of before he had it. I do agree in that the list of maintenance items provided he was looking to make it last for a very long time. For example, I bought mine from the second owner. The first owner babied it like it was a collector's car and the second owner (a young guy, younger than me) absolutely thrashed the motor and drove it like it was stolen. I am still repairing damage he did to it during his ownership, and I bought mine at 190K miles.

I'll chime in

If the seller can provide receipts and records then it might be worth it. For the reasons bad luck mentioned, I'm not a fan of the limited model transfer cases nor do I care for leather seats, but that's a personal preference

I'm not impressed with freedom off-road upper control arms, they don't do anything for suspension geometry other than change the angle of the ball joint and in all honesty a 2 inch lift doesn't require it.

I am a fan of 33 inch tires, 255/85 R16, and I don't mind e-rated tires considering I'll drop down to 8 PSI and ride the sidewalls, most folks not crawling don't have that requirement and can benefit from the weight savings of c rated tires

Like has been said, I would not go through the trouble of re-gearing unless you add a bunch of additional weight (armor, bumpers, winch) or have a use case, like rock crawling, to support the expense of changing gearing. If you were to pick up a factory e-locker with 4.30 gearing, it would be worth changing the front differential because that's a great ratio with 33s on a DD.

I would almost rather buy the lower mileage truck to perform all of my own mods and maintenance, that way I know it's done right. 300K miles doesn't scare me on these vehicles, however. Overall condition, does matter.

The last thing to consider are the things not easily changed, like interior color, equipment package, and rust. Buy the truck you like with the least amount of rust, damage or bs.

That's my take

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Well. I mean he’s not wrong. It’s going to probably need some more work if a high level of vehicle fitness is desired. If not trying it’s whatever. Mines in my garage right now getting ready for a full front end overhaul. Oem lower arms, JBA uppers, wheel bearings, and I’ll probably order an ECGS bushing tomorrow since mines a bit loose. My lowers are so shot now. Not only is the rubber visibly garbage, the steering changes upon hard braking from the lowers being so worn. My passenger tire even rubs the firewall on hard high speed hits while rallying from the flex.

Is a problem? No. Only problem I really have is the time to fix it. I’ll pulled apart this weekend and re condition it and it’ll be fantastic. So to me no it’s not an issue, I fix it and move on with life. Yes, it helps that I have the tools and the knowledge to do it. But anyway you cut it it’s still cheaper than a payment. I’ll rebuild the entire front end better than stock for what, 2 to 3 payments on the newer one?

Thing is, everyone has such a good resource available to them in the form of Timmy, the Toolman YouTube videos. They are practically a step-by-step with all relevant information, tips and tricks, torque values, the whole bit. An absolute incredible resource for somebody who maybe doesn’t know or have the knowledge or manual to go by. I used to get paid to turn ranches, and I still Tim and Sean’s videos.

I know this is a long winded response to your question. But there are no guarantees in any of this. It could be bulletproof and you drive it for another 300 K. It might die next week.

Sure, it’s very likely there’s going to be lots of little things that might need to be addressed. Things like hoses for vacuum. The heater valve is probably corroded. It’s like a 10 minute fix if that. The radiator might need swapped. It’s $130 radiator and you can swap it in like 30 minutes.

We’re not trying to discourage you, we’re just trying to keep it real in here, that’s all. I think it’s important to probably buy the best one you can afford. I’m kind of an odd duck that way and I look for the ones that have problems to go use that to my advantage in purchasing for less.

Like I mentioned, earlier, overall interior condition/color, level of rust, and how hammered it is in general to me or the biggest things. I can fix the rest easy enough.

Now, if the goal is to buy it, never ever open the hood on it, and just drive it, that expectation may be difficult to be met. All things being equal, lower miles is always nice.