Hey man walk away and do not buy from that place. They are way overpriced and I heard that place fixes junked cars that have tons of problems and make them look nice and sell for 5x the price. 15k is way too much for a vehicle almost 20 years old also.

Thanks so much. You confirmed my gut.

That is a ridiculous price for any 3rd gen 4 runner. You can get a FJ with less miles and more power and capability for that price. You really shouldn't pay more than 5k for a good 3rd gen maybe 6500k for a great one. As much as I like my 3rg gen it is a 25 year old suv with 25 year old parts and technology. The 4th, 5th gen, gx 470 and FJ are more updated and either more capable or just as capable with newer parts. Be patient and smart and you can get a good 3rd gen that has a great maintenance record runs good and looks ok. Damn make me an offer on the beast and maybe I might sell it to you...lol

Thanks Beastmaster! Let's see a picture of the beast!

The beast is longest owned vehicle I have ever had and for some jacked up reason i like it more with each year...lol

Btw I was just kidding about selling the beast

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Very greatful for this thread. Will be using a lot of this documented knowledge on my new to me rig!

Hi guys

Sorry if I'm posting this in a wrong thread, I’m new to here.

Can you please confirm that what I found on one of the pictures from a salesman is a milkshake issue that someone apparently tried to hide with red paint? From what I read here this means the transmission is broken. Does it even make sense to try to replace it or should I definitely walk away and leave this car alone?

The thing is that I live in Europe and it is extremely difficult to find a healthy 3rd gen 4runner here. Other than that it is in really good condition and everything about the car works (including the clock 😉) Should I even bother trying to find the transmission? The car is 900 miles away, I wanted to go to see the car until I found this.

That red paint has nothing to do with the strawberry milkshake. Strawberry milkshake is when coolant and transmission fluid mix due to a failed transmission cooler in the radiator. This causes the transmission fluid to be milky, redish, and kinda foamy (kinda feels like glue too). I have no clue why someone would use red spray paint on the suspension. Maybe a rust repair and the guy didn't have black spray paint? Who knows!

Hi,
Thanks for answering, I think I didn't express myself correctly. This forum is an amazing source of information and I read carefully what strawberry milkshake is. My bet is that the red paint was put there to distract from the actual milkshake that can be seen on the left-hand side. It's harder to recognize pinkish spots on the sides when there's a huge red spot in the middle.
So my questions would be:

1) can you confirm that what the pinkish spots that can be seen on the left-hand side is a milkshake thing?
2) taking into consideration this model in good condition is extremely rare where I live and the rest of the car is in good shape, does it make sense to look for transmission? If so, can you recommend where I can buy one in good condition?

thanks!

To check for the strawberry milkshake you need to look at the transmission fluid and coolant. That is the only way to check if it has that problem currently.

My first post also. Hope this is where this should be.

Thank you for in depth explanation re drive trains. Much appreciated.

To summarize: I live in city/town. Drive on paved roads 90% time. Rainy weather common. Occasional black ice, snow. I never off road.

If I understood the explanation, I want the multi mode center diff selector for awd.

My query: Would you please confirm that I should only be looking to buy a 2001-2002 4wd (any trim model). Alternatively, I could look for a 1999-2000 4wd Limited with the multi-mode awd selector.

Is there a 2wd model which offers the multi mode center diff?
Is there a way to adapt a 2wd to a multi-mode awd selector?

Thanks

Yes, you want multimode. You're right about the models it's found in.

Multimode is a type of 4WD, so obviously you can't have 2WD with multimode. There's no center diff on a 2WD vehicle. Some folks on here have done a 2WD to 4WD conversion, but it's time consuming and expensive. Just buy a truck with multimode.

Great. Thank you.

Super helpful post and helped me buy my first 4runner!
Silver '02 with e-locker.

Cheers!

You sure about that?