Hi All,

our beloved 04 V8 4th gen might be on its last life here. just want to see if you guys agree.

List of issues:

P0430 - I'm going to check for an exhaust leak, is causing the issue but def sounds expensive, most post say Cat.

p0711 - trans temp sensor - appeared mechanic replaced power steer return line. I'm not sure if this an external sensor or in the transmission body? but the wiring harness is in the same area of the return line, I have a feeling it was nudged when working on it. I'm not sure if was cause or affect or bad luck, there was no problem before starting the other problem... The tranny jerks into gear. I haven't found anything when I googled it, So It must not be a common problem which leads me to think its probably a wiring issue.

driver side CV axle is toast. there is also a groan when driving but it could be bc the cv axle boot is ripped. Hopefully its not a wheel bearing as well .

Front brakes are toast. brakes are extremely spoungy. but could be front brake related. Im going to try and bleed them this weekend and see if that fixes it.

Shocks are rusted and on its last life. (thought usable for my proposes)

tires are toast, from 2011 and we are entering 2023.

even if i were to fix everything the car is still pretty heavily rusted. I don't recall seeing any holes in the frame though.

When should I call it quits? I still a home depot beater car to do things I wouldn't want to do in a new car. but there seems to be a big heavy listed of things to do with this car.

The car was well maintained for the most part. all calipers have been replaced. belts spark plugs + all fluids, At the end of the day when is time to call it quits?

my goal was to get rid of this car at peak of used prices, but my mom did not make up her mind on which car she wanted to buy, and now with the codes, I doubt I can get a good resell value. my thought was to spend a little bit of time to see if the transmission code is easily fixable and P0430 is actually bad cat, then take it from there.

sounds like a good 2-4k worth of parts to do this. never mind the labor... if the temp sensor is in transmission or the tranny wiring harness is bad, I Don't have anyone to do the work in a cost effective manor. I would do the work myself, but I still have a lot of house work to catch up on the summer that is more important the a car...
CAT is expensive and who wants to remove a rusted exhaust manifold? if i do all of this, its still going to be rusted, and something else is for sure going to keep poping up. this car has consistently wanted 1-2k every 2 years.

Long, but I thought its best to get all the cards out on the table. Any thoughts?

I agree with your goal, sort out the trans and possible cat problems. If they are fixable and won't break YOUR bank, then fix them. If you are sure the frame is "good" is something to check closely. Get under it with a ball peen hammer and rap around all over the frame, especially where you see surface rust and see if "holes through" easily and if so, how bad is it? Then make your final decision, the other stuff is maintenance.

Like @rdruss said as far as frame rust, it needs to be checked out with a hammer, especially where suspension components are attached to the frame. The components themselves can fail from rust also.

Safety issues will arise from broken parts that cause handling/steering problems.
Friend of mines daughter in NJ has a 3rd gen that she can't safely drive anymore because of rust. Damn road salt....

135k miles on yours? It will be a shame if you have to dump it. That V8 engine should still have a long life.

It appears the trans temp sensor is in the pan.
It's possible your problem may be corrosion in the wiring and the mechanic may have bumped something that caused the connection to fail.
This would also support your theory of the hard shift into drive being caused by a wiring issue as well.

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It all comes down to frame condition... everything else is just maintenance. Even the frame can be fixed, but has the potential to be costly. post up some pictures of the underside for better ideas.

A low mileage V8 4x4 is still going to command a pretty good price considering it's almost 20 years old. Certainly go over the frame closely as these generally rust from the inside out.

You run your tires fir 12 - twelve - years and then want to retire your car?

Poor 4Runner, he deserves a better owner.

Idk, man...you're looking at a lot of $, but 90% is just basic maintenance stuff. If the frame is good, there's value in that low-mileage.

Hi there,

Sorry I had a lot going on, I bought my mom a lexus NX 350H so she is safe and this will turn to my project car... and now can dive into this more deeply. I don't like to walk away from a fight. lol.

Question I'm trying to narrow down on this issue. This seems like it can go the easy or the hardware. Hopefully there is an easy way.

I got both p0711 p0713 which point to transmission codes.

So looks like blue and orange are the wires of interest. Is there a pin out diagram ? I've been searching all over google but maybe I'm looking in the wrong places. but i can't seem to find a wiring diagram.

Is this just a resistance based temp sensor ? any way to probe from the engine bay?

also to confirm the transmission harness is where the sensor signal passes through. My plan was to try and divide and concur from the transmission harness to ecu and transmission harness body to the sensor.

At all cost I don't want to deal with dropping the pan.

I feel if I tackle this scary problem first, the rest of the car problems will be easy.

When I responded a few weeks ago, I was actually researching a shift kit install at the time, so that's why I found those Repair manual pages I posted so quickly. My knowledge of transmissions is at a kindergarten level, so I'm really not qualified to advise anyone on which way to proceed.
There are way more knowledgeable people on here.
If @BlackWorksInc is still around, he may be able to point you in the right direction.
Sorry I'm not much help and good luck.

Something to consider on the tranny is that the V8 unit sometimes has connector issues in the rust belt. Check out the video below.

Bad Toyota Transmission..Can We Fix It For Free? - YouTube

I watched this video. What a creative way to solve the issue. I give that guy credit for doing that. Probably couldn't get the courage to cut into my truck like that though.

I wouldn't think twice about it, it's metal and easily repaired. Dropping the transfer case and tranny though, pass.

Call it quits with only 135K?!! This is a 4Runner. I routinely see these go 400-500K. Yours is just broken in. Definitely fix it. I had the same mentality with my Tacoma at 200K miles. I was cheap but reluctantly put money into it. Now at 320K and still running like a champ. Toyota are superior. We bought our 09 4Runner with 150K on it. Our friends (Jeep owners) thought we were crazy paying $13K for a rig with that many miles. The only thing that will kill a Toyota is RUST. Fluid film is your friend. I treat all my rigs every year (I’m in NH and salt is enemy no. 1). So if you like the rig and the frame is not rotted you should most definitely invest in it. It will last with proper maintenance and rustproofing.

Looks like I might have found source of my p0430, leaking flange connection 04 V8...would this leak cause a p0430? Also is this y pipe OEM?

posting for ref for anyone who looks at this post.