to get

the ability

to make

my own

thread

wooho

okay second try at posting photos of our new to us 4Runner

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I'm the one at the ass end of the 4runner trying to situate the snowblower lol. we got a dumping of snow in Billings a couple of days ago... The photo was from my wife. I guess I don't know how to take photos or my samsung phone just suck or both... Anyway, this is our 2021 T4R SR5, we got her from Denny Menholt chevrolet with 15150 miles on her.

Wife was studying the model and it says it is a SR5 Trail edition, it has a platform in the back you can roll out which has a 400 lbs. capacity and comes with a basket up top. So far I like how she handles but the tires are not all weather and that is a problem for me in Billings, MT when we still have snow. She does not have the same throttle response as my 2005 Nissan Pathfinder but I saw some goodies on 4Runner lifestyle that I ordered to see if it makes any difference.

My plans are to slowly mod her as we go, I like the stance and ground clearance and well, there is just too many things to list lol.

Edited to add: we are planning our first long haul trip to Corpus Christi, TX to visit our son and his family in June for two weeks after that. I plan to take another week vacation and head back to Moab, my wife loved it out there just got to find a cheap place to stay or maybe just take the top basket off and look into one of those camping tents you can attach to the top of these rigs and do it that way? but then again I have to worry about the heat, I do not do well in heat...

Hi Folks,
i just joined and can't figure out how to post about my problem. It says i need to reply to a bunch of posts first, but honestly i am not a mechanic and just looking for advice, so I don't have the understanding of others problems with their 4Runners to reply.

I bought a 1998 4Runner in 2019 for $2500. It had a lot of miles (322K) but I need a vehicle for the snow in the mountain town i live in and I love Toyotas (have an old Camry too).

First thing i noticed was that it needed a new rear end. No one did this type of job in my town so I had to go to a dealer 2 hours away. Cost me $1800. Supposedly they found the last one in the country. Since then I have replaced the fuel pump, thermostat (I think), front brakes, rear brakes, then I had an axle seal leaking (I wondered why this had not been fixed when the rear end was put in?) that also ruined the new rear brakes I had put in and brakes and drums had to be redone. Vehicle was leaking/losing oil very little before this. I kept smelling coolant/antifreeze and seeing oil leaking, so i took it back to the dealer because I didn't want the rear brakes ruined again. They said it was just leaking a bit because it was old and lots of miles and to put a quart of oil in it once in a while. They replaced the radiator cap because they said it was not holding much pressure. Now in hindsight, as i have learned from guy friends and your posts, this might have have been a symptom of what was to come.

One morning on a cold day, I noticed the heater was not working and the engine was smoking a bit then it stopped. I took it home anyway and drove my other car. However, I then had a tune up done and oil change shop mentioned I might need a new water pump or timing belt with the miles I had, but they did not do this kind of work. Since, then, its been hard to find someone locally who will do this kind of work. So I always go back to the dealer, but i don't think they know what they are doing.

So I took my kids to school one morning on a snowy day, only less than a mile, and it started to get super hot, made it within a block of the place I always get my oil changed and it died and started smoking heavily. They pulled it to their shop with a rope tow and said it was out of coolant and might be a water pump issue. But then my brother who is a retired mechanic told me about head gaskets and that the coolant evaporates, etc. and there is a pressure check they can do to determine if it is a head gasket. The shop did the pressure shop and filled it back with coolant and said it was a mystery, but that it seems to be running fine. There are no leaking hoses.

My feeling is that it still is a head gasket, and it is just hanging in there but barely, and so I am going to do some checks that were suggested here--such as looking to see if there is thick white smoke, and looking at the oil cap.

I have been very disappointed at the places I have taken it to to be fixed, as it seems people do not know how to fix old cars anymore.

Another thing that has always happened is that it is slow to crank sometimes and so I got a new battery a year ago, also a new starter. It still takes a few times to start. I don't know if this has any relation to the head gasket.

My teenage son is now driving with a learners permit and he loves this car. Is it worth it to find someone to possibly that can fix a head gasket if that is indeed it and maybe fix a water pump and timing belt at the same time? According to the previous owner, he thought the timing belt had already been fixed.

It does not have much rust, had several owners over the years but only cracked seats, was a dependable camping vehicle for about 2 years before I saw all this oil leakage and other issues. The transfer case seems to be in good condition and it was mostly highway miles it was driven. It did sit for long periods of time in the sun, has not been in an accidents.

Sorry for posting here if this is the wrong spot, but i could not post elesewhere

Just signed up after 6 months of lurking.

After 4 months waiting for a MGM SR5 to arrive, I found a 40th Anniversary Edition sitting on the lot somewhat close by and jumped on it. No regrets, I really love that look of it, and the midnight black paint is quite spectacular in person.

So far I ditched the factory rubber and installed 5 Nokian Outpost AT tires, got a pretty thorough application of PPF and ceramic coating, and it will be going in to the shop for dry ice blasting and undercoating next week.

I had an entire list of mods I wanted to do in a few phases, but now that I have been driving around a bit, my ideas, or at least timing, has changed. I need to get the needle bearing sorted (started growling at 450KM), a slight raise and stiffening of the front end (I'm thinking a set of Elka struts on the front set to 1"), and a roof rack (Sherpa, maybe?) right away.

After that I'll be getting the skid plates, stealth bumper for winch carrying and some animal protection of the more important bits, and the interior storage.

Hopefully post #1 actually works!

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New here after lots of reading. got a new to me 1989 4runner 6cyl that im restoring and looking for all the help i can!

2 more

that is a nice rig!

Hey, thanks! I wasn't sold on the stripes at first, but it grows on you hahahaha

Just joined, the initial post in this thread is a lifesaver

2000 SR5 4wd, 180,000 miles and counting. Chasing a light knock in the front end, and trying to convince myself it's something less expensive than the ball joints.

Looking forward to lurking and maybe one day reaching my 15 posts!