Hello everyone!
I've been reading this forum for a long time gathering info and I appreciate everyone who has contributed to the forum.
So I just purchased a 00 4Runner SR5 a few weeks back. Long story story short it took the Toyota dealer 3 times to fix the rear axle seal. Once prior to me buying the vehicle and twice afterwards. I did a vin check at the service center and a carmax. It's a one owner and local. He/she has had the vehicle service at the same Toyota dealership numerous times. Timing belt and water pump replaced at 97k and multiple other services. The thing that concerns me is the tranny replacement at 103k. The same dealership did the work and the owner spend over 3k on the job which also included the rear main seal being replacing. I paid 7k for the vehicle with 131k. Did I get a good deal??

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Welcome!!

Welcome.

Greetings!

Did they replace the breather?

if they replaced the tranny, I assume the guy was getting tired of fixing the car. he probably was half way through a new car payment.

Why was the tranny replaced, usually the only cause for these things are pink milkshake, or really really neglecting to flush your fluid. But at 103k miles. I still don't think it could be damaged due to that.

How's the rust on it? unless if its spotless you better go to every spot and try jamming a screw driver in there.

Check when the last fluids were changed, but in order of things you should change if there is no service history.

brake fluid,
Check ball joints.
Check status of coolant, replace radiator or consider replacing radiator if tranny lines to the radiator are rusted. (if you are handy) replace it for 100 dollars for piece of mind.

Go around changing all the fluids, change that rear diff breather. (Google the picture for it)

There is rust and I haven't done a serious rust inspection with a knife. brake fluid and everything else is good. I have been planning to do the radiator, diff breather and ball joints once the 6 month warranty expires. The notes on the tranny replacement said that the owner complained of "high revs before switching gears" But a few thousand miles before that was a tranny flush. But the vehicle has a trailer brake controller so I assumed he or she towed a lot. Average mileage is around 9k per year.

Shiny!

Do you know if the history of this vehicle is "typical"? We are looking for advice on getting a tow vehicle for our new PeeWee Camper and this post scares me! We would prefer to buy used, but we don't want to get something that will have repeated repairs.

We are just starting our search and we like the looks of the Toyota, but we haven't really done very much research yet.

Nice article on breather. Found two under hood easy enough. I'm going to do the breather mod myself now for the rear. Thanks for the information

Hi! I'm also the proud new owner of a 3rd Gen. Mine is a grey 97' SR5. One owner n she took great care of her. I'm in Florida so she looks rust free. She has 227k miles on her but drives great. Needless to say I'm in love. Got her for $2000. I think she is well worth it. Yours sure is pretty n has low miles so I hope u get her all fixed up!

Give her a tune up, with fresh fluids, and you should get another 100k out of her. well worth 2k man! great job. Check your ball joints radiator, rear diff breather ride her for another 100k!

Thanks so much for the advice. I greatly appreciate it. I have been meaning to ask what some good preventive measures to do on her were. The woman I bought her from had her painted n all the electrical re-done 2yrs ago n gave me an envelope with a bunch of service records I need to look threw n see what's been done. The woman actually cried when I bought her bc she has loved her so much. So I'm gonna try to be as good to my new toy as I can so she will last me forever!

Congrats on purchase . Looking forward to getting all this preventative maintenance done. Just recieved my oem Lbj's yesterday. Avoiding driving truck til done

Welcome!