$1200 running 3rd Gen? Someone give me a reality check

[danthemanx07]

A running 1996 3.4l 4wd 3rd Gen popped up locally on Craigslist here the other day. It is pretty rare to see them around here running at this price. Ad says it is running fine but has a radiator leak. Mileage is 260k. I haven't seen it yet, but the pictures don't show any body damage.

I am so tempted even though i dont really need another 4runner. I was thinking that either i could drop a new radiator in and hang on to it and swap the engine into a first Gen that i hope to pick up in the near future. Otherwise, i figure if i dropped in a $100 radiator i could likely resell it if i needed to for about what i paid. I'll get some pictures when I go look at it and post them up.

If it is what the ad claims it is and there are no other significant issues, anyone think my thinking is flawed?

 

[ChildrenOfBodom]

Something's gotta be up with it. I recently looked at a 2nd gen that had a "radiator leak," turned out to be head gaskets.

No one could be so silly as to sell an entire vehicle at discounted price solely due to a $100 radiator

Be wary and check it out. 260 is a boat load of miles for a car to go badly maintained

 

[danthemanx07]

Something's gotta be up with it. I recently looked at a 2nd gen that had a "radiator leak," turned out to be head gaskets.

No one could be so silly as to sell an entire vehicle at discounted price solely due to a $100 radiator

Be wary and check it out. 260 is a boat load of miles for a car to go badly maintained

I had the thought about the HG as well. If he can't show me the leak or I can't find it, I will likely pass. Any tell tale signs of HG trouble other than white smoke?

 

[ChildrenOfBodom]

I had the thought about the HG as well. If he can't show me the leak or I can't find it, I will likely pass. Any tell tale signs of HG trouble other than white smoke?

Some of the things I have noticed with past head gasket failures:

Overheating or high temperatures after a decent drive (drive using the A/C for added load, the cooling system should be able to handle it), consistent air bubbles coming from coolant, milky and thick chocolate shake looking oil. The latter might not be noticeable if the guy changed the oil right before. If the oil is fresh, I'd question it as a possible cover up method. Otherwise I'd run the truck a while and then pull the dipstick later to see if anything changed. The coolant may carry it's own light tinge of brown.

Good luck, hope you score a decent 3rd gen for a good price, hell it's worth more than that in parts

 

[brian2sun]

Listen and feel for an engine miss when you test drive it, and go for as long of a test drive as you can. I would start it up warm after the test drive (wait about 5 or 10 minutes) and listen to how it idles. Look for sludge under the oil cap. If it sounds too good to be true..

Reminds me of an old Carfax commercial where a car got swamped in a flood or a hurricane, and the for sale ad said "all new interior" or something like that, lol.

 

[danthemanx07]

Well crap....

Sold before I could get to it today. Probably for the best haha. Like I need another project/toy/etc...