98 Low Mileage 4Runner Questions

[tpmeredith]

Hi, my girlfriend has a 1998 4x4 4Runner Limited and she's the original owner with only 97,000 miles on it!

She has a nice stack of various maintenance receipts ranging from a tie rod here and there, transmission fluid changes, spark plug changes, starter, etc.

I can tell her front rotors have been replaced before but her rotors are definitely a little warped (not terribly but has a pretty noticable vibration when you are stopping), I saw how cheap I can get some brembo's for (09.7226.11 amazon ) and wasn't sure if anyone recommended something else before I order them.

Also, anything else she should be proactive and do with a low mileage late year model such as the timing belt?

Thanks for all the help

 

[MONTYMTB]

Hi, my girlfriend has a 1998 4x4 4Runner Limited and she's the original owner with only 97,000 miles on it!

She has a nice stack of various maintenance receipts ranging from a tie rod here and there, transmission fluid changes, spark plug changes, starter, etc.

I can tell her front rotors have been replaced before but her rotors are definitely a little warped (not terribly but has a pretty noticable vibration when you are stopping), I saw how cheap I can get some brembo's for (09.7226.11 amazon ) and wasn't sure if anyone recommended something else before I order them.

Also, anything else she should be proactive and do with a low mileage late year model such as the timing belt?

Thanks for all the help

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/94923-hard-find-specs-info-measurements-231mm-13wl-tundra-calipers-rotors.html

 

[jgue467]

Hi, my girlfriend has a 1998 4x4 4Runner Limited and she's the original owner with only 97,000 miles on it!
....
Also, anything else she should be proactive and do with a low mileage late year model such as the timing belt?

Good finds!

If you haven't already seen this; pretty much everything you need to know/do is here (including an FSM): http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/69744-3rd-gen-faq-tutorials-documentation-reference.html

Fun & Luck! :cowboy:

 

[Grenvilleter]

If all the maintenance has been performed at the dealership, I would continue to follow the maintenance schedule in the owners manual.

I would presume all the hoses and belts are original and that should be something that needs to have a good look at.

Has the maintenance schedule included changing of brake fluid, pwr steering fluid and coolant? Front & read diff's and transfer case?

Regarding the brakes, to go through 2 sets of rotors in that amount of miles, it must be all city driving and perhaps you would benefit from the larger rotors, calipers and pads and their ability to absorb /dissipate greater amounts of heat.

I think if you go with the 199 mm size, no mods req'd but I would have to check first to make sure.

 

[tpmeredith]

Thanks for all the info guys,

I saw the Tundra post and it looked pretty cool, might be hard to convince her though.

Until she met me all of her work has been at dealers.

It looked like her power steering pump and coolant was changed under warranty around ~25,000 miles as well as her rear diff's fluid and transfer case.

I didn't see any receipts for new rotors so they may actually be the original rotors, they just looked really good to be stock rotors.

A few months ago she did have a CEL for an O2 sensor when it was really cold here, we gave it a week and it went away and hasn't came back.

It is mostly city driving, she lives ~1 mile from her work and works from home 4 days a week.

 

[gamefreakgc]

Thanks for all the info guys,

I saw the Tundra post and it looked pretty cool, might be hard to convince her though.

Until she met me all of her work has been at dealers.

It looked like her power steering pump and coolant was changed under warranty around ~25,000 miles as well as her rear diff's fluid and transfer case.

I didn't see any receipts for new rotors so they may actually be the original rotors, they just looked really good to be stock rotors.

A few months ago she did have a CEL for an O2 sensor when it was really cold here, we gave it a week and it went away and hasn't came back.

It is mostly city driving, she lives ~1 mile from her work and works from home 4 days a week.

Can I have a 1 mile commute?

A lot of people are going to suggest the Tundra Brake Upgrade but yeah if she's not ok with putting non-stock parts on there with no warranties like the dealer has, it may be a no-go. However, these 4Runner rotors suck. You'll be changing them again soon. Toyota, Brembo, doesn't really matter they will all warp.

O2 sensors have an average life of about ~90k miles. I bet the front one is going bad. If the CEL comes back on you can replace them real easy, two nuts on the exhaust pipe and a connector and it's out. If you do it yourself it should only cost about $50 for parts (only use DENSO, the the OEM part). The dealer will probably charge up to $200 with labor to do it.

 

[jgue467]

...
Until she met me all of her work has been at dealers.

Ah in that case, should have mentioned the 2 principal areas where big problems can occur on these machines are the lbjs (always But always replace with OEM, others will fail soon) and the "pink milkshake" syndrome. Basically the factory trans cooler on a 4x4 is within the engine radiator and can leak back and forth potentially ruining the trans - solution is to either 1) replace the radiator or 2) bypass existing cooler with an external one or 3) both 1 and 2. These auto trans are planetary type - very pricey to repair or replace. The rest of the stuff is all maintenance and mods. :cowboy:

 

[tpmeredith]

If all the maintenance has been performed at the dealership, I would continue to follow the maintenance schedule in the owners manual.

I would presume all the hoses and belts are original and that should be something that needs to have a good look at.

Has the maintenance schedule included changing of brake fluid, pwr steering fluid and coolant? Front & read diff's and transfer case?

Regarding the brakes, to go through 2 sets of rotors in that amount of miles, it must be all city driving and perhaps you would benefit from the larger rotors, calipers and pads and their ability to absorb /dissipate greater amounts of heat.

I think if you go with the 199 mm size, no mods req'd but I would have to check first to make sure.

Ah in that case, should have mentioned the 2 principal areas where big problems can occur on these machines are the lbjs (always But always replace with OEM, others will fail soon) and the "pink milkshake" syndrome. Basically the factory trans cooler on a 4x4 is within the engine radiator and can leak back and forth potentially ruining the trans - solution is to either 1) replace the radiator or 2) bypass existing cooler with an external one or 3) both 1 and 2. These auto trans are planetary type - very pricey to repair or replace. The rest of the stuff is all maintenance and mods. :cowboy:

Appreciate the advise,

I'm honestly not sure if she's replaced the Rotors before now, they just looked really good to be a 98 at close to 100k miles, but of the stack of receipts/invoices she has for all of her past work (in her organized folder) none have rotors. She didn't go for the Tundra rotors/calipers but got brembos with Hawk ceramic's.

I did however talk her into changing to an external tranny cooler, got the B&M 70268 for $50, that plus a mount and hoses seems a lot cheaper than risking a transmission rebuild down the road =P

When I get done with the handful of projects we already have going on at our house I think I'll get around to fixing that dead clock of hers, saw in the other post the easy fix for it.

 

[BattleWagonActual]

Taking care of the potential "pink milkshake" was definitely a good call. That's why I just got a 5spd. But guessing since she had all dealer work done and no known history of timing belt/water pump, that's probably going to be next on the list soon. Have the ball joints been done yet?

 

[tpmeredith]

Taking care of the potential "pink milkshake" was definitely a good call. That's why I just got a 5spd. But guessing since she had all dealer work done and no known history of timing belt/water pump, that's probably going to be next on the list soon. Have the ball joints been done yet?

Water pump has definitely been changed, looked like it was around ~25k under warranty, so still has been a while. Timing belt on other hand is likely still original as well as the ball joints

 

[tpmeredith]

Taking care of the potential "pink milkshake" was definitely a good call. That's why I just got a 5spd. But guessing since she had all dealer work done and no known history of timing belt/water pump, that's probably going to be next on the list soon. Have the ball joints been done yet?

When it's on the rack getting the rotors replaced I'll see how much play the ball joints have and how worn they look