Alex9000's First T4R

[alex9000]

Hey Ya'll,

Been humming and ha-ing about getting a vehicle before winter hits. Saw this 4Runner come up on auction, but I missed it. Then it popped up a day later as instant offer. I made the minimum offer $4400 and it was accepted. Sight unseen I picked it up on Saturday and It's in pretttttttttty good shape.

99 SR5 167,000mi

Drove it home 300km without any issues, front steering may need some love. I need to pass an out of province inspection, so I may do a front end refresh to be safe. Other than a bit of oil at the rear of the engine, I haven't seen anything that I'm concerned about.

I found an old timing belt/tensioners/water pump kit in the back, and 4 old struts with receipts. So it's even had the timing and struts done... what's the catch?

New to 4Runners, but my Father in Law has a 2003 Landcruiser down in Australia and that thing is a tank. Really excited to have snagged such a mint 3rd gen xD

 

[alex9000]

Pics:
- New struts, cheapies but new.
- Worn out swaybar bushing - got a new set ordered for front and rear. Will also do the rack and pinion bushings
- Oil leak... oilpan gasket? rear main seal? It doesn't look like much so I'm hoping a good clean passes inspection.
- Taped up intake coupler - can't remember what this piece was called. I'll have to take it off and see what condition it's in. Can't imagine an inspection being too happy about that.

 

[JoeT4R]

Commence the build thread! Nice rig [emoji1688]


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[OpenYota]

Congrats!
She looks good.
Enjoy the ride of working on her and making it your own.

The taped up piece is called an Air Intake Boot.

Should be about $50 from Toyota

 

[JoeT4R]

I didn’t even notice the taped up piece on your intake tube. Here’s a link to an Airaid intake tube if you’d like to replace that whole piece and not worry about throwing any codes due to vacuum leaks. I have this on my rig and I love it. It’s a little pricey, though. It also cleans up the engine bay quite nicely in my opinion.

Airaid AIR-510-934 M.I.T. Modular Intake Tube https://a.co/d/0PDtdJ8


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[alex9000]

I didn’t even notice the taped up piece on your intake tube. Here’s a link to an Airaid intake tube if you’d like to replace that whole piece and not worry about throwing any codes due to vacuum leaks. I have this on my rig and I love it. It’s a little pricey, though. It also cleans up the engine bay quite nicely in my opinion.

Airaid AIR-510-934 M.I.T. Modular Intake Tube https://a.co/d/0PDtdJ8


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Awesome man, thank you! Very good to know

 

[alex9000]

I'm thinking the leak is coming from the rack and pinion. Removed the skid plate and snapped some more photos. Will give it a wash today and see if anything leaks at idle. Can't legally drive it yet so...

Still hoping a wash will get it through inspection so I can deal with the leak later. Also noticed a bolt in the photos that isn't done up completely zzz. All simple stuff!

 

[Mudhen459]

Great find for a low mileage 4Runner. With normal care and feeding, she'll last another 300K.

Jonathan a.k.a. Mudhen459

 

[blaize444]

Epic. I just got mine too. Will you do any modifications to it?

 

[alex9000]

Epic. I just got mine too. Will you do any modifications to it?

Congrats! I'll definitely do some mods, but first order of business is to pass and inspection and get it registered

It was parked in the back alley for the past 2 weeks with half a tank of gas in it, today I started it and the tank is empty... Fuel leak or did someone syphon the gas out?

 

[JoeT4R]

I'm thinking the leak is coming from the rack and pinion. Removed the skid plate and snapped some more photos. Will give it a wash today and see if anything leaks at idle. Can't legally drive it yet so...

Still hoping a wash will get it through inspection so I can deal with the leak later. Also noticed a bolt in the photos that isn't done up completely zzz. All simple stuff!

My rack looks just like that and has for years to be honest. I’ll hit it with brake parts cleaner every few months and it just comes back over time. I monitor my PS fluid reservoir and hardly ever have to top it off. But it makes me wonder where exactly the leak is coming from. I’m not going to say don’t worry too much about it, but I wouldn’t lose sleep over it either. Curious to see what all you find though.


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[Drew76]

Leak may also be valve cover gaskets leaking oil and running down the back onto steering rack. Should be easy enough to tell if its motor oil or ATF. If the seals in the rack are bad I have read that it can leak from the inner tie rod boots. I did get a junkyard rack that had a leak on the housing where the big bushing clamps around, moisture had been caught there and corroded right through the rack housing.

 

[Jungoes]

Congrats on the purchase, you truck looks pretty good for the age / mileage.
as for the leak, I cant confirm where it is coming from but you will need to inspect and eliminate the following:

1. Valve cover gasket condition
2. Leaking oil pan sealant ( its not a gasket)

Mines looked exactly like yours and I changed both as I had leaks on the valve cover AND the oil pan gasket ( after a Catch can caused over pressure in the PCV) dumba$$ POS catch can BS:gun5:.
One of your pictures above shows a leak on one of the oil pan bolts. recommend inspecting some more.

Prepare for a long weekend and post repair neck pain if you plan on doing the oil pan sealant replacement as you have to drop the front differential to properly access the pan for removal / replacement. There is no other way around it.

 

[Jungoes]

I'm thinking the leak is coming from the rack and pinion. Removed the skid plate and snapped some more photos. Will give it a wash today and see if anything leaks at idle. Can't legally drive it yet so...

Still hoping a wash will get it through inspection so I can deal with the leak later. Also noticed a bolt in the photos that isn't done up completely zzz. All simple stuff!

so the last image with the red box you added is actually the removeable panel that exposes the flywheel, that panel comes off when the oil pan is dropped. I removed mines and added a rubber section when i did my oil pan seal. I also used that port to verify I did not have a rear main seal leak, if you remove that panel ( you can without dropping anything) you can inspect for oil in that region which is a confirmation for rear main seal leak.

See images below with that panel removed after the front differential is dropped. Again, cleanup, inspect and confirm before dropping anything, really hope its not your oil pan.

 

[Sparky 97Runner]

It was parked in the back alley for the past 2 weeks with half a tank of gas in it, today I started it and the tank is empty... Fuel leak or did someone syphon the gas out?

This is a good question and hopefully someone can answer for certain but I don't think that fuel can be siphoned through the fill neck on our 3rd gens. Hopefully some butthead didn't drill a hole in the bottom of your gas tank to steal your gas. Might want to check that possibility out. Congratulations on your 4Runner! Good find.

 

[alex9000]

This is a good question and hopefully someone can answer for certain but I don't think that fuel can be siphoned through the fill neck on our 3rd gens. Hopefully some butthead didn't drill a hole in the bottom of your gas tank to steal your gas. Might want to check that possibility out. Congratulations on your 4Runner! Good find.

Hmm yeah I'll take a look - third option is that it was empty and I'm misremembering...

 

[alex9000]

This is a good question and hopefully someone can answer for certain but I don't think that fuel can be siphoned through the fill neck on our 3rd gens. Hopefully some butthead didn't drill a hole in the bottom of your gas tank to steal your gas. Might want to check that possibility out. Congratulations on your 4Runner! Good find.

Guess what it was.....
.
.
.
.
The Battery. Tl;dr the only thing I changed was the battery and I'm back to half a tank. Truck hasn't been moved - sat in the exact same position for ages. It died so I got a new battery, put it in just now and i'm back at half a tank. Low voltage. The bat was so cooked the central locks would hardly fire.

 

[alex9000]

Sway bar bushings changed finally - other than shearing one of the welded in bolts off, piece of cake. What's the torque spec? Next up is rear sway bushings then steering rack bushings. I wish I had ordered more things from rock auto way back when.

I got some better photos of the oil leak... Any ideas?

 

[alex9000]

Found it - now only if i had a torque wrench.

All credit to Timmy The Toolman on Youtube

 

[alex9000]

so the last image with the red box you added is actually the removeable panel that exposes the flywheel, that panel comes off when the oil pan is dropped. I removed mines and added a rubber section when i did my oil pan seal. I also used that port to verify I did not have a rear main seal leak, if you remove that panel ( you can without dropping anything) you can inspect for oil in that region which is a confirmation for rear main seal leak.

See images below with that panel removed after the front differential is dropped. Again, cleanup, inspect and confirm before dropping anything, really hope its not your oil pan.

Dude I never saw this post, thank you! I'll have to check it out. I think the steering rack is definitely leaking but could be more than one source. I ordered a new rack seal kit.

I went and took it for the out of province inspection and they came back with:
- muffler is rusted through and the tailpipe flange is cooked
- RHS outer tie rod end needs replacing, and they're saying the steering knuckle needs replacing.
- need new tires.
- High mount brake light and "front side marker lamps"... wtf are these? Also, they quoted me $125CAD to replace these bulbs LOL

About $1000CAD worth of stuff, which isn't too bad. That would bring the total cost to about $5600 USD for a great 3rd gen :thumb: