Hard to find a decent 3rd generation

1

1ststaterunner

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Ok I might be asking too much but this rear e locked 3rd gens is hard to come by . I almost considered a 2001 center locked but someone beat me to it . Also I've seen a lot of rotted frames that's been spray painted to hide that rust . This guy is been searching all websites that you name it. A lot of them are overpriced too on those dealers. I found one with a valve cover gasket leaking that made made the engine bay smoke and still the dealer wouldn't budge with there price . Honestly I havent seen one without a leaking valve cover. I'm in near giving up on my hunt . Any advice or help where to look is much appreciated . Thanks
 
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If you are in the rust belt, good luck. Need to search down south and out west and you won't pay KBB prices for a 3rd gen unless you find an old person that doesn't know what they have.

Valve cover gaskets can be fixed. Good videos on this site on how to do it, and if you aren't up to it, pay someone to do it as almost any 3.4L you are going to get will need to have it done between 100k-200k...which is almost ALL of them now.
 
Im in the east coast in Delaware . I can do the valve cover gasket no question about that but if the car is priced 9k that would put you in a hole already . Thanks for the input.
 
1ststaterunner said:
Im in the east coast in Delaware . I can do the valve cover gasket no question about that but if the car is priced 9k that would put you in a hole already . Thanks for the input.
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The trucks in our classifieds are more expensive than CL but usually all of the maintenance is done with records which can save you thousands. Axle seals, ball joints, trans coolers, valve cover gaskets, bushings, steering racks & many other thing's.
 
1ststaterunner said:
Honestly I havent seen one without a leaking valve cover.
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That's because its a very common problem for the 3.4L. Actually, I'd hardly call it a problem, more of a maintenance item that needs to be addressed. It's a very simple to fix too.

If I were you, I'd focus on finding a clean 4x4 3rd gen with or without an e-locker. Once you have a clean one, it's much easier to find just the rear end later down the road and swap it in. Limiting your search to e-locker only really narrows the search.

I've found that the e-locked 3rd gens are very regional too. When I lived in Illinois, they were few and far between. After moving to Colorado, I see e-locked 3rd gens for sale all the time (with super clean body/frames too!).
 
I looked and look and the best one i could find had ONLY 200k on it....still, it's a 3RZ and a 5 speed so I snapped it up!

:bounce:
 
Be patient and keep looking. I searched ebay, craigslist, cars.com, forum classifieds, even left a couple of notes on ppl's vehicles I've seen parked around town asking if they're interested in selling. Knowing what I know now, I'd probably still look for e-locker but would DEFINITELY pay extra to get it from someone that's selling on here that has a build thread and/or lots of posts and knows what they're talking about. I paid $5K for my 2000 LTD and probably spent close to another $5K just doing everything that needed to be done to get it up to date and I STILL have to the timing belt and valve covers soon. Something to consider...
 
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Scramble said:
His screen name is 1stState so I'm assuming Delaware.

All the OP has to do is go a little further south away from the salt & he'll be fine.
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True but you can't infer everything from the username.

My current vehicle isn't boosted.

Is your screen name for your favorite eggs, Scramble?

I'm joking and making a point. He could've moved....
 
1ststaterunner said:
Ok I might be asking too much but this rear e locked 3rd gens is hard to come by . I almost considered a 2001 center locked but someone beat me to it . Also I've seen a lot of rotted frames that's been spray painted to hide that rust . This guy is been searching all websites that you name it. A lot of them are overpriced too on those dealers. I found one with a valve cover gasket leaking that made made the engine bay smoke and still the dealer wouldn't budge with there price . Honestly I havent seen one without a leaking valve cover. I'm in near giving up on my hunt . Any advice or help where to look is much appreciated . Thanks
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You'll have to look WEST if you want one with no rust. I'm in CO, and mine has always been in CO. I have zero frame rust and something like 210k miles.
 
1ststaterunner said:
Ok I might be asking too much but this rear e locked 3rd gens is hard to come by . I almost considered a 2001 center locked but someone beat me to it . Also I've seen a lot of rotted frames that's been spray painted to hide that rust . This guy is been searching all websites that you name it. A lot of them are overpriced too on those dealers. I found one with a valve cover gasket leaking that made made the engine bay smoke and still the dealer wouldn't budge with there price . Honestly I havent seen one without a leaking valve cover. I'm in near giving up on my hunt . Any advice or help where to look is much appreciated . Thanks
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If you are very set on getting one with an e-locker, I also suggest looking south but also broadening your search location.

If 9k is the best price you've found so far on a so-so 4Runner, consider this. Would you be willing to pay a couple hundred in travel expenses to get the exact 4Runner you want from a private party or dealer in another state, potentially even at a lower price? I know for a fact that 4Runners are cheaper in states like Texas, New Mexico, Alabama, etc. than other parts of the country and don't have rust issues if they have been there for a while.

When I was looking for mine I was looking in Northern California, Southern Cal (11 hours away), Nevada, and Oregon. It was, to me, worth the drive if I got the perfect one I wanted.
 
They're out there, but at a price. Over the past couple of years the average CL price has jumped a few thousand for even average or above average mileage 4runners. They range from $8.5K on up. And just forget about Tacomas. Lol. Every once in a while one will pop on for under $7K, but tons are $10K.
 
Although it seems very counter-intuitive, it may be worth looking north for a Runner. Rust is inevitable to some extent but if price is the big concern, a solid 4runner can be had for $3k-$4k up here with minimal rust. I paid $3200 for mine with 170k on it this past winter and that is not a rare deal around me.
 
meRockboost said:
True but you can't infer everything from the username.

My current vehicle isn't boosted.

Is your screen name for your favorite eggs, Scramble?

I'm joking and making a point. He could've moved....
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True, I was assuming.

My favorite eggs are sunny side up! LOL

My nick name came from my last name Campbell. I was the fastest kid on the block growing up so everyone called me Scramble Campbell. :zoom:

Then in high school the nick name came back because i used to get high a lot & they said I had Scrambled Brains! LOL Weed, mescaline and beer. :beer:
Pretty much anything. :heh:
 
Scramble said:
True, I was assuming.

My favorite eggs are sunny side up! LOL

My nick name came from my last name Campbell. I was the fastest kid on the block growing up so everyone called me Scramble Campbell. :zoom:

Then in high school the nick name came back because i used to get high a lot & they said I had Scrambled Brains! LOL Weed, mescaline and beer. :beer:
Pretty much anything. :heh:
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OK. This should get it's own thread. It could be pretty fun. I bet some we could guess pretty easy and others we would be way off. lol
 
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