Help me keep my 4Runner alive forever

[linden_arden]

I have a 1998 4Runner 4WD Limited. I bought it almost two years ago to the day. It had about 80k miles, I think, and I am about to hit 110k.

It is the first car I bought with my own money. I love this car, especially after suffering in a Ford Escort. I want to keep this car alive as long as I possibly can, well into 200k miles and beyond.

I purchsed the car from a luxury car salesman who is the father of a good friend of mine that I trust a lot. I don't have service records, but I was given every assurance that the car was in great condition (the dealer mechanic exmined it and I had a mechanic look at it as well). As I expected from a Toyota, it has been a dream and there haven't been any major problems at all.

Enough back story - onto the questions!

I'm a sharp guy but I know nothing about cars. I am learning all I can, and I have been reading this forum for a few days and trying to soak it all in. I'm not looking for someone to hold my hand here, but I'd like to hear some general recommendations from experienced 4Runner owners about what I need to be doing to keep this car in tip-top shape?

Also, here are some specific questions:

OIL: Clearly I've bought the hype and my OCI has been 3k. My understanding is that with a good synthetic oil (Mobil 1 seems to be highly regarded) I can extend that OCI to 7.5k or more. Also, Toyota fuel filters seem to be highly regarded as well. Is this correct?

TIMING BELT: Who knows when this was changed? I haven't had it changed but from what I've read it seems like I need to go out and do this ASAP and then every 60k miles after that. My last major service was at 100k and the mechanic didn't mention this, but why not err on the side of caution?

RUST: There is a dent/scrape at a rear corner. There is def rust present. How serious is rust on a car? Whats the best way to take car of this?

TIRES: I am about to get new tires very soon. I have been looking at the Bridgestone Dueler A/T REVO and the Firestrone Destination LE. Does anyone have comments on these tires? Can anyone suggest any other tires to consider?

I sure hope some kind soul wades through this post and can help me out. Like I said, I've already learned a ton and I'll keep reading and searching this forum for more answers. Thanks in advance.

 

[peter78]

I'm a sharp guy.

Modest too.

2 things on oil. I wonder if it is wise to go to Mobil one at 110,000 miles. I know you are not suppose to change to synthetic oil on high mileage cars, 110,000 seems to be on the edge. I belive I would give it a try. Now going 7,500 miles on oil? Mobil One does not suggest going further with thier oil. If you want to last forever going further on oil is not the way. I go 5,000 on my 4Runner with Mobil One and I want it to last for a long time.

It would be a good idea to change the timing belt. Quite a few people go over 100,000 miles like you did. One good thing is the engine is a non-interference engine, meaning if you do break the timing belt you of course will be stuck, but your engine should not be ruined.

On rust, if you have chrome bumpers, you have quite a bit of rust inside the bumpers. I have rust on the indside of my chrome bumpers that I will fix in a year or two.

Good luck on keeping your car forever.

 

[NJI]

Here's are some great tips to making your car last:

http://www.pennzoil.com/fix/carcare/make_your_ride_last.html

Just don't beat on it and keep up to date on the maintenance. I would recommend you learn how to do the routine things and do them yourself( oil, rear/front-differential, transmission fluids, etc. ) It's not hard to make your car last forever.

I have 1990 4Runner and it just broke 250,000 miles. I've changed the oil at 3,000 miles with regular oil. I'm considering switching to synthetic and chaning every 5,000 miles.

 

[Larry]

You can change to synthetic any time. You might want to short cycle your changes the first couple of times, like 2k, 3k and then settle on 5k changes after thant. Also look at flushing the transmission, brakes and cooling system. Brakes and cooling should be done every 30k/2years.

When you do your first cycle of synthetic you might want to add a pint of Marvel Mystry Oil to clean up the seals, rings other internal parts.

Also change your fuel filter and air filter. Dump some gas treatment in the fuel tank, like Marvel Mystry Oil or Chevron ProGuard or other similar product.

I put myself through college cleaning up smokers, waxing them up and generally making them run like new. I've put MMO and synthetic oil in the worst of smokers that were all gunked up and never had a problem, never. Sometimes on the really bad ones I had to change the oil filter pretty quickly (feels cooler).

Oh, one final touch. Spray the engine with WD-40, wash it with high pressure soapy water, then detail it with rags and Pledge Furniture Polish in the spray can, the touch that makes it look very much like new under the hood.

Who knows, you might enjoy yourself....good luck.

 

[Angella]

For the rust - if you aren't looking to do major body work, but want to keep that rust from doing any further damage, I'd check out POR-15 (www.por15.com - it'll keep the rust from becoming worse, even though it's not going to make it look pretty again). That's just an old trick I've used on some other cars. For the bumpers, if you are crazy about the stock bumper, do something to protect it inside... if not, don't worry about it, and replace it with something else when the time comes.

 

[Jim_Chow]

Modest too.

2 things on oil. I wonder if it is wise to go to Mobil one at 110,000 miles. I know you are not suppose to change to synthetic oil on high mileage cars, 110,000 seems to be on the edge. I belive I would give it a try. Now going 7,500 miles on oil? Mobil One does not suggest going further with thier oil. If you want to last forever going further on oil is not the way. I go 5,000 on my 4Runner with Mobil One and I want it to last for a long time.

This is a myth. I changed to synthetic on my 1st gen 4runner at 135K miles and have had no leaks (currently have 175K mi). I've tried M1 10w30/15w40 (Walmart, 5 qt jug), M1 delvac 5w40, and Shell Rotella T synthetic 5w40 (Walmart, 1 gal). The latter is a group III basestock, so it's really a highly refined mineral oil, I believe. Anyways, I wasn't so impressed w/ the normal M1 grades sold at Walmart. I thought they were below my expectations. Oil seems kind of thin, TBN is kind of low (something like 6). The Delvac 1 by mobil is definitely a step up. It's used by commercial trucking lines and only sold in 1 gal jugs at places like truckstop oil changing facilities, commercial oil supply shops. Viscosity is higher, TBN is higher (means you can run the oil longer since the additive package lasts longer). I've been very happy with this oil, but it's pricey ($90 for a 4 gal box). I've run it 8K miles. The last is the Rotella T synthetic, which has a slightly higher viscosity than the M1 delvac. I wouldn't run this oil quite as long, but it's cheap enough ($14/gal) to change at 4-5K mi intervals.

Regarding filters, I'd only stick w/ toyota filters. The BEST toyota filter is the one made by Denso in Japan w/ a prelubed, orange colored rubber gasket. It fits the V8's on the LC100/Tundra/Sequoia, Lexus, and the 22r I-4 engines, the 1FZ I-6 engine, and, I suspect, the 5VZ engine. List is like $15, but it's no longer imported by Toyota USA. The filter is about the same diameter than the cheapo Toyota filters for $5, but longer. The media inside is totally different, as it has a resin filter core. A number of the LC guys have hoarded these filters since they've been discontinued in N.A. I've heard these are the filters toyota specs their 7.5K mile changing interval with, not the cheapo $5 ones. Still, I'd rather use the cheapo $5 ones over, say, Fram's or Lee's.