High miles didn't scare me......

[Panda96]

I'm new to the board guys! I'm over from MUD and having sold my beloved '95 LC :sadwave:. Moving forward I decided to go with a 4Runner. After having done a lot of research I decided to go with a 3rd Gen.

Over the last couple of weeks I must have driven eight 4R's! All auto's and only two being 4WD, most between 195K to 250K. All disappointments ugh :crybaby:

There had been this one 4R not too far away from me, but I kept passing it up; even after a lot of texting between myself and its owner. Mostly due to the mileage (323K). One day I decided to re-read the ad and noticed that it was a 5 speed 4x4! Don't know how that slipped past me but it had. It was also white, my favorite color. And cloth, another bonus. Lacked the sunroof but in a way that's a plus.

Soooo, I bit the bullet and drove over to see it. The guy seemed like a standup kind of guy. He had owned it for a year after buying it from the original 1 owner.
He was selling to specifically buy an older model Toyota pickup truck. The 4R had a really nice offroad welded front bumper as well as a roof rack, lights, and upgraded coils. The interior was in GREAT condition; the cloth was almost perfect.

Not being as familiar with the 3.4 as I am with 1FZE I did the best to check the oil, LBJ's, boots, and valve cover gaskets. Nothing screamed attention now! Everything was dry and looked sooooo much better than any of the 4R I had previously inspected. Then I drove it......dang! Night and day difference! This engine was made for a 5 speed! Power and a short throw.....tight steering.....I fell in love with it.

I bit the bullet and bought it. No rust. Great interior. Power. 5 speed. My concerns right now are I'm pretty sure the starter is dying and I need to have my timing belt serviced. Also a tune up and coolant flush (has new radiator, tstat, and alternator).

So this will be my new home it seems. I have a master Toyota mechanic down the road from me that has handled all of my cruiser needs. He himself owns a 3.4 older Tacoma with over 300K and an old 22R truck. He knows this engine inside and out.....and I'm learning.

I'll need this boards help in order to get every remaining ounce out of this engine as I can before I have to start thinking about a replacement engine (if I could get another 75-100K I'd be happy). Considering this is a 5 speed, and how rare they are, I don't plan on selling this Runner :drummer:

Thanks!

 

[MONTYMTB]

Welcome, glad you found a good one!

Cool story, but...


:worthless

 

[KANO]

Congratulations on the find! Mileage isn't everything, I'm sure there are plenty with half the miles that won't last half as long.

But yes...........WE WANT PICS!!! Haha similar to the one in your Avatar! Who knows, the 1st owner might just be a member here that can tell you more about the rig! Be sure to post in the newcomers section as well and say hello.

Congrats again,

 

[Panda96]

Sig pic.....

 

[Panda96]

One more.......:bat:

 

[KANO]

Well...that was quick haha!

How do the flood lights on the roof work out? I've always liked the look of the roof basket with lights, but have wondered how much of the light beam gets cut off by the roof?

Any shots from inside the car with just the roof lights would be great.

 

[Panda96]

Thanks guys.....coming from LC world you would think mileage wouldn't even enter my mind :amen:

After owning 3 LC's, i do like to think I know when a vehicle has been taken care of and when it hasn't. I drove lots of 4R previously with half the mileage that seemed to be screaming for help. This one seemed solid from the word go. I could tell. It even has the original manual in the glove box. 1 owner for 17 of it's 18 years spoke volumes to me. As did the condition of the interior (definitely garaged).

 

[IBallEngineer]

I'm new to the board guys! I'm over from MUD and having sold my beloved '95 LC :sadwave:. Moving forward I decided to go with a 4Runner. After having done a lot of research I decided to go with a 3rd Gen.

Over the last couple of weeks I must have driven eight 4R's! All auto's and only two being 4WD, most between 195K to 250K. All disappointments ugh :crybaby:

There had been this one 4R not too far away from me, but I kept passing it up; even after a lot of texting between myself and its owner. Mostly due to the mileage (323K). One day I decided to re-read the ad and noticed that it was a 5 speed 4x4! Don't know how that slipped past me but it had. It was also white, my favorite color. And cloth, another bonus. Lacked the sunroof but in a way that's a plus.

Soooo, I bit the bullet and drove over to see it. The guy seemed like a standup kind of guy. He had owned it for a year after buying it from the original 1 owner.
He was selling to specifically buy an older model Toyota pickup truck. The 4R had a really nice offroad welded front bumper as well as a roof rack, lights, and upgraded coils. The interior was in GREAT condition; the cloth was almost perfect.

Not being as familiar with the 3.4 as I am with 1FZE I did the best to check the oil, LBJ's, boots, and valve cover gaskets. Nothing screamed attention now! Everything was dry and looked sooooo much better than any of the 4R I had previously inspected. Then I drove it......dang! Night and day difference! This engine was made for a 5 speed! Power and a short throw.....tight steering.....I fell in love with it.

I bit the bullet and bought it. No rust. Great interior. Power. 5 speed. My concerns right now are I'm pretty sure the starter is dying and I need to have my timing belt serviced. Also a tune up and coolant flush (has new radiator, tstat, and alternator).

So this will be my new home it seems. I have a master Toyota mechanic down the road from me that has handled all of my cruiser needs. He himself owns a 3.4 older Tacoma with over 300K and an old 22R truck. He knows this engine inside and out.....and I'm learning.

I'll need this boards help in order to get every remaining ounce out of this engine as I can before I have to start thinking about a replacement engine (if I could get another 75-100K I'd be happy). Considering this is a 5 speed, and how rare they are, I don't plan on selling this Runner :drummer:

Thanks!

As a fellow LC owner I should ask, were you high? LOL I'll never sell mine, it's as much a part of me as any limb. I may "loan" it to my son though. I'm totally on board with the 3rd gens now, I don't think I could build/drive/own anything else. Welcome to our humble, or not so humble, little world.

:der:

 

[Panda96]

The lights on top are kind of worthless I think. You can tell the majority of the lighting is eaten up by the roof line. I contribute this mostly to the poor quality of the lights on top. I think you'd need more of a beam light on top instead of a flood. So I'm gonna look into replacing the lights I currently have.

Also removing the welded stinger front bumper. It's really cool and built right, just more than I need. The PO included the original bumper so I'll be installing that ASAP. I'll be selling the stinger if anyone is interested!

 

[Panda96]

Trust me, it hurt IB!! It was such a tough decision....and even tougher to watch her drive off ray:

But, gas mileage and personal reasons were involved, so it had to be done. It was a midnight blue '95 with 145K.....perfect engine :shocked:

 

[Neil_R]

Congrats man, you're gonna love it. I certainly wish mine had the 5-speed. I have driven a T100 with the 3.4 and 5-speed and agree that the engine is much happier that way.

Mileage is irrelevant to these things if they are well maintained.

Have fun with it!

 

[Myrunr2010]

My concerns right now are I'm pretty sure the starter is dying and I need to have my timing belt serviced. Also a tune up and coolant flush (has new radiator, tstat, and alternator).

When you do the timing belt you will end up draining all of the coolant anyways, assuming you replace the water pump. Its a pretty time consuming job to do it, but it actually wasn't very difficult. The biggest hurdle in doing it yourself is getting over the initial worry of doing such a big job by yourself.

I drove lots of 4R previously with half the mileage that seemed to be screaming for help. This one seemed solid from the word go.

I was in the same boat man. I was dead set on a manual, so we drove all over looking for one (making 3+ hour drives, one way, after work just to check them out). Finally found one that fit the bill, had 230k on it, but you could tell it had been taken care of.