Just bought a '99 T4R with 67K miles. Should I be skeptical?

SummerallGuard04

SummerallGuard04

New member
I can't believe I'm even doubting this now but I bought a '99 4Runner (my first Toyota!) with 67K original miles this weekend, off of Craigslist, and I need some advice. First of all, the truck is awesome--looks and drives great. It's not perfect but condition reflects a well-maintained 2-owner, 12 years old truck. Everything checks out on the car...so far. Except, tonight, I went to engage the cruise control and all it did was flash, never engaging. I called the previous owner and asked him about it and he said that it never had a cruise control box or a cable and that he never used it. What is that? That should have come up during the discussion of the sale. I later learned that he has an extensive background of working with cars, owns a body shop and sounds as if he can do anything he wants to a car; mechanically or aesthetically. Of course I ran a CARFAX report before buying this car and it came back clean. But, should I be skeptical here? I looked at the engine and...well, I mean I guess it could be the original engine--looks a little older though. I snapped some pictures of the engine bay and have attached them. I guess what I'm asking is: Is there anyway that the previous owner could have done an engine swap? Would that interfere with the odometer? If there was a will...could the digital odometer have been tampered with? If so, would that raise a red flag on CARFAX? I'm thinking about running it over to a Toyota specialist and just getting a pre/new purchase inspection. I know, I know, I should have done all of this BEFORE I paid $6700 for the car.

Your input is much appreciated.

Thanks guys!

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I think if you didn't test the cruise control during your test drive and you didn't directly ask him about it, that's more on you than him. Yes, it would be a good thing for the seller to mention, but it may have slipped his mind, or he may have never used the CC. Same goes with a factory locker. You can ask if it works, but most people out there never use it, so they wouldn't even know... that's why you do a test drive and inspection. Ultimately it's up to the buyer to verify the condition.

Sounds like a swell truck, otherwise :)
 
There are low miles 4runners out there. Some people only used them in bad weather etc... so they weren't used like mine (50 miles/day). It's hard to tell what's up with the engine as it looks like someone went over it with degreaser and a pressure washer so it looks nice but at the same time it hides what it really is like.
 
white_n_slow said:
I think if you didn't test the cruise control during your test drive and you didn't directly ask him about it, that's more on you than him. Yes, it would be a good thing for the seller to mention, but it may have slipped his mind, or he may have never used the CC. Same goes with a factory locker. You can ask if it works, but most people out there never use it, so they wouldn't even know... that's why you do a test drive and inspection. Ultimately it's up to the buyer to verify the condition.

Sounds like a swell truck, otherwise :)
Click to expand...

Nah, man. Don't get me wrong. I was pretty thorough with it before buying it. I test drove it with the previous owner and it felt fine; tested everything electric. Yeah, it is my own fault that I didn't think to test the CC while driving it.

I'm going to get it inspected tomorrow. Do you think the tech doing the inspection would be able to shed some light on things? Whether or not the engine bay is a hodge-podge of miscellaneous engine parts?
 
freshley said:
There are low miles 4runners out there. Some people only used them in bad weather etc... so they weren't used like mine (50 miles/day). It's hard to tell what's up with the engine as it looks like someone went over it with degreaser and a pressure washer so it looks nice but at the same time it hides what it really is like.
Click to expand...

Does the engine block look a little, well, "weathered" to you?
 
I wouldn't worry too much about the dirtiness of the engine bay. A lot of people (myself included) don't bother cleaning anything under the hood until it's time to sell the vehicle. If you can't see any major leaks, you're probably OK. You can also check the castings on the engine against the VIN to see if the engine is original, or at least the correct engine for the truck.
 
Def. take it to a mechanic that specializes in Toyota trucks/4Runners.

Did you ever find out what happened in the 7 years of missing car info?
 
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