lesia's first runner

[2oldtoys]

okies here we go . lesia (lisa) wrecked her maz b3000 dual sport about a month ago. state farm which i have had for over 30 years finally paid off. the ever eeevil bank finally let us access the small coins after sorta going "state farm who" hahaha

anyway when we met i had a 94' 4x4 runner but do to divorce it had to go. i still had "geretrude" my 93 toyota 4x4 compact pickup and she even liked it except it is 5 speed and lesia is disabled gal from accident when she was young grrrrl

so i looked high and low for a 97 then anything in our price range then 96 and nothing. either they were
way overpriced beaters or 5 speeds and still rough. we did not really need another 4x4 either as both of us are disabled
and we dont go deep anymore (even if we wanna) we do camping and fishing and as we all know and love a 2x4 toyota will go places many wont even in 4x4

well i was just about to forget it and buy an exploder , frustrated with auto trader , cars.com and craigs. nobody would respond , nobody would call back and i did not wanna deal with any car lots.

the dog woke me up early last week so i climbed on pc one more time to search and right there on top was a 95 runner v6 and auto 2x4 fro 2 grand. we have 3k left from them paying off the b3000. i called and we went 100 miles south and met the guy and the 4 runner

my 93 has 168k this 95 has 160k so that seemed about right to me when i was seeing
01 and even laters with 200k. body was perfect , frame all good , sittng on alloys with fairly new continental lt tires, even had a spare w/ air and tool set. interior was nice and clean except for bad headliner and leaky moon roof. hood has had some noobish spray bomb paint used clear coat has peeled on roof especially around the rack. i figured i would just remove this rack tape and sand and repaint the top parts or have somebody around here do it. i got quote of 300 so far
from the real deal auto body shop and their spray gun guy is the known paint wizard

truck cranked right up and idled fine , trans shifted great , although it did pull a slight bit when i stabbed the brakes in the parking lot. radiator has boiled over in distant past but had clean anti freeze when checked (im leery now) trans was wet underneath but the valve cover gaskets are leaking big time and it seemed like engine oil to me not tranny juice.


i got the guy down to 1800 bucks so we bought the beast and lesia drove it home with a
cast on her foot. upon entering the interstate the fuel filler door blew off and smacked my old truck on the nose. i had semi with teeth in the grill so close on me i could see radiator fins so i could not retrive the wayward sheetmetal.

anyway it made the 100 mile trip back here. so lesia has her first 4 runner and is elated
im still nervous cause its a 3.0 but i see brand new other makes broke down beside the highway all the time and at least im somewhat familiar with toyota and now have you guys and gals to advise me.

today i start the process of getting it back dependable as it can be and i hope i have not made bad choice. its a lot better than some i seen at double its cost. perfect truck for lesia if i can make it trustworthy again? dunno but im going in and we have some coins we can spend on it. you dont get much toyota for under 3k here in florida


opinions , comments , advice is welcomed and surely needed


much thanks for reading my ramblings , johnny

 

[2oldtoys]

oh i forgot the 95 4 runner we just purchased had what seems to be a monster audio system in it remote controlled head unit , clarion multi disc changer and very large amp and even larger boxes of speakers , it is mounted clean and does work but is way too much for us. speakers take up the whole rear of the 4 runner and we cannot have that

power antenna no longer extends but thanks to our members postings it soon will as its a planned repair

will you all kindly tel me what oil and filters you like best for the 3.0 v6 its holding low oil pressure on the guage but so does my old 22re when its needing a change

also what spark plugs do the vets like for the v6 3.0 ??

thanks again johnny:hatsoff:

 

[topdown4runner]

Don't have much info for you on a 3.0.

Good luck on your purchase & welcome to T4R!

 

[2oldtoys]

thank you , sure wish we could sneak into manheim central florida with some lotto winnings and get us a herd of 4 runners

i purchased the repair parts for lesia's truck, O'reilly had most everything except the knock sensor and a lower rad. hose and both will be here this morning. i got new timing belt , both pan gaskets , intake set
valve cover gasket set , full tune up parts with new wires , all filters and fluids , flush kit about 450 bucks worth. i do plan on replacing every vacuum line

now i may have to get new injector but i could not get to the passenger side with the probe when i was making my parts list. but it does have dead cylinder and check engine light appears about a minute after starting. or so said the verus readout. ill change the cap rotor plugs and wires first
then injectors before i even open the new knock sensor at 160 bucks. ouch!

i cannot figure out if this truck has had the head gaskets done or not so im planning on doing that too.
i will call stealer today. this stealer is surly even when you are not asking for something
but lesia loves this truck. her mindset like mine now is that this t4r is ours and paid for. body is great , interior is nice except for headliner/moonroof issue. truck is pretty easy to work on due to its age. and its cool that we both have older toyots trucks plus there are quite a few donor trucks in this area


we have nothing but time and can eventually get this old truck back up , buying parts sure beats paying interest on something that we not own. i sure wish it was not the 3.0 but who knows maybe we can even swap engines one day if we have to. gonna try to get the 3.0 going again now though ,,,