Looking for a reliable 4runner

[Canadian4Runner]

Hey there,

I'm new to this forum, so forgive me if I'm asking something someone else has already.

I have heard lots of good things about 4runners. I'm trying to find a reliable one somewhere between 1990 and 1997.

I've found that the 3L is pretty famous for head gasket failures. The automatic trannys seem to hold up pretty good. The 4cyl engines are notoriously gutless overall.

Seems the best bang for your buck in the age range I am looking for is about a 97 with a 3.4L with an automatic tranny.

Whats you people's opinion?

 

[fourwd1]

The 4cyl engines are notoriously gutless overall.

What ??? That's totally insane.

Would Toyota use the 22R/RE (and it's predecessor the 20R) in Celicas, Coronas, trucks, and RV's for 20 years if it was gutless ???

It's probably the best engine Toyota ever made.

But then I've only had 4 Toyotas with the 22R series engine, 3 of which are still parked in my driveway.

 

[Canadian4Runner]

Sorry, I ment overall in the 4runner series. From what I have been reading they are too small to really move the chassis.

Your right, in the cars and smaller vehicles, the 4cyl engines toyota makes are some of the best engines out there.

 

[Windsor]

Originally posted by fourwd1 What ??? That's totally insane.

Would Toyota use the 22R/RE (and it's predecessor the 20R) in Celicas, Coronas, trucks, and RV's for 20 years if it was gutless ???

It's probably the best engine Toyota ever made.

By "gutless", he means low-powered.

It's true they were a bit weak on the power from the factory, but the blocks are solid and you can safely tweak a lot more HP out of them before you need to worry about the bottom end grenading.

 

[Canadian4Runner]

Ya by gutless I ment low powered. I find it frustrating when you try to merge onto a highway or turn onto a road at a 2 way stop and have to constantly worry about getting there without obstructing other traffic as your low powered engine works to get you there.

But this is not really about low powered engines. If I wanted a more powerful vehicle, I would opt for the 6cyl models or buy something else.

Thanks for the replies though.

My question is more about reliability. From what I have been reading, it seems at least the 3.0L and possibly certain years of the 4cyl and 6cyl engines have problems with head gasket failure and water pump failure. Generally it seems the automatic tranys are more robust than the manual ones -- again from what I have read. But I can't be sure.

My wife does a lot of driving around, she works several jobs so down time to repair a vehicle is minimal and problematic or gas guzzeling vehicles are really out of the question. We are looking around for a generally reliable vehicle with consideration of an upcomming baby so a 4 door would be preferred. I have heard lots of good things about 4runners, but since I have never owned one, or really looked into them seriously I thought you guys who are more familiar with them might be the quickest and easiest way to get some information on what a reliable or maybe not so reliable vehicle the 4runner has been over the years.

Every manufacturer has their good and bad years of vehicles, good and bad engines and so on. I am looking for what usually blows up, fails or breaks and what does not.

While I know the resale value of Toyotas are typically high, we only have a $5000 range of money to work with so going new is not an option and we would rather avoid leasing.

What suggestions do you guys have?

Thanks again for your help.

 

[Windsor]

The low power is a known issue, there's an active thread on yotatech.com now about having to downshift for grades more than 2%. (I've noticed the same thing).

A lot of folks complained about the 3.0 being finicky (head gaskets, etc) as well as wimpy, so don't bother with that.

The most painless upgrade would be to beef up the 22R with love from LC Engineering. My couch-dyno (*grin*) says you can get 200/200 out of the 4cyl engine w/o having to go forced induction.

Beyond that, you're talking about a 3.4 or Domestic V8 swap-in. Both will require non-fun wiring harness swapping, but both have been done (yotatech.com has forum sections dedicated to these).

 

[Windsor]

helps if I re-read your first post.

You can ignore my engine swap babble, that won't give you much reliability.

I don't know enough about the 3.4 or newer 4Runners, so someone else will have to step in.