manifold ports?

[7echo]

Hi,

I am looking at a '99 limited, 4WD, with locker. Has 99,500 miles and looks clean. Asking price is $8000. I will be doing a test drive today and getting my mechanic to look it over.
I plan to check for the milk shake, tho not sure what to look at except a replaced rad.
I read that the front suspension and the brakes are all potential problem areas and will look at those as well.
Any other areas I need to check? Been looking through threads and it seems like these are good trucks and can run a lot of miles if maintenance is kept up.
Any idea what the 2 ports on the manifold are for? They are plugged and I wonder if it is a mod of some sort?

 

[98OzarksRunner]

The plugged ports are normal.

 

[JRZEE2000TR4LTD]

Rust, especially the inner frame by the muffler, although your in Georgia so don't know if that would be an issue. Check full button operation on the digital temp control.
At those miles, you'll be replacing the radiator (yep, as a preventative to the "milkshake") and maybe the timing belt and water pump.
Ideally, I would hope it still has the red Toyota coolant.
Check the valve covers for leaks.
All the rest is elementary (brakes, tuneup, 4WD operation, all systems functional, etc)

Good Luck!

 

[7echo]

The radiator tank is half full and red.

The truck was in Indianapolis so I will check closely for the rust issues. From my first look underneath it seems OK, but I will have it on a lift shortly for a better look. I plan to drain a quart or so from the transmission and see how that looks as well.

It has a sticker that says the timing belt was changed but any information written on the sticker was cleaned off when they detailed the engine compartment.

 

[jgue467]

Radiator tank is half full or the coolant overflow tank is half full?

You don't need to drain any trans fluid to see its condition, just pull the dipstick, same with engine oil, also check power steering, brake fluid fluids.

Well if it only has 99k miles it could only have had the TB changed once, so it has to have been very recently, so you s/b good on that expense for a good while - woohoo!

On front suspension, its the lower ball joints that go south early, so check those, there are vids on utube showing how if ya' don't know.

If VCs leak, just snug 'em up, mine were so loose i could turn them by hand.

How does it drive? 4wd engage/disengage well?

Luck! :banana:

 

[Jowenbrown]

Really low miles for that year. The price seams fair. I always got a bit nervous when I saw a cleaned engine when I was shopping. It makes any issues a lot harder to spot unless you can drive it for a long time to see if anything showed up.

+1 on the rust & ball joints - although in Utah it's impossible to find any that don't have some amount of rust on them.

I have my mechanic do a safety & emissions test as well as check fluids & seals.

I'm sure you're familiar with this awesome bundle of info:

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-g...ormational-threads-must-read-new-members.html

 

[7echo]

"Radiator tank is half full or the coolant overflow tank is half full?"
The over flow tank is half full. Red coolant, I assume that is OEM.

I will look up the ball joint information videos, thanks for pointing that area out.

I need to find the instructions for the 4WD engagement. It has the rear locker, and a button on the side of the 4WD shifter, then 3 positions for the shifter. New to 4WD so I will be reading up on that stuff.

The truck was surprisingly clean under neath, very little rust. Must have been taken care of and had the salt rinsed off regularly.

The rear axle on the passenger side needs the rebuild, I was quoted $725 and $850 for both sides, from two shops.

 

[TheDurk]

The plugged ports are left over from a previous version (pre-OBDII) version of the V6 engine that used an EGR valve. Those ports connected the EGR. No 3G V6 4Runners in in the US use the EGR.