Miles rolled back 150k

[MarkBlack]

Rest assured the guy who brokered the deal is in on the fraud. Put him on the hook for it unless you want to simply overpay for a high mileage truck.

I have this thing where I believe all people are good. So I honestly thought he didnt know. But I guarantee your right. The whole transaction seems shady in hindsight. He was asking $5,500 but If I came that night he would take $4,000 cash. And he said he worked with cars interior. But he still always responds with any questions I have. Im going to pry a little harder into finding out if he knows the previous owner.

 

[MarkBlack]

I just took the 4runner in to get new plugs because they offered free inspection with service. They were all amazed the car has 300k miles. They said there's not a thing wrong with it. This is why we all love our 3rd gens!!!

 

[MarkBlack]

The "clank" you hear from a stop is the rear slip joint on the rear driveshaft. Get a grease gun and hit up all the zerks but especially the one in the back just before the last u-joints. It will take a LOT of grease if it's run dry.

So I checked the driveshaft. It seems quite dry. I need to find the best way to lube it up. I took it to a local shop and tried to explain. They told me that is was fine because there isnt any play in the driveshaft? I'm not sure if that makes sense. But they said it could be the transmission. I'm going to coat it with white lithium grease until i get the proper grease to actually get deep in there.

 

[MarkBlack]

Hopefully you didn't overpay too bad, but there really are worse vehicles for it to happen with. Might as well ride it out, just treat it like a 300k mile vehicle.

I found out my first 4runner likely had a similar rollback at some point in its life. Clock showed 137k when I bought it, a couple years later I decided to run a report, which showed services past 200k miles, oddly enough the jump back to 130 and change at registration didn't trigger any rollback warnings on carfax or autocheck.

At this point I've come to terms that mileage is just a number with these 20+ year old vehicles and that will only become more true as time goes on. My current fleet consists of the rolled back runner that's had so many parts sunk in it doesn't matter, and 2 beautiful 2 owner Toyotas, my original power train 265k mile 02 Taco, and a 97 4runner with 270k that I did a top end rebuild on and am refurbishing.

Sent from my JSN-L23 using Tapatalk

I only paid 4k. I just would have gotten a 3rd gen with a locker with high mileage for that price.Thats the only downside.

 

[JZiggy]

I have this thing where I believe all people are good. So I honestly thought he didnt know. But I guarantee your right. The whole transaction seems shady in hindsight. He was asking $5,500 but If I came that night he would take $4,000 cash. And he said he worked with cars interior. But he still always responds with any questions I have. Im going to pry a little harder into finding out if he knows the previous owner.

You’re not in the Novato area are you? The guy I dealt with was pretty much peddling the same story. He had bought the truck to swap out interiors and was then selling it immediately after.

 

[MarkBlack]

You’re not in the Novato area are you? The guy I dealt with was pretty much peddling the same story. He had bought the truck to swap out interiors and was then selling it immediately after.

No this guy was in victorville, CA

 

[4Rubber]

You’re not in the Novato area are you? The guy I dealt with was pretty much peddling the same story. He had bought the truck to swap out interiors and was then selling it immediately after.

Mine was in the Novato area. I wonder if it was the same guy...

 

[gamefreakgc]

So I checked the driveshaft. It seems quite dry. I need to find the best way to lube it up. I took it to a local shop and tried to explain. They told me that is was fine because there isnt any play in the driveshaft? I'm not sure if that makes sense. But they said it could be the transmission. I'm going to coat it with white lithium grease until i get the proper grease to actually get deep in there.

You'll be looking for these little guys (not my photo):

You need a grease gun because there's a little check valve that only allows grease in. The parts that are dry are inside the driveshaft itself. The grease gun has a little twist on fitting that creates a good seal and you just pump the grease right in. Moly grease is fine, been using that for years. Comes in those round cartridges that look like crescent roll containers.

 

[MarkBlack]

You'll be looking for these little guys (not my photo):

You need a grease gun because there's a little check valve that only allows grease in. The parts that are dry are inside the driveshaft itself. The grease gun has a little twist on fitting that creates a good seal and you just pump the grease right in. Moly grease is fine, been using that for years. Comes in those round cartridges that look like crescent roll containers.

Thank you for the photo!! So there's an attachment that fits onto those valves and I just it full into the old grease starts coming out?

 

[gamefreakgc]

Thank you for the photo!! So there's an attachment that fits onto those valves and I just it full into the old grease starts coming out?

Yes, it's a standard zerk fitting that all grease guns will attach to. Avoid the Harbor Freight ones though... mine broke on the 2nd use. Amazon has plenty of cheap ones, I like the pistol grip ones since you can do it with one hand that way.

If you are concerned about over filling (it is a "feel" sort of thing) what you can do is pump up the zerks until you hear the grease starting to come out (if you see it pouring out you've gone too far) and then take a ball point pen or very thin eyeglass screwdriver and press the little check valve in to open the zerk. If grease explodes out then it's overfilled, just keep the valve open until all the excess comes out. If nothing comes out, you might want to give it a few more pumps of grease.

 

[phattyduck]

Thank you for the photo!! So there's an attachment that fits onto those valves and I just it full into the old grease starts coming out?

Yeah, it is a standard grease gun fitting. Fill up each zerk fitting with grease until it comes out the color of the grease you are putting in. You can wipe off the excess that comes out if you don't want if flung all over the bottom of your truck. For the slip joint, you don't want to overfill it, just do a few pumps - it may be filled with dried grease, etc. You may need to pull the rear driveshaft and clean/grease that joint (more involved, you have to align it correctly to re-assemble the shaft)

There are 6 joint grease zerks for u-joints and 1 for each slip joint on each shaft, 8 total.

Drive/Prop Shaft Greasing Guide

-Charlie

 

[MarkBlack]

Yeah, it is a standard grease gun fitting. Fill up each zerk fitting with grease until it comes out the color of the grease you are putting in. You can wipe off the excess that comes out if you don't want if flung all over the bottom of your truck. For the slip joint, you don't want to overfill it, just do a few pumps - it may be filled with dried grease, etc. You may need to pull the rear driveshaft and clean/grease that joint (more involved, you have to align it correctly to re-assemble the shaft)

There are 6 joint grease zerks for u-joints and 1 for each slip joint on each shaft, 8 total.

Drive/Prop Shaft Greasing Guide

-Charlie

My coworker has a grease gun. But its filled with lithium general grease, will that work? I looked online and it seems like it will, but rather find out first hand from the guys who have done it.

 

[jgue467]

As long as its GL5 hypoid oil compliant. Then again, GL5 hypoid oil is Cheap at walmart and such, why not get your own tube and be sure? Oh yeah go synthetic.

Enjoy that Runner. :cowboy:

 

[Mudeprived]

On these 3rd gen 4runners and 1st gen Tacomas its pretty easy swap out a cluster in 5-10 minutes. And the analog ones, as any analog, its not hard at all to roll back the miles to whatever you want. I had to swap out the digital odometer cluster on my 99 DD cause of a faulty fuel gauge, so I actually have 57K more on the rig than the cluster shows. Shows 322K but has 379K, I'll never sell it so no problem. On getting an inspection sticker the guy commented to me on the mileage discrepancy, so the DMV is keeping tabs also.
So to be sure on these mileages, check the records trail carefully.

A little off topic but was the swap plug n play? Any issues with the replacement gauge? I have the same issue with fuel gauge and been going by miles but recently found a donor or two for a swap. I am afraid I will end up swapping in another funky gauge since this seems so common on the 3rd gens.

 

[dogtail]

A little off topic but was the swap plug n play? Any issues with the replacement gauge? I have the same issue with fuel gauge and been going by miles but recently found a donor or two for a swap. I am afraid I will end up swapping in another funky gauge since this seems so common on the 3rd gens.

Gauge swap is simple plug and play. Issue with fuel gauge could be the cluster itself or in the tank sending unit. So as I recall, I think it was 4 years ago when I swapped it out...My gauge would peg either full or empty or something like that and possibly work sometimes. If its the sending unit, symptoms can be different. Fuel gauge issues are not super rare, nor super common.
There are write ups on testing sending unit ohms resistance on the plug under the back seat. Tank isn't hard to remove, but its not fun. I just replaced my fuel pump this Summer as preventive maintenance on the 20 yr old one.

 

[Mudeprived]

Gauge swap is simple plug and play. Issue with fuel gauge could be the cluster itself or in the tank sending unit. So as I recall, I think it was 4 years ago when I swapped it out...My gauge would peg either full or empty or something like that and possibly work sometimes. If its the sending unit, symptoms can be different. Fuel gauge issues are not super rare, nor super common.
There are write ups on testing sending unit ohms resistance on the plug under the back seat. Tank isn't hard to remove, but its not fun. I just replaced my fuel pump this Summer as preventive maintenance on the 20 yr old one.

My shop told me it was the gauge cluster. I confirmed it when I replaced the pump last fall.

Mine only goes from full to half.

 

[gamefreakgc]

The whole point on not sharing how to change the mileage is that it is now in the forums that will show up in a search... some things are best left off the internet...

 

[Mudeprived]

The whole point on not sharing how to change the mileage is that it is now in the forums that will show up in a search... some things are best left off the internet...

It's pretty much common sense anyways.


Just drive backwards. :lmao:

 

[AntleredRuin]

I know this is too late for the OP, but for anyone reading this is the future;
You can buy legitimate CarFaxes from eBay for $4-$5 each, vs $40.

Pretty much, looks like some people buy either monthly or annual subscriptions to CarFax and then resell the individual reports as one of those 'fixit services' style purchases.

You pay with your PayPal, then the seller e-mails and asks for the VIN, you provide it, and then he provides the report in PDF format.


I did this when buying my wife's Sequoia a few months back and figured that $5 is worth the risk, especially going through PayPal, but it worked great.
I bought 3 reports from 2 different sellers and got each report within 15 minutes of initial purchase.

I did not purchase a 'real' report to cross reference the validity and make sure it was legit, but the mileage matched up and the vehicle location history matched the seller's story (out of state vehicle), so I believe it.

Now, if it's technically legal or not, I have no idea, but it works.

 

[JZiggy]

As long as its GL5 hypoid oil compliant. Then again, GL5 hypoid oil is Cheap at walmart and such, why not get your own tube and be sure? Oh yeah go synthetic.

Enjoy that Runner. :cowboy:

Never heard of GL-5 grease. Thinking of NLGI 2?