Need some quick advice.

[SCRunner12]

Ok so i'm thinking of checking out a 98 limited tomorrow, but I was looking for some advice. It has a locker, body and interior is in awesome shape. It has 160k and has a supercharger and trd headers. It has been dealer maintained its whole life and the supercharger was put on in 2001. She took it to the toyota dealership yesterday and they said everything was running great except the battery tested low.

How often should a supercharger be serviced and does it need a rebuilt ever? Would you trust a supercharged engine that is 160k?

I want to check it out, but it is 2.5 hrs away and I don't want to waste my time or gas.

Any opinions are great.

 

[fightman80]

I know nothing about Supercharged 3.4l's, but I'd go check it out anyway, could end up missing out on another good deal!

 

[ironhippy]

make sure you test the locker too. Put it in 4 low, drive slowly and try to get it to engage. If the lights keep blinking, it's not working properly.

 

[SCRunner12]

So I didn't end up going to see it. It was 3 hours away and the seller wasn't too informative. She didn't know if the timing belt was ever done, if the supercharger was ever serviced, and she is the 3rd owner. I was a little worried that she didn't know squat about cars and is driving around a higher mileage supercharged engine. Just could be a bad situation and it could have been abused. Didn't want to risk buying a dying motor.

 

[RAB]

-Turbos need to be serviced more so than a super charger. A super charger is just a modified intake manifold.
-Unless she's just pounding on the engine all the time I can't imagine that the engine would in all that bad of shape. The V6s are pretty bomber engines.

 

[Hepar]

Good that you followed your gut. You'll know when it's worth a trip like that. I found mine on CL and it was 850 miles away. It only took a short time to figure out that it was worth the trip. Both with the specific Runner and the owner.

 

[SCRunner12]

I know the superchargers don't need much besides the oil and nose dive. Could have been a great deal or an ok deal. I would have had to drive back to pick it up. Eh I'm torn.

 

[Jeffkin]

Hey, San Jose here! Was at the Sharks game last night! WOOT! Where is it? What category are you in, do you NEED another one or do you just not want to miss out on a great deal? 3rd owner is iffy, you have no clue how it was driven/taken care of it's whole life. There are SO many Runners in Cali, you can be picky and wait for the right one.

I got lucky with mine, just 1 owner that lived on a golf course in SSJ, 20 min away. 2 people were supposed to test drive it ahead of me, but they were both late that Sunday morning, so I was first and nabbed it! Bought it from the original owner, per carfax. It's a '98 Limited, Auto, Locking Dif, has every option except tow hitch. (which is a good thing, I know it wasn't used for towing at all) The only things not working are the CD Changer (Regular CD and Tape player do work great with the 6 speakers and the antenna does not go down. It's in immaculate condition, interior and paint, with Michelin's that only have 5K on them. They had 100K mile dealer service plan, so everything was done at dealer, including new Tranny fluid. The topper is it only has 135K on it and at 130K it had a $3K rebuilt motor put in! Had something strange go wrong with the motor, so it's already changed out! I got it for $6,000!

For that far away, I think she could understand you wanting to hear as much as possible about it first and see tons of pics. It sounds like she just doesn't know anything about it... How much could you get it for?

 

[SCRunner12]

Nice to see someone so close. My girlfriends brother was at the sharks game last night. The ********* didn't invite me. I have a 2nd gen right now, but realized right after I bought it that they suck and a 3rd gen was better. I want to get one soon so i don't rack anymore miles on my 2nd gen before I sell it. Yeah I have seen some great 4runners come and go.

Man you got lucky with yours. I'm hoping to find a deal like that. The 4runner I was looking at was listed for 7300, but it needs a new battery and I was thinking of trying to get it down to 6500. 6800 would be the top dollar I would pay. I'm going back and forth on it and it could be a decent deal. She was understanding of the questions, even if she couldn't answer many. I just don't have the luxury of spending 6 hours in a car for a dud. One guy saw it already and didn't buy it so that got me a little hesitant.

It was maintained at the same dealership all of its life, which is encouraging.

 

[DeTwizzle]

You say it is dealer worked on, if you call Toyota they say that can pull up all vehicle history serviced at any licensed toyota dealer. I did this and noticed that some service history I had in Richardson, TX never showed up.... but that is one possible way to check to see when the timing belt was replaced.
As for the price $7300 is a fair price for the car. Especially if it does have those headers installed. Those are like $3000 w/ install. I would definitely check it out if you true want a badass runner.