New 3rd Gen Owner

[benjhind]

Hey Folks,

I'm new to this 4Runner gig.

I decided I needed a truck that can pull a payload when needed. I have always wanted to own a Toyota, and I need to have seating for my 3 kids. So that means 4Runner! To top it off, life is too short to be wasted driving an automatic. So that means 3rd gen is the newest one I could buy due to my personal snobbery.

I found this unit a couple hours from home last weekend. I live in Southern Ontario, where they dump enough salt on the roads to eat through an average car in minutes. It has a few spots of rust, but if I look after it I should be able to squeak 5 more years out of it, which is a shame because I'm sure the drivetrain has another 15 years of service to give!

2000 SR5 4Runner
4x4 5speed
223000km = 139000mi

I paid 3500 Canadian (3100 USD) and will have close to 4K CAD into it once I've done some repairs and maintenance. I'm not sure whether it is a great deal or not, but it is definitely worth that to me as it is a hard-to-find vehicle in good shape for this part of the world.

The only thing I wish it had is the diff lock. I won't ever need it, but I just want to HAVE it.

I'm not going to do a heap of mods, and probably won't post much on here, but I just wanted to drop a line to say 'hi' and a huge thanks for the wealth of information folks have posted here. Special thanks to 4-Ripcord for the buyer's guide - VERY helpful! Looking forward to years of lurking.

Cheers,
Ben

 

[4'running'26]

Looks nice, especially for what you paid! Welcome to the forums. As you have already noted, the amount of information here is overwhelming at times. I miss some great threads/information just from not checking over a span of 10-12 hours.

Best of luck with your mods.

What part of southern Ontario do you live? My grandparents live in the UP of Michigan so I know what you mean about the salt!

JT

 

[benjhind]

Do they do that on the UP too? What a shame! I'm near London.

I honestly don't get the whole road salt thing. It turns good pack snow into slush that pulls you off the road (although now that I've got 4x4....). It also turns cars into orange powder. To top it all off, it is expensive, so we're paying for this!

Rant over.

 

[benjhind]

Spent some time with the beast trying to get her road legal.

I'm not someone who normally works on his own vehicles, so learning as I go is an uphill battle!

It failed safety due to not having any heat. If I move the heat selector dial, I can feel it bind. The water valve under the hood is free, so that leaves the blend door under the dash. I disconnected the cable at the blend door and the cable moves freely but the blend door does not.

The blend door is a confusing array of levers and voodoo clockwork. I wiggled the crap out of it and broke something. This something was a connection to a lever for some baffle or another that moved freely, but wasn't being moved because something is binding that it was connected to. Anyways, I wired this baffle open and now heat comes out. Not a lot but hopefully enough to pass safety. I'm not sure whether this paragraph makes any sense.

So I've got some heat. Will have the mechanic look at it next week and hope it passes safety. In the summer (did I mention it was -30C / -22F with the wind chill?) I will have to pull the dash and see whether I can get the blend door working properly. Now, for the emissions test:

It was throwing P0141 (O2Sensor Heater Circuit Malfunction (Bank #1 Sensor #2)) so I picked up a sensor at the local parts store for $120 (ouch!).

With no idea what I was doing, I googled the crap out of it. Got under the car, soaked the nuts in WD40, broke one bolt off and bent the other. This wasn't the plan.

Unbolted the muffler on one end, then had to grind the bolts off on the other. Back into the house to google how to deal with those rubber exhaust mounts. Lots of swearing and I have the muffler off (did I mention I don't own a jack?).

Ground off the bolt stubs and drilled and tapped into the flange. Bolted the new sensor in. Lots of silicone went on the muffler because I didn't have gaskets to replace the crumbling mess that was there. Got it all put back together, cleared the codes and reset EFI relay. Drove to town and back without throwing any codes. I'm hoping that she will pass the emissions test next week and be road legal!

Keep your fingers crossed.

Ben

 

[Canuckrz]

I've never heard of a vehicle failing safety inspection for not producing cabin heat. That doesn't sound right to me.

If possible can you post a picture of what one broke and which one you wired in place? I've been having similar issues with my heat and I'm curious if it was the same issue.

 

[benjhind]

The mechanic said that no heat equals no windshield defog, which is a safety hazard issue because you can't see where you're going. I can see where he's coming from, but if you drive with the windows down it is hard to get it to fog up. Either way, I wanted heat because my 3 kids didn't appreciate driving with the windows down when it is -30 out. I'm not going to pull the dash, though, until it is warm out as I don't have a heated shop.

I found a drawing from the FSM. I will attach it here. There is a red circle around the area I'm talking about. I broke the plastic piece that connects the connecting rod to the lever. The assembly is binding somewhere else and this lever moves freely. If I moved the lever one way, I got heat, and the other way nothing, so I wired it back to the control rod in the position the produced heat. Not an ideal solution but it gives me some heat for now.

 

[Diesel_Dog]

Welcome to the group. You will find a lot of information here. The good thing about owning a 15 year old 4runner is that someone more then likely has broken the same part / had the same issue as you and the answer is just a google search away.

If you need a pile of parts there are several Toyota dealers in the states that ship up to Canada with USPS. The cost is around half off what my local dealer wants for parts. I complie a parts list and then order from these guys: Conicelli Parts Center

Your runner looks to be in good shape and with only 223km on the clock should have lots of life left. What else is on the maintenance list?

Good luck with passing inspection.

 

[benjhind]

Thanks for the tip on parts DD. I'm sure this truck has heaps of life left in it, but I think road salt will dig it an early grave. It is very clean for the year, but rust is starting on the frame and a couple little spots on the body. I'll clean up the body but I'm going to guess the frame has 5 ish years to live.

To that end, first on the maintenance list is a complete oiling. Then I'm going to follow 4-Ripcord's advice in the buyers guide thread and do plugs and wires, clean throttle body, replace air filter & PCV valve and lube driveshaft. Might do the fuel filter if I'm feeling ambitious. I haven't worked on a vehicle for years (the last one I worked on was my 82 Olds Omega!), so this forum and 4-Ripcord's buyers guide thread have been awesome.

 

[benjhind]

Okay, so acknowledging I know little to nothing about vehicle maintenance, I'm going to ask a stupid question.

I had to pull the muffler from my 4Runner to gain access to the O2 sensor, as I had to drill and tap into it when I broke the bolts off. I asked the parts guy if he had gaskets to fit my exhaust. He looked it up on the computer and said he didn't have anything like that in stock. I put it all back together and siliconed the crap out of it, but it is leaking, so I won't pass an emissions test.

These gaskets have to be a common thing. I need them for either side of the pipe that has the muffler on it for a 2000 non-cali exhaust. Is there a part number or some way I can explain these things to the parts guy and get what I need? Any help is appreciated!

 

[benjhind]

Update: Vehicle is fully safetied, emissions tested and road legal!

Total cost to get on the road:
Truck $3500
Failed Safety Inspection $100
O2 Sensor + Misc $200
Safety $100
Emissions Test $50
Transfer Tax/Licensing $200

Total: $4150

The failed safety inspection was an avoidable cost, but I wanted a mechanic to check it out before I bought it. The only thing he found was the bad heat. After I got it going, I could have gotten him to safety the truck for free, but since he was where I bought the truck (over 2 hours away) it was cheaper to pay a local guy to re-do the safety.

 

[shootmymime]

Sweet. Welcome to the forum. Throw some pictures up of your new truck! Any plans for it this far?

 

[wc11]

Welcome aboard.
Clean the undercarriage when winters done and get it sprayed.

 

[merlin12]

welcome to the T4R family, i have a 3rd gen as well, check out what i have done to mine.

 

[benjhind]

No big plans so far, just want to do a bunch of maintenance to keep her running smoothly. Truck will mostly be used on the road and for hauling the odd deer out of the bush

Definitely looking forward to spring and getting some much needed oil on her.