2ndhandyotaman
Member
I found something that was worth investigating, and once I did some carfax research and used the help of a friend that's a service writer at a local Toyota dealership to pull service records for the vehicle. I felt comfortable enough that this vehicle was pretty well maintained although oddly enough there's no record of a T-belt service.
A call last night to the titled owner was the final piece that I needed to make a deal on it. I was told that the runner had failed an emissions test in October ( CF records shows this ) and that the PO took it to the dealership where they found a bad O2 sensor, bad MAF sensor and a cracked air box. These items were placed and then the owner traded in the Runner.
I ended up with a '99 Limited, Desert Dune/ Millennium Silver 2 tone. 200,300 miles on it. E-locker. Auto climate control is possessed, sunroof no works. Everything else functions as intended. Initial inspections shows that 1 outer torn CV boot ( long term, almost no grease left in the joint) the other joint is severely cracked. One rusted/broken sway bar link in the front. No visible signs of leaky axle seals. There's a 10 year old record of Toyota replacing the bearings/seals under an extended warranty.
Interior leather in decent shape. The drivers seat has cracking but is generally still in 1 piece. ABS light is on, no other CEL/indicators are lit up. It starts right up and idles fine. Trans seems to shift ok. I tested the t-case and E locker during the test drive, everything is ok.
The sleaze ball wholesaler wanted $4500. I wasn't about to give that much for it. I ended up at $3200, which I think is a decent price based on how rust free the runner is. I would have loved to have known the PO when she was trading it in and offered her more than the $900 that carmax gave her.
To give you an idea of the sleaze level of the wholesaler, he did the sale as an open title transaction and wouldn't provide a bill of sale. 2 big NO-NO's as a licensed dealer in MD.
Pics.
I put about 100 miles on it today, just to get an idea of what I need to do as far as maintenance goes. I'll run it through a state inspection on Friday to get that list of repairs.
Initial work to be done:
New rear shocks. It has fairly new KYB monomax struts up front, so I'll use the same shock in the rear.
New CV axles. I'll go with NAPA ones and reboot the one original axle w/ the cracked boots, the joints haven't been contaminated yet so it will be good enough for a spare.
OEM LBJ and hardware. I already ordered them.
Front sway links. One is toasted, the other can't be much better.
Fog Light lenses are busted, need to source new ones.
I'll order a T-belt kit and VC gasket service kit from fleabay. The guy in the parts dept at the local dealer where my friend works told me that even at employee pricing, the ebay kits from Camelback are still a better deal. This job can wait until the spring when it's warm again. I'll be working in an open parking lot space at a buddies body shop, no need to freeze doing a job that can wait a bit.
A call last night to the titled owner was the final piece that I needed to make a deal on it. I was told that the runner had failed an emissions test in October ( CF records shows this ) and that the PO took it to the dealership where they found a bad O2 sensor, bad MAF sensor and a cracked air box. These items were placed and then the owner traded in the Runner.
I ended up with a '99 Limited, Desert Dune/ Millennium Silver 2 tone. 200,300 miles on it. E-locker. Auto climate control is possessed, sunroof no works. Everything else functions as intended. Initial inspections shows that 1 outer torn CV boot ( long term, almost no grease left in the joint) the other joint is severely cracked. One rusted/broken sway bar link in the front. No visible signs of leaky axle seals. There's a 10 year old record of Toyota replacing the bearings/seals under an extended warranty.
Interior leather in decent shape. The drivers seat has cracking but is generally still in 1 piece. ABS light is on, no other CEL/indicators are lit up. It starts right up and idles fine. Trans seems to shift ok. I tested the t-case and E locker during the test drive, everything is ok.
The sleaze ball wholesaler wanted $4500. I wasn't about to give that much for it. I ended up at $3200, which I think is a decent price based on how rust free the runner is. I would have loved to have known the PO when she was trading it in and offered her more than the $900 that carmax gave her.
To give you an idea of the sleaze level of the wholesaler, he did the sale as an open title transaction and wouldn't provide a bill of sale. 2 big NO-NO's as a licensed dealer in MD.
Pics.
I put about 100 miles on it today, just to get an idea of what I need to do as far as maintenance goes. I'll run it through a state inspection on Friday to get that list of repairs.
Initial work to be done:
New rear shocks. It has fairly new KYB monomax struts up front, so I'll use the same shock in the rear.
New CV axles. I'll go with NAPA ones and reboot the one original axle w/ the cracked boots, the joints haven't been contaminated yet so it will be good enough for a spare.
OEM LBJ and hardware. I already ordered them.
Front sway links. One is toasted, the other can't be much better.
Fog Light lenses are busted, need to source new ones.
I'll order a T-belt kit and VC gasket service kit from fleabay. The guy in the parts dept at the local dealer where my friend works told me that even at employee pricing, the ebay kits from Camelback are still a better deal. This job can wait until the spring when it's warm again. I'll be working in an open parking lot space at a buddies body shop, no need to freeze doing a job that can wait a bit.
