Newbie bought a 1994 SR5 4WD. Saying Hello

[Getsum]

Hello all, new to the site...sort of...I've been lurking around and reading all the posts that seem to affect all of the older SR5's. This is a great site and has a wealth of knowledge...all one has to do is take the time search it out.

I am a gearhead and always looking for a new project...I jumped on this one.

I bought a 1994 SR5 at auction the other night for the whopping sum of $970.

The check engine light was on (EGR was disco'ed...plugged it back in/reset battery and viola, its now off.)

The engine has a bad oil leak so I searched the site for sources and tracked it down to the valve covers...I ordered the seal kit for the covers, cams, and plenum...will be here tomorrow.

The rear window was not operational so I pulled the motor and it bench checked good. Tracked problem to the switch being disc. under the center console. Works going down but not up (I had extra battery and hotwired the motor to close the window). I pulled the relay and am troubleshooting it now thanks to the MANY posts available here...more to come as it was getting below freezing last night and I lost feeling to my fingers and had to stop working.

The tranny has a bad leak so I ordered the filter & pan kit...probably needs it anyway plus it was cheap. I'll have to dig in further to see if it's one of the other 3 replaceable seals.

I ordered all of the plugs, wires, cap, rotor, a new cold air intake, exhaust system and found the missing front drive shaft on e-bay for $39 including shipping. I'm assuming it was removed to save on mileage. I know that was something commonly done on the FJ-80 LC I used to own.

I am going to rhinoliner (plus coat of aircraft paint over) the entire vehicle...not sure which color yet...thinking of orange with all black outside accessories. I did this on a Land Rover Defender Series 3 when I was stationed in England and it turned out pretty sweet. (have pics)

I'll be sure to post the before and after pics. I am concerned about the mileage at 187k...since I don't know what kind of yahoo was under the hood there's no way to know how long it will last.

If anyone has anything else I should check out please advise as I respect your experience on this vehicle.

 

[Getsum]

Relay from the local junkyard fixed the rear window issue. (Oh, I'm sorry, the local "auto recycler's compound"...how un-PC of me)

 

[turboSR5]

You got a sweet deal on that runner, is it going to be a daily driver? The V6 engines are pretty tough and regularly go over 300K miles. The big problem on these seems to be the heads. I'm not all that familiar with the 3VZ, so maybe someone else can give you a heads up on what to expect from them.

 

[Getsum]

You got a sweet deal on that runner, is it going to be a daily driver? The V6 engines are pretty tough and regularly go over 300K miles. The big problem on these seems to be the heads. I'm not all that familiar with the 3VZ, so maybe someone else can give you a heads up on what to expect from them.

I have a Dodge 2500 quad cab 4X4 that I tow my small boat and 18' trailer with, but that thing gets about 10 miles to the gallon. I totally customized it and Rhinolined the entire vehicle...turned out pretty cool. I'm going to sell it and just drive the 4runner, I'll probably put less than 4K a year on it so hopefully it should last a while longer. My main concern is the truck's towing ability...from what I read, these engines sort of suck when it comes to power and are doggy. If it can't handle the towing then I'll be forced to sell it and import a turbo diesel Land Cruiser from Japan (lived there for 15 years + my wife's Japanese)

From what I read here on this site, the heads can be an issue. However, I used to work at a garage in England (my British neighbor had a shop in the village I lived in) so I'm not too intimidated by them; in the end its just nuts/bolts and getting everything aligned correctly. This engine is non-interference as well, so if you get the settings wrong, it won't destroy anything, it just won't start; Bonus.

I am learning a lot about the truck from this forum and read on it daily. Great site!