red's 95 3.SLOW

[reddeth]

Hello all! With 15 posts I get to finally start cataloging a little bit of my work on the truck! First some quick background, I used to have a (pretty clean) '92, which I sold 2 years ago to get something a little more fuel efficient to commute to a new job. I immediately hated the job and didn't stay there long. I also immediately regretted selling the 4Runner.

Here she was, in all her oversized-wheel glory:

Anyways, cut to last week I find a very clean (but in desperate need of some maintenance) '95:

Only 170k on the clock! The motor was pulled and rebuilt less than 20k miles ago (pretty sure it overheated, see below)

When I say the truck was in bad need of some maintenance, I mean it, it had a genuinely terrifying death wobble at around 45-50 or so, an insane drone inside that I thought was the truck trying to grenade itself, and the underside was coated entirely in oil. What am I getting into?

So first, let's check out these tires, and they are rough:

I called up Big O and got scheduled for a set of 31" Grabbers and an alignment. Jacking up the front end and tugging on the wheels reveals a little play in one of the passenger side ball joints, but nothing terrible. Big O confirmed everything felt good and did the alignment:

Looks much better with a proper set of tires on it! Coupled with the alignment it entirely fixed the death wobble! The car was still droning, but I could actually drive it at highway speeds and not be terrified for my life.

 

[reddeth]

Now with the tires and alignment sorted, I decided to tackle the oil leak on the motor (also since it was in desperate need of an oil change). Some poking around with a flashlight and bumping my head into multiple sharp things revealed a leak coming from the oil cooler on the driver's side of the block.

I set about draining the coolant and oil (both in need of changing - on an engine that was rebuilt 20k miles ago? Hmm.... Coolant shouldn't look this dirty this fast). There's a special place in the 7th circle of hell for people who over-tighten oil filters on this - already impossible to get to - motor:

With the oil and coolant drained I pulled the oil cooler off and started cleaning it up. I tried blowing some water through the coolant line and... it's completely stopped up! A little poking with a dental pick and some more blowing and this little metal turd plopped out:

Probably explains part of why it was running a little hot.... This is part of what makes me thing the truck overheated at some point (or at least grenaded a water pump). I worry that the motor was pulled and rebuilt, but very quickly and cheaply. If they didn't even bother to clean the oil cooler or replace the seals (source of the oil leak) what else did they cut corners on?

Oh well, I picked up the seals and washer from the Toyota dealer and reinstalled everything. Those hoses are a pain in the ass to get on! Fill up the coolant and oil and... she still leaked oil. Worse now. What the hell!

Turns out the Toyota dealer gave me the wrong part. The little washer should have a rubber o-ring on it to seal it, and mine did not! Got the right part, drained the oil, swapped it out and put it back together. No more oil leaking!!!! WOO!!!

Now it just drips coolant....

 

[reddeth]

Oil leak fixed and coolant leak at least manageable, I decided it was time to do some cleaning! The stock interior was clean in that it was all there and not broken (aside from a cracked dash, but whatever, my '92 had some cracks as well), but lord knows it was not clean inside in the slightest. Based the number of crayons, raisins and tiny Lego pieces this was clearly used to transport many a crotch goblin!

The seats were dirty

The rear carpet was pretty well worn

And I wore some rubber gloves to clean out everything that had fallen between the seats....

I rented a Rug Doctor from Home Depot and started shampooing. Starting with the driver's footwell I was already seeing an impressive improvement:

The passenger footwell looked good too, and I was amazed at how clean it looks from the back:

I washed the center console in my sink and let the seats dry out a bit, then put everything back together. The seats could have gotten a bit cleaner, but I think without adding some kind of steam or heat I'm not gonna do much better. Still, it's a 25 year old truck and it looks great!

 

[reddeth]

As a quick little project this tab was broken on my right-rear window switch:

So I drew up and 3d printed a little "extension" that could be glued in to retain the switch. It worked amazingly well!

FIXED!

Now I just gotta figure out why the window itself doesn't roll down!

 

[reddeth]

One of the things I noticed when changing the oil was the grease zerk fittings on the drive shaft. I didn't have a grease gun so I put it off till I could run to Harbor Freight to grab one. Once acquired I set about greasing all the fittings I could see... and immediately noticed a TON of play in the output shaft of the transfer case. Great.

Here's the video of me showing the problem:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pMVjZMUkH4

I tightened and re-staked the nut. My fingers were crossed the entire test-drive after that it didn't trash the bearing or the seal, but so far at least it seems to be holding!

And the great news is that it almost entirely fixed the driveline vibration! There's still some there, but I bet that some new u-joints are in order for the drive shaft. Either way it probably needs some new bushings and mounts to really smooth things out. All projects for another day.

With that I took care of a few other small things, I added a couple horsepower:

Changed the fuel filter (look at this old one, it was stamped '98, it hasn't been changed for a hot minute)

Repaired a bad EGR valve with a 10k resistor. Changed the fluid in the differentials (the transfer case was filled with ATF, that's not normal, right? ). Changed the transmission fluid (well, drain and fill, I'll probably do a filter swap at some point). Probably a few other things I'm forgetting.

The truck needs brakes up front pretty bad, they squeal almost constantly. A new air filter and wiper blades are in the mail, and I have the wiring to hook up my head unit this weekend. Hopefully I can get some cheap speakers to fix the blown out ones as well.

Anywho, that catches up on all the work I did over the past week! I'll add anything fun or exciting that gets done in here Short term plans (aside from the maintenance items) are a roof rack and maybe some new lights. I'm not sure that I'll go very nuts with mods, I need this to - first and foremost - be a decent driver when the weather isn't good enough to ride my motorcycles!

 

[RonJR]

Changed the fluid in the differentials (the transfer case was filled with ATF, that's not normal, right? )

I believe in the later 2nd gens the transfer case shares fluid with the automatic transmission. Not 100% sure, since I have a manual, but seems like that's what I've heard.

 

[reddeth]

I believe in the later 2nd gens the transfer case shares fluid with the automatic transmission. Not 100% sure, since I have a manual, but seems like that's what I've heard.

Man am I glad you said that! I searched a bit and found plenty explaining exactly that. Wish I'd gotten factory manual with the truck, I'll have to find one on eBay. Will be draining and refilling the transfer case with ATF tonight. Do I need to worry about the transmission itself?

 

[RonJR]

Try this link 90-95 Toyota 4Runner FSM - YotaTech Forums

While you're at it, check out 86-95 Trucks & 4Runners - YotaTech Forums. I think the yotatech forum is the best one out there for maintaining and restoring 2nd gen 4runners.

 

[reddeth]

Try this link 90-95 Toyota 4Runner FSM - YotaTech Forums

While you're at it, check out 86-95 Trucks & 4Runners - YotaTech Forums. I think the yotatech forum is the best one out there for maintaining and restoring 2nd gen 4runners.

Many thanks for the links! I'll get those downloaded and bookmarked.

On that note, got the gear oil drained from the transfer case and filled back up with ATF as per the manual. I'll probably drain and fill it (and the transmission) again in a few weeks.

Otherwise, I got a new toy! A cheap USB endoscope camera off Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071HYRPND

While a little tricky to set up, it works pretty well once running! I immediately set out looking for my coolant leak. Apologies for the poor pictures, but I'm pretty certain I'm pointing at the freeze plug that's just above the oil cooler. It's caked in some pretty nasty looking goop. The outlet fitting for the coolant (to the oil cooler) is similarly covered in grossness.

Looks like stop leak as best I can tell. Looks like the leak is just coming out of the hose, hoping it's fairly easy to get tightened back up!

 

[Dropzone]

With that I took care of a few other small things, I added a couple horsepower:

... maybe some new lights.

I'm not sure that I'll go very nuts with mods, I need this to - first and foremost - be a decent driver ..!

Where did you find the sticker? I like that!

Not sure what new lights you mean but if you want a great set of headlights try these:
DEPO Crystal Chrome Headlights + Corner Lights For 1992-1995 Toyota 4Runner | eBay

a little pricey but after trying a couple sets of used housings these were well worth the money! they have a great pattern and after a couple of years (or so) no fogging etc whatsoever

Modifying: Good luck with that one! the keep it to a minimum has never lasted me very long:bounce:

 

[reddeth]

The sticker is from Overland Nomad: 3.Slow Gang Sticker (Free Shipping ) | Overland Nomad He was great about shipping out the sticker fast and my only complaint is that I didn't think to order two

I like those headlights, I'll have to keep an eye on them. I need to get the brakes fixed first!

 

[ivbyiv]

That interior is mint tho!

 

[reddeth]

Finally, I get to see what she can do!

A friend of mine took me up a fairly easy pass not too far outside Denver (Argentine Pass, outside Georgetown). The 4runner did fantastic and didn't miss a beat. Honestly the drive up I-70 was more terrifying.

His third gen was an amazing lead and it was a blast.

All in all the truck was great and I had more issues with the highway drive out there than I did on the trail. There's some sorta vibration at highway speed I'd really like to find the cause of, even if it's not something I gotta fix.

 

[reddeth]

Quick question on oil pressure, this isn't too low, is it?

I know at idle the oil pressure drops a bit but it was regularly below the lower line, at some points on the trail today it was halfway in the lower zone.

My idle is a little low, I plan to bump it up after a quick check for vacuum leaks. I just wanna make sure the engine isn't being starved.

 

[VeryWell]

Idle oil pressure

I enjoyed reading through your thread and just took this picture on my lunch break. It’s a rebuilt engine that I just finished dropping in a couple months ago, but it hasn’t been driven yet (clutch issues) but this is the pressure I got while it was cold and at idle. I don’t know too much about cars yet so I don’t know if oil temp will have an effect on the pressure (although I’d assume hot oil would have a higher pressure) but hopefully this gives you a baseline to work with. Let me know if you want a pic of it warmed up at idle

 

[reddeth]

So I haven't been on the forum much but I've been doing a few little things to the truck, including a full front brake job, with some old brake fluid that REALLY looks like it hasn't been changed since the truck was new:



Once the brakes were sorted I cleaned up and painted the mirrors and door handles, and removed the chrome wheel arch trim. Less chrome = better



Finally I made a discovery that blew my mind! These terrible little Toyota logo badges on the lugnut covers are actually just stickers



So I cleaned them really well (uhh, I actually ran them through the dishwasher >_> ) then filled in the embossed text as well as I could with some Testers (the model company) enamel paint (some satin cherry color, I think)



Once the paint had cured a bit I attacked the face with some wet sandpaper till the edges around the letters got cleaned up:



Really happy with how they turned out! It's not perfect but once you get a few feet away you can't even tell.

I was also able to score a roof rack off a 3rd gen, I'm still looking for another one to cut down the rails (and make a full length rack), but I'm hoping I can delete the 3rd brake light and get a full length basket installed pretty soon!