RightYouAreKen's 2002 Sunfire SR5

[rightyouareken]

Hello all,

I'm excited to join the 4Runner club! I just picked up my clean 2002 4Runner SR5 on Friday from a great, local, original owner. It's got a low 164k miles on it, and is in really nice shape overall. A few bumps and bruises and some light wear, but is very sound fundamentally and looks fantastic from 10 feet. The original/previous owner took very good care of it and had it serviced extensively at local Toyota dealerships, including a timing belt/water pump change just a few hundred miles ago.

I'm new to 4Runner ownership but previously had a 2011 Tacoma TRD Sport Long Bed that I enjoyed, before we were forced to sell it to handle a larger travel trailer we bought. Ever since then I've missed driving a Toyota truck.

Add to that that I have two good buddies who have 3rd Gens (CBlock and RyanC) who let me drive and explore their 4Runners a bit to push me into wanting one for a while now.

The 4Runner joins a vehicle stable that also includes my garage queen 1998 E36 BMW M3 manual sedan, and my primary daily driver 2018 VW Golf R DSG. The 4Runner was purchased to be a part time daily driver, to be a general utility vehicle around town, and to be a light duty offroad exploration rig. I don't plan to do any hardcore rock crawling in it, but I'll probably slowly modify and improve it over time.

My M3

My Golf R

My old Tacoma

Here are a few pics after picking her up:

After picking up the 4Runner and getting emissions testing and registration changed over on Friday, I removed the Thule box and Yakima bars, and reinstalled the stock crossbars. I like their more low profile look, but the box might be useful in the future for camping and such.

Saturday I decided to remove the stock running boards on Saturday to avoid beating them up offroad. They came off super easily and are now safely tucked away in the garage.

That's some clean 17 year old hardware! I love the PNW...

Does this rust look bad?
Did I already say I love the PNW? :banplease:

Much better!

Ryan wasted no time getting me out off the pavement. We went up towards Mt Rainier to do some forest roads, but found too much snow...they are all still set up for Snowmobiling only Still, we had a bit of fun and got 2 cars unstuck who got in over their heads a bit.

Hope the snow melts soon and we can explore a bit more!

 

[Ryance39]

Great first post man!

Looking forward to seeing what you do with it. It is a super clean example.:cheers:

 

[Wedgy]

Nice truck and welcome !
I loved that show....

 

[rightyouareken]

Nice truck and welcome !
I loved that show....

:amen: One of the funniest I've ever seen.

 

[Jidaran]

you might want to put the running board hardware back on the body - it'll protect threads from rust in case you ever wanna put the boards back on.

beautiful truck you got there.

 

[Hepar]

Great purchase! That red really starts to stand out when you build it up... :biggrin2:

A friend of mine has a Golf R. Not sure I've ever driven a pound for pound more entertaining car.

 

[JohnMc]

That's some clean 17 year old hardware! I love the PNW...

Does this rust look bad?
Did I already say I love the PNW? :banplease:

Harumph! :rant: (posted from the rust belt)

 

[cblock406]

Looks super clean, can't wait to see it in person! FYI most of the pictures are down, maybe it's just my computer.

 

[rightyouareken]

Added a few new things to the truck today.

First, a nice suction cup Ram Mount for the cell phone for navigation usage primarily. Seems well made and the standard arm length puts the phone just perfectly right in front of the hazard button. From my seating position, it doesn't block nearly any visibility...95% of it's profile just blocks a view of the hood.

Next, I installed the Scangauge that I bought way back for my Tacoma about 8 years ago. Still works great and was able to easily set it up to display trans temp. I removed the ash tray and it's mounting bracket, and used the two factory screws to hold small 3" strips of metal that I cut, bent, and drilled a hole in for the screw. I attached the Scangauge using 3M command strips, trimmed down to fit. I really like the angle and position. I am currently displaying water temp, trans temp, intake air temp, and voltage.

 

[2ndhandyotaman]

Pics not working for me either.

 

[nwebb01]

Pics are not working for be either.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

 

[rightyouareken]

Sorry guys I'm trying to get them working. Not sure what's going on.

 

[ToyotaBrah]

M3 sedan, in manual, and not ravaged to crap like most. WANT. Sell to me!

 

[rightyouareken]

M3 sedan, in manual, and not ravaged to crap like most. WANT. Sell to me!

Thanks, she's my baby

I think I have the pics fixed now. Lemme know if you guys still arent seeing them!

 

[cblock406]

Pics are all good now. Got to check this out last weekend and it is very clean. I thought mine was clean but this is a definite step above. Well bought my friend!

 

[rightyouareken]

Pics are all good now. Got to check this out last weekend and it is very clean. I thought mine was clean but this is a definite step above. Well bought my friend!

Thanks sir! Glad you came by. I was able to do some good touch up on a few of the body dings and scratches. Paintscratch.com's color match was very good and it's looking even sharper now

I'm planning to do some preventative work on the cooling system this weekend. Got a new Toyota radiator, thermostat, radiator cap, and Aisin fan clutch coming. After hooking up the scan gauge the water temp is a bit higher than I'd prefer (195-205F) and my money is on the thermostat jiggle valve being at 12'oclock. I also did a few tests on my fan clutch it it's pretty weak at operating temp. Was planning on swapping the original radiator out anyway to head off pink milkshake syndrome so figured I'd toss in a few other new parts. It's already got a new water pump, upper and lower radiator hoses and fresh Toyota red in it from a dealer TB service so I should be good for years to come after tossing in these parts.

 

[rightyouareken]

Ever since installing my scangauge I haven't been totally pleased with the coolant temps I've been seeing. I was averaging in the 195-207*F range in normal in town and highway driving. Going up brief hills would see the temp increase by up to 10*F pretty quickly. Though the timing belt had been changed recently, the thermostat hadn't been replaced since 2008 at the previous timing belt replacement. It was done at a local Toyota dealer, and I was very suspicious that they'd installed the jiggle valve at 12 oclock instead of 6 oclock.

Also, I wanted to replace the original radiator (has 165k miles on it) as well as the original fan clutch. I'd done some tests on the fan clutch and it seem to pinwheel too easily at operating temp so I decided just to replace it while I was in there. Finally, I also wanted to do a trans fluid drain/fill since I was going to have to top off due to the fluid loss in the radiator anyway. It had been about 5 years since the last transmission drain/fill at the dealer by the PO, so I figured it was due.

For the radiator I decided to go with the Toyota supplied Denso "made in Taiwan" version since it's so reasonably priced. It seems like good quality and the fit was perfect.

I also went with the Aisin FCT-013 fan clutch.

First things, first, up on the Rhino Ramps and drain the coolant. It kinda splashed everywhere, but the bulk was captured in the drain pan. Kinda a shame since the coolant was only about 600 miles old, but oh well.

Radiator out! Hmm, that dirt couldn't have been good for airflow!

The Aisin FCT-013 appears identical to the original as I expected.

Now for the moment of truth...did the dealer install the thermostat correctly per the FSM? Of course not! They installed it with the jiggle valve at 12 oclock :ybrick:

So, new thermostat and gasket in, with the jiggle valve correctly positioned at 6 oclock.

New radiator in and connected. I decided to buy the Lisle Spill Free Funnel on the recommendation of a forum member to make burping the system easier. It worked great! Just fill it with water/coolant until it stops going in, then run the engine with the front and rear heaters on until the thermostat opens. Then run the engine, blipping the throttle until you no longer see any bubbles coming up. It took a good 20 minutes for me, and I found squeezing the upper radiator hose helped free a bunch of bubbles quickly. When done, it includes a stopper rod which lets you take the funnel and excess coolant off the radiator without a major spill and dump it back into another container for later use.

Made in Taiwan...oh well. I would have preferred the Made in Japan version, but decided for 3x the price it wasn't likely worth it.

All closed up, check for leaks, and time for a test drive!

Test drive results
In short, wonderful. Where previously I would cruise in town in the 195-200 range, and see peaks up to 205-207 on hills, today's test drive including highway and hills saw my temps pegged at 186 with brief fluctuations to 184-188. They appeared MUCH more stable and resistant to rise, and when they'd go up to 188 on a climb, they'd drop right back to 186 on flat roads. So happy with the results!

Also, the transmission seems to be shifting smoother after the drain/fill. I think because I was on ramps, I was able to drain 6qts out of the transmission and it was pretty dark in color. I used Valvoline MaxLife ATF and it seems fine so far. I'm definitely going to do another drain/fill at my next oil change in a few thousand miles.

All in all a very successful day! :banana:

 

[cblock406]

Looking good man! My temp stays right around 188 all the time too.

 

[phattyduck]

In short, wonderful. Where previously I would cruise in town in the 195-200 range, and see peaks up to 205-207 on hills, today's test drive including highway and hills saw my temps pegged at 186 with brief fluctuations to 184-188. They appeared MUCH more stable and resistant to rise, and when they'd go up to 188 on a climb, they'd drop right back to 186 on flat roads. So happy with the results!

That slight variation is totally normal - remember, the thermostat is controlling the *inlet* temperature to the motor (82*C/180*F) and the temp sensor is on the outlet of the motor. When you are on it, the coolant will be absorbing more heat from the engine.

As for the jiggle valve - glad to hear it. It is very understandable that mechanics would miss this. Basically every other engine is 12 o'clock for installation of the jiggle valve, so they wouldn't even look at a service manual for that step.

-Charlie

 

[rightyouareken]

Today I finally got some modern tunes in the 4runner. I particularly wanted a double din with a volume knob, no flashy graphics (wanted a more period correct look), adjustable lum color (this one is infinitely variable), bluetooth (of course) and HD Radio if possible. I found all of these in the Kenwood eXcelon DPX793BH head unit for only $179. It also has both a front and rear USB port, as well as a Qualcom aptX chip for increased bluetooth audio quality, for whatever that's worth. I doubt I'll be able to hear a difference but I'll take it. I installed it this morning with a plug and play wiring harness from Crutchfield that worked great. I also hooked up both the mast antenna and the diversity antenna using a Metra 40-UV43 Y adapter and a Scosche MDAB GM micro antenna adapter (for the smaller diversity antenna plug). Seems to work great so far.

The sound of this unit, even with the stock speakers, is sooooo much better than the factory head unit/amp. I can't believe how much more low/high end I'm getting actually. I also ordered some new 6 1/2" Kenwood seperates for the front doors and some 5 1/4" Kenwood coaxials for the rear doors that I'll be installing soon, so I can't wait to hear it with those installed.