Taking care of a high-mileage 4Runner

[MrWhite96]

So my brother has a '96 4Runner, and it's got 202K on it. I drove it for five years and took very good care of it during that time, but I was wondering if anyone had any advice about how to keep it running well and prolong the life of the engine and tranny.

Some questions in particular are:

Should he put a higher octane fuel in it? He's currently using 87 octane.

What's a good wax to use on a 10-year-old 4Runner?

How do we keep the rust on the rear chrome bumper from spreading? This is the third Runner my family has had with chrome bumpers and the 2nd generation ones were notorius for rusting near the tailpipe. But the '96 had no rust until my brother neglected to wash the car frequently enough during the winter last year and I'm thinking the road salt sped up the process. Is rust inevitable (like with the 2nd generation Runnenrs) or would replacing the bumper fix the problem?

Any other tips? We live in the mountains at ~4000 feet so the car isn't always on relatively flat roads.

Thanks!

 

[MARSHALLMAY]

no, higher octane is not needed, especially in high altitude. Oil companies attatch wrods like "premium" and "v-power" to higher octane fuels to make them seem like they're higher quality. They arent. Just higher octane, and higher octane is best run in high compression engines. A 4runner with over 200k has probably lost some compression so go with low octane.

Good ol turtle wax paste and some elbow grease should be good.

If you want to fix the rust problem, you'll need a new bumper.

 

[RunnerUp]

in the owners manual it says to run 89 in the v6, and ive done that since i bought the truck. everyonce in awhile my local gas station has premium for 1cent more than 89 so i fill up with that, but unless you have FI then 89 should be all you ever need.

you should prob. switch to synthetic oils

if it already has alot of rust then go ahead and replace it and tell your brother to washt hat salt off ASAP over the winter

i use zymol on my truck, there are a few expensive wax's out there like zaino and pinnicle, just depends on what fits your pocket and how often you want to wax it. any oxidation and other problems usually require specific waxes

if you want to get a little more get up and go in the mountains fix your engines breathing (headers/exhaust/intake) or supercharge it