The 3rd Gen All Questions Allowed Thread

[I❤️4runners]

Hey guys. I need your wisdom. I just had a new set of 33" BFGs put on my 3rd gen, I replaced the LBJ's and out tie rods and took it to the alignment shop to get everything straightened up. Everything was fine and dandy until about 2 days after I had the alignment done, the truck started pulling slightly to the right when I was driving, even though the steering wheel was nice and straight and everything was in line, and the steering wheel shakes from about 45-50mph then goes away around 60mph.

Then I noticed yesterday morning that there was a little spot of oil under the truck. I've know my valve cover gaskets have been leaking a little bit for a while and I often get little oil drips here and there. However, upon closer inspection, I found that the oil spot wasn't motor oil but power steering fluid. Checked my fluid level and I'm a little low but nothing to be concerned about. Inspected the the steering rack and it's covered in yucky oil/road grime goop but it's always been that way, I assumed because of my leaking valve covers slowly dripping oil down around the front diff and steering rack. But now I'm wondering if it's because my steering rack is going bad and leaking. I do have a fair amount of play in the steering wheel but I'm not hearing any grinding or whining noise when I turn and the wheel doesn't feel like its binding up or anything.

So I'm just kind of wondering if anyone has had the symptoms before and found the steering rack to be the culprit. If it need's to replaced I'll do it I'd just rather hear what you guys have to say about it before I drop $700 on a new rack. Thanks guys!

 

[clearock]

Hey there guys,

I recently pulled a e-locker rear end off this guys rolled 3rd gen so I can swap it over to my 1998 2WD. I've been taking notes / part #'s of things I want to replace. One of the things I want to replace is the sensor that sits on top of the 3rd member. It looks like a knock sensor for the engine. It's the switch / sensor that tells the computer that the e-locker if it is on or off. I asked my local Toyota dealer guy for the part number and he provided #84222-12010 saying that it is the right one I am looking for From what it seems like, the same switch is used also on the transfer case as the 4WD switch. I was going to just buy an aftermarket dorman switch since it's not a crucial part & it's easy to replace if it ends up being no good, so no need to shell 88 for an OEM one, yet.... My question is should I be fine just using the 4WD switch for my e locker. The switches look identical and they are both 2 prong switches.

If u dont mind doing a little wiring the ones that come on the Tcase with a plug/wires can b used or vise versa

 

[MtnGoat9]

Those were super useful, thanks again. Got at least 4 options.

That said, a dumb question...when the spring specs say 2in lift or whatever, is that 2in higher than stock? I'm assuming so for now, back to level ..plus 2".

I took the plunge and ordered the OME 928(?) 3” lift springs

Surprised how easy installing them was. Love the clearance and load capacity, went to Idaho fully packed and did some pretty foul roads up some big peaks. Didn’t touch bottom on anything even once.

However it’s definitely more lively and can sway on the highway I guess due to the high rate and lift.

My toy guru says it’s because the ends of the rear bar are no longer parallel to the road surface and I’m feeling ‘rear steer’ from the geometry change.

So I guess I need to order the right link extensions to get the bar geometry back to where it should be? Should I change rear shocks while I’m under there? The stock ones are extended farther now for sure

 

[barbie.the.runner]

hey guys, new to the forum and new to owning a 3rd gen sr5 4runner. Not sure how to post on here quite yet.

I am needing to replace my clutch and not sure how to go about finding parts, I've searched everywhere for 4x4 compatible clutch kits and for some reason can't find one. Not going to do any crazy rock climbing or anything yet, so just wanting a standard replacement. Any recomendations?

thank y'all

------------------
1997 4Runner SR5 3.4L V6 manual

 

[the-_-stig]

P0300 Problem Solving

Hello, my 98 4Runner (27500 mi) has been having some issues sputtering on and off for the past 2 months as I continue to try and troubleshoot it. It’s only shown a CEL a couple of those times and I got P0300, P0306. I was hoping there might be some experience out there to help isolate what’s wrong.


I replaced the muffler on my 4Runner and because of how bad the corrosion was I also had to replace the O2 sensors (Bosch 13104). Had no issues for about 200 miles, then I started to get some pretty intense sputtering. When it was low RPMs, when I was accelerating heavily, and it would get slightly better when the car warmed up. I replaced the spark plugs and cleaned some of the fuel system. I thought I’d found the cure, drove it 300 miles before it came back. This time only after the car warmed up when I was doing heavy acceleration. Reading into things I thought maybe my O2 sensors were faulty and swapped them with the OEM (Denso 234-4154). This has not helped much and now I get slightly more frequent sputtering and when sitting idle at a stop light it will do a small shutter every 30 seconds or so.

My plan forward would be to do the wires and maybe the coils (Denso 673-1201/671-6182). If that doesn’t fix things it seems like the fuel injectors might also cause this issue, but that seems like quite the project. Please offer any advice or tips? Appreciate any help!

 

[Twisted Sid]

Hello, my 98 4Runner (27500 mi) has been having some issues sputtering on and off for the past 2 months as I continue to try and troubleshoot it. It’s only shown a CEL a couple of those times and I got P0300, P0306. I was hoping there might be some experience out there to help isolate what’s wrong.


I replaced the muffler on my 4Runner and because of how bad the corrosion was I also had to replace the O2 sensors (Bosch 13104). Had no issues for about 200 miles, then I started to get some pretty intense sputtering. When it was low RPMs, when I was accelerating heavily, and it would get slightly better when the car warmed up. I replaced the spark plugs and cleaned some of the fuel system. I thought I’d found the cure, drove it 300 miles before it came back. This time only after the car warmed up when I was doing heavy acceleration. Reading into things I thought maybe my O2 sensors were faulty and swapped them with the OEM (Denso 234-4154). This has not helped much and now I get slightly more frequent sputtering and when sitting idle at a stop light it will do a small shutter every 30 seconds or so.

My plan forward would be to do the wires and maybe the coils (Denso 673-1201/671-6182). If that doesn’t fix things it seems like the fuel injectors might also cause this issue, but that seems like quite the project. Please offer any advice or tips? Appreciate any help!

Before you replace your coils, swap the back one around to a different cylinder and see if the code follows that coil. I'd also do new spark plugs if you're going to do wires and boots.

 

[TheDurk]

hey guys, new to the forum and new to owning a 3rd gen sr5 4runner. Not sure how to post on here quite yet.

I am needing to replace my clutch and not sure how to go about finding parts, I've searched everywhere for 4x4 compatible clutch kits and for some reason can't find one. Not going to do any crazy rock climbing or anything yet, so just wanting a standard replacement. Any recomendations?

thank y'all

------------------
1997 4Runner SR5 3.4L V6 manual

Clutch Kit- Toyota V6 3.4L 5VZ-FE 4runner, T100, Tacoma & Tundra OEM Aisin Clutch Kit (1994-2004) CKT-040

Aisin is the supplier of the factory clutches. The CKT-040 kit contains:

Pressure Plate
Friction Disc
Release Bearing (Throw-out Bearing)
Pilot Bearing
Alignment Tool

 

[Cmdr.Minion]

A340F Transfer Case Question

Hello all, have a 99 TR4 and have a quick question.

Transmission is going out. I have a replacement transmission from a 2002 TR4 that's all wheel drive. Can I remove the transfer case from the the 99 and mate it to the 2002 and not have to worry about anything while putting it back into the 99?

 

[Riao1000]

When putting truck in 4wd the truck seems will not move

2001 4Runner sport
When putting truck in 4wd the truck will not move almost like it is in neutral. The front driveshaft however, rotates at engine speed (speeds up when reved). I have searched for a topic on this specific issue and have not seen anything about this. Any help would be great.

 

[Bad Luck]

Hello all, have a 99 TR4 and have a quick question.

Transmission is going out. I have a replacement transmission from a 2002 TR4 that's all wheel drive. Can I remove the transfer case from the the 99 and mate it to the 2002 and not have to worry about anything while putting it back into the 99?

The 2002 transmission doesn't have the provisions for the line pressure cable (incorrectly referred to as the shift cable). Apart from that the transfer case will bolt up.

2001 4Runner sport
When putting truck in 4wd the truck will not move almost like it is in neutral. The front driveshaft however, rotates at engine speed (speeds up when reved). I have searched for a topic on this specific issue and have not seen anything about this. Any help would be great.

Sounds like there's a problem with your transfer case internally. Front and rear outputs should spin together at the same speed when in 4HI locked or 4Lo.

 

[Silver.T4R]

Hoping someone with some more knowledge on head rebuilds/replacing head gaskets can chime in on this one.

I picked up a 00' w/ a supercharger and 220k miles with a blown head gasket last Thursday and just got around to doing a compression test on it. PO took it to a shop, who diagnosed cylinder #3 as having 50psi of compression (cylinder with leaking gasket). Today when I did the test, my numbers came out as follows. I got the engine to operating temp, pulled efi fuse, cranked 6 times, and repeated twice.
Cylinder 1: 135
Cylinder 2: 158
Cylinder 3: 130
Cylinder 4: 130
Cylinder 5: 149
Cylinder 6: 149

What I'm confused about is why my numbers would be so far off from what the shop recorded cylinder number 3's compression at. Also, a few other questions:

1: To me the compression numbers seem pretty low for 220k and the engine feels "tires" when driving it, though of course it runs rough from the faulty head gasket. Does this seem like it could just need the valves adjusted while the heads are off? 220k seems a little soon for valves to cause poor compression but I may be wrong.

2: I realize cylinder 3 & 4 are outliers and quite a bit lower than the rest, but I thought the numbers would vary more drastically on the cylinder with a blown gasket?

3: Tieing into question 1, are valves adjusted by a machine shop when the heads are decked? Or is that a process I'd need to go through in addition to doing the gasket? (I haven't done any research on this, so I apologize if this is a dumb question).

4: Does this motor seem worth doing a head gasket on based off the compression test or would it make more sense just to throw in another motor? I can adjust valves if it seems likely that those are an issue, but I don't want to rebuild the bottom end of the rings themselves are worn this badly. I was planning on throwing the supercharger on my own truck, but if they wear out the bottom end enough to give these kinds of compression numbers it would make me second guess things.

Thanks everyone, I know this subject has been somewhat beat to death, but want to better understand things as I've only done major maintenance items like timing belt, steering rack ect. and have never done something as involved as this project would be.

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[Hainoi]

I just purchased a ‘97 sr5 the other day and it came with a moon mist leather interior is this rare?

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[Outtatyme]

Hello to all part of this amazing forum for Toyota’s! Well I just bought a 1997 Toyota 4-Runner which was running really great, but I realized that the lighter port wasn’t working so I thought I’d check every fuse which were all good so rather than test light troubleshooting it further, I just went to Walmart and bought a lighter port so I could finally use it to charge my phone and what not but I wired it too quickly and connected the positive wire directly into the wiper fuse and grounded the negative wire to a #10 bolt underneath the steering wheel. It was working fine until the exposed positive wire fell on top of the exposed grounded metal from the emergency brake in the middle console and shorted something out! No visible fuses were burned so I’m guessing that I shorted out a ground somewhere and now the dashboard lights are off and the truck won’t start and now I’m just stuck somewhere sitting!!! Anyone please advise me what I need to do to get squared away?! Please n thanks in advance!

 

[OpenYota]

For those that have replaced their LCAs, did you go the used route then put fresh bushings in?

I don’t have the tools/skills to do a replacement of both arms and was planning to bring full LCAs to my mechanic with fresh bushings in to swap out and hopefully save on some labour costs.

There are some decent condition used arms on eBay that I could purchase for around $80 each and put new whiteline bushings in.

If anyone went this same route please let me know if it was successful

 

[DJRodriguez88]

5vzfe Heads

How tall/thick are the heads? I remember reading somewhere that someone posted the thickness of a head so that you can measure a used head and know how much, if any, was milled off of it.

I know the fsm only talks about straightness but doesn't give measurements for starting thickness or minimum thickness

 

[bcarpent10]

No Crank No Turn No Nothin

Hey y'all, I have a 98 Runner and I'm having quite the struggle trying to troubleshoot this thing and figure out why it won't start. I was just driving it and stopped to get gas and of course as I start it to leave the gas station it won't turn over, even though I've got full power inside my car (lights turn on, automatic locks work, windows, a/c, radio) but when I try to turn it there's no noise, nothing even trying to start the engine it seems like. My connections are nice & tight however, I'm thinking the post terminal connections aren't getting enough power to the battery because the wires are dirty or worn but I'm not sure. I've had this problem in the past and I replaced the starter thinking it was the issue but the only thing that solved it and was able to get my car started was scrubbing & lubricating the terminal connectors, but that is not doing the trick this time around. I'm stumped and ready to tow this thing to a mechanic. Any sort of suggestions or help that you may think could get this thing started would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Spiker Engineering]

Can anyone confirm the correct upstream O2 sensor for my '97 3.4 4WD automatic, AC emissions? I'm about to buy a replacement Denso sensor, and I'm seeing a PN 234-4162. What's throwing me off is that I bought a Denso sensor for the same location about 5 years ago, and at that time the PN was supposedly 234-4138. But now I can't find any reference to this PN. From what I can see, 234-4138 was not the correct PN for my truck (?).

Is 234-4162 correct?

 

[Cookie1498]

2002 limited. Good fuel pressure out of tank (42-48psi). Engine starts and shuts off within a few seconds. Regulator or injectors? Or is there something else stopping fuel flow? Thanks for any help.

 

[spartacus]

Can anyone confirm the correct upstream O2 sensor for my '97 3.4 4WD automatic, AC emissions? I'm about to buy a replacement Denso sensor, and I'm seeing a PN 234-4162. What's throwing me off is that I bought a Denso sensor for the same location about 5 years ago, and at that time the PN was supposedly 234-4138. But now I can't find any reference to this PN. From what I can see, 234-4138 was not the correct PN for my truck (?).

Is 234-4162 correct?

I've had the 234-- 4162 installed in my 2000 federal emissions truck since 2015.

 

[Spiker Engineering]

I've had the 234-- 4162 installed in my 2000 federal emissions truck since 2015.

Awesome, thanks for confirming!