Trying to figure out newly purchased 1992

C

calirider

New member
I got this 1992 from a tow yard so I have zero history on it. I know if came in to the yard on an impound and the person never picked it up. Carfax report shows the last reported mileage in 2007 at 177k and it is now showing 147k! I have checked most all fluids besides the rear diff and trans and they all look brand new. Also the heads look new to me. It leaks some oil but that could mainly be because I found a quart of 5w20 in the cargo area. It has a engine light on (14 & 25). I took some pictures under the hood, let me know what you guys think.
 
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bentos1 said:
"Trying to figure out newly purchased 1992"..
What exactly are you asking in this thread? Do you have any symptoms you are diagnosing? I looked at the codes here, Toyota 92-95 Pickup or 4Runner 3.0L or 93-94 T100 3.0L ? OBD/OBD2 Trouble Codes

14: Ignition reference signal -no signal
25: Mixture control -continuously lean

Can you explain this thread please?
Click to expand...

Mainly just trying to get some opinions on the look of the motor. I'm not knowledgeable when it comes to motors. Do those heads look new or is that just want these motors heads look like? Does the radiator look ok? Anything else people see that I don't that is either a red flag or positive. I'm trying to find clues if the top end was recently rebuilt. I got it for pretty cheap and I'm just deciding if I want to make it into a wheeler or get rid of it.
 
You cant really tell anything about the engine from looking at pics of it, aside from obvious leaks. A leak down test would verify the compression and give a good idea of its health, however it is a not a guarantee if it lasts 1 days or the next 10 years.
The rad looks like any other one on a 20+ year old truck. The master cylinder looks fine as well. But looks will not tell you the health of something.

Your truck will break and have problems, all Toyota's do, especially our old trucks. Any vehicle 20+ years old will have issues. I love my truck and just keep repairing things along the way and learning/researching/wrenching. I decided to become a engine guy/maintenance guy because I am too cheap to pay someone else to do it. I think you need put some though around what you will do when you need to repair/replace things on your truck. Do you want learn how to fix things yourself or are you prepared to pay a mechanic?

I say keep it and learn how to work on it, saves you $$$ and you will learn so much along the way.

Congrats on the new purchase
 
I have to follow bentos1's comments with the same. These things are great to learn about, work on, develop into something you want... or you get to a point and move on. I fixed up my first that I got similar to yours, from an impound lot for $500. I'm now onto my second one that I bought for double that from an owner. What I learned from the first one will greatly enhance what I'll do to the second one. Third? Who knows?

But... pictures can't lead to good evaluations. You're going to have to get dirty, learn some stuff, ask questions, find a friend that knows, whatever. If it runs now, that's a bonus! My opinion from your pics is that maybe it has had heads done recently to be that clean, but I wouldn't know without touching and seeing it up close.

Have fun, man! Glad to have you with the group!
 
It runs and drives fine everything works but for the cruise control. When rolling up to a stop and trying to down shift into 1st or 2nd it is stiff but will go into gear a lot easier if at a stop. It smells rich to me but the code it threw said it is lean, does lean have the same smell as rich? Not sure what's up with the engine light because it turned off when I drove it today.

I barrowed my friends gauge and did a compression check today. The odd side plugs look pretty bad and the #6 plug looked bad too. Compression looks fine:

4Runner Compression Check
1:120
2:110
3:120
4:115
5:120
6:115


 
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Try pulling up on the clutch pedal and see if the cruise works when you do that. It's a common problem for the return spring on the pedal assembly to not come up all the way with age.

There is little switch you can adjust to make the computer know the clutch is out.
 
Well, judging from the pictures, the engine has either been cleaned recently or the last person took really good care of it. My 89 Toy has the same engine, and it is no way nearly as clean and I try to maintain it. A good indication is the condition of the rubber and plastic pieces around the engine. If they are in good condition, then most likely the engine is as it seems. Of course, a compression test is key too!
 
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