What Did You Do To Your 3rd Gen Today?
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Endlessblockades
Senior Member
Welcome aboard - cool runnins!
Maddaximus
New member
Hello everyone, yesterday I purchased my first 4Runner. A ‘99 SR5 V6 with 218,000 miles on it. The dealership said they purchased it from CarMax. What maintenance should I do before just driving it all the time. It looks all original.
congrats. here's my path to sanity, more or less in the order i've done things:
oil, oil filter, air filter. top off PS fluid and any others that are obviously low. don't mix coolant types.
when you have time, and sooner the better, drain and refill the front and rear diffs, transfer case and transmission. drain and refill the PS fluid, perform full coolant flush. grease the driveshaft(s) / propeller joints. new spark plugs and spark plug wires. new PCV valve.
check for uneven tire wear, drifting or vibrations. if present, address via alignment, tire rotation, new tires, or more-involved steps such as replacing inner and outer tie rods. sway bar end links or at least their bushings should probably be replaced if they look crappy or have excessive play.
put new OEM LBJs on. if 5spd and it's needed, replace master and slave cylinders.
if braking is a nightmare, consider TBU mod, but at least replace pads and properly bed them.
if handling is iffy or you have some horrid-sounding clunks either when turning or when you hit a bump or pothole, replace shocks in pairs. if tracking seems fiddly, alignment may be the culprit, and it could also be rear control arm bushings.
check all exterior and interior indicator and instrument panel lights; if found to be nonworking or defective, repair or replace. if you use the parking brake and it's loose (as in, it needs lots of clicks to actuate, or doesn't ever work right), have it adjusted or the rear brakes adjusted or replaced.
if AT, plan for and complete a radiator replacement to avoid the strawberry milkshake.
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Brian.
Member
My path is the link in my sig.
The 2 MOST important things are lower ball joints (wheel will fall off, yes, seriously) and the radiator (known to fail and mix the coolant and trans fluid, destroying the transmission).
Past that, ALL fluids is a good starting point. Then normal maintenance items. Then rubber items (hoses and bushings).
dannance34
New member
Sorry, no pics yet. got the roof rack and moon roof visor off and saw that the drain plugs were clogged, and went down the rabbit hole of clearing those out, then a deep clean of the headliner, then the seats, carpets, etc. Glad there was great info on this forum to remedy.
She's going in for an all over paint job. I've got the typical Evergreen Pearl clear coat delamination. Will try to post in process pics if I'm able to get them from the shop.
96 ToyRunner
Member
Third times the charms ..replace my heater control have but this time with a denso at 349,967 also picked up Yakima load warrior roof basket at a yard sale with hardware for $40 then installed a light bar on it
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sean.turner.1238
New member
Drained and refilled my front and rear diffs with Valvoline 75W-90 to the proper capacity. The oil in there looked like it hasn't been changed in AT LEAST 70K. In the first pic, you can see where I wiped off some of the nasty crud from the end of the front drain bolt. I made sure to wipe out the groove inside bolt. You can see a there are a couple of metal pieces stuck to the magnet still. I made sure to get those off too. I also replaced the washers and torqued everything to the proper spec. I managed to avoid stripping out those front bolts. The lower bolt seemed to be very tight, even after using PB blaster. Definitely tighter than the 20ft-lbs specified in the service manual. All is well though. Next is to do a pan drop and full flush of the transmission.
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WhatThePuck
New member
Reattached the roof rack after a little paint and mounting the gas can holder. next part of it is to mount my traction boards to it with a little ghetto-rigging. it'll be sturdy af though. Need to replace headlights back to original, remove the spare tire from under the rear (I have the new spare in the cabin). Small items and then I think it will be done...for now. I'm heading to Moab in a couple weeks for its maiden voyage so that'll be fun 
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Albertaktm
New member
Cleaned them ash tray
Bud4me0007
New member
Just put on my 4xinnovation bumper with swing out this past week. Need to put on the jack on and spare tire.
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Bud4me0007
New member
Modified the cb antenna mount to work with the 4x Innovations bumper.
I like your bumper man. I have the same one Do you have lift jack mount? I can't figure out how to mount the jack.
potatofries
Member
Have this same horrid clunking at low speeds. Am replacing shocks and springs and sway bar bushings. Hope one of these is the culprit.
potatofries
Member
Removed and cleaned MAF sensor. 15 minute job (other than waiting for it to dry)
Thanks. I did not get the hi lift jack mount with it because i wasnt planning on running one, sticking with a bottle jack i guess. Still only have the stock one, need to make adapters for it or something.
do you mean adapters to get the stock to lift higher...I was looking into something when I did my 3 inch lift but did not get any as I dont have that 3 inch lift right now...but maybe again soon with a 2 inch..........something like these
Bottle Jack Accessories – Safe Jack
or these
Jack Adapters - Land Cruiser Products - LCP
otherwise I just carry around a piece of 4x4....
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Bud4me0007
New member
OK thanks..
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