worth it to fix? or just a must go??

[amandarose]

I recently bought a 93 4runner. The guy I bought it from ripped me off a bit by not honestly saying what was wrong with the car. First mistake was getting it checked out after I bought it, but when it was checked out showed rod nock in engine, numerous oil leaks, coolant leaks, seals broken, pumps leaking, timing belt soaked with oil, and a few more things.

Is it worth it to put in a new engine? Go after the guy for some money back? Just sell it and take a loss?????????

 

[KidVermicious]

Maybe, no, probably not.

What did you pay for it? How much will your mechanic charge you to repair it or put a junkyard motor in? What shape is the truck in other than the bad motor? How good is your lawyer? How bad do you want to keep the truck, and how much can you sell it for? Do you have money to burn or are you broke?

 

[amandarose]

I paid 2000 for it, that was most of the money that i had saved up to buy a car. The body and interior of the car are pretty good. The outside looks awesome and I think that's one thing that distracted me. The interior is pretty good too. I don't have a lawyer and don't really want to go that route, but maybe a threat would do to get some of my money back. The oil leaks are pretty bad. Looking at the bottom of the car, the left side is pretty drippy with oil. There are lots of other little problems too. If the engine wasn't bad, then it would be possible to fix all the little things. also when 4x4 was tried, it's didn't properly engage and couldn't even get up my driveway.

 

[92-SR5]

I doubt a lawyer/letter would do anything to get your money back. You bought it outright with no guarantees or warranty. Doesn't sound to me like anything illegal happened.
You didn't try the 4x4 or anything before you bought it? Did you open the hood and look prior?
What other things are wrong with it besides the engine?
If I were you, I'd just run it while saving up for a replacement, either junkyard or rebuilt.

 

[amandarose]

Front crank seal, rear main seak, rear output seal, timing belt oil soaked, transmission, cooler lines leaking, rear output seal,possible head gaskets. might be more trouble than it's worth to fix...
How much do you think i could get for it in a re-sell? Obviously not what I paid for it, but what's realistic?

 

[77'911]

If it's really clean and rust free, probably worth putting a motor in. It depends on your situation and a number of other factors (ceteris paribus). Rust free chassis for a 2nd gen is getting hard to come by. If you can find a decent used motor, swapping them out is not too bad. Getting a lawyer involved will just flush more $$ down the toilet. Used car, is a used car(no warranties, etc).
If it makes you feel better, I bought an old BMW (1995) a couple years back which has easily gone through 5k in parts alone. Having said that, once you get the vehicle straightened out, you know what you have and it's right for a long time.
regards

 

[UteRunner]

:iagree:
I bought my '87 knowing it had issues, but I've learned a ton from being forced to fix it.
If you fix it, you'll know what's good. If you dump it and get another used car you take the same risk as before, though probably with a more critical eye.

 

[95MillenniumFalcon]

I bought my '95 about 3 weeks ago for $3k and have put about $2k in repairs to get the vehicle I want. It has about 130,000 miles on it. My mechanic said do you want to make it "good enough" or do you plan on owning this for a while? I took a little while to decide but came to the conclusion that I can put some money into the vehicle and get the 4Runner I want. Hopefully this vehicle will be around for a while and provide many more enjoyable miles.

The repairs......so far are:
Replaced brakes, bearings, rotors, etc.
Tune-up
New timing belt and water pump
All new gaskets
New radiator
Runs awesome now (ran pretty good before)

So, I've dropped about 5k on this vehicle (including the sale price) and I'm probably not done as I will be doing some cosmetic stuff. To me though it's all worth it as Im so glad to be driving around in the vehicle.

 

[BucknutBob]

Forget the lawyer--unfortunately, you ate the loss when you bought without checking first. There's no law against a seller making a killing if they didn't offer any warranty. Like the saying goes, "Buyer Beware". As for the truck, selling with a hosed engine will take a chunk out of the price, so you might as well fix it if the rest is quite good.

 

[RiFF RaFF]

Agreed.

I love my 93, and even if the engine went south I'd still pay the bucks to fix it right.

If your engine is bad - eat the loss, and upgrade to a more potent power plant.

:surfer:

 

[92-SR5]

If it's really clean and rust free, probably worth putting a motor in. It depends on your situation and a number of other factors (ceteris paribus). Rust free chassis for a 2nd gen is getting hard to come by. If you can find a decent used motor, swapping them out is not too bad. Getting a lawyer involved will just flush more $$ down the toilet. Used car, is a used car(no warranties, etc).
If it makes you feel better, I bought an old BMW (1995) a couple years back which has easily gone through 5k in parts alone. Having said that, once you get the vehicle straightened out, you know what you have and it's right for a long time.
regards

You know what BMW stands for right? Big money waster. haha sorry, I had to. :heh:

 

[cdthiker]

I think this is really going to depend on what your money situation is....

ANY car will run as long as you spend money, you are never going to NOT fix thing unless you buy a brand new car and then you have a payment.... and things still break.... cars cons $$$$$ end of story

at the end of the day a 2 k car is almost always going to need work, if you drop a few thousand into it now say another three k then you will have a fairly solid rig 4x4 for five thousand thats not too shabby of a deal, it sucks but I bet you would not get more then a grand for it in its current state, unless you find some one who does not know what theya re looking at......

so sell it and perhaps get back a thousand bucks, or spend money.......

if it was me.... try and find a decent 3.4 in good shape, and find a good shop.


these old toyotas will run as long as you are willing to tinker and nickle and dime them along and at the end of the day, it is still cheaper then a car payment

I bought my 95 this summer and promptly dropped 1500 in to it to get it up to where I felt it needed to be in terms of a DD for around town and short trip and some light off roading, I then dumped almost another 1000 on tires

i bought it for 2300 with 174k on her so again for about 5 k, I now have a solid 4x4 rig that has a lot of life left in it. It still needs work and always will.

good luck

 

[KidVermicious]

cheaper then a car payment

This, I think, is the key point. You've already got two grand invested in it and will maybe get five hundred for selling it, so you can't afford to do that. Going into debt for another car is just throwing bad money after bad, so at this point I think you need to suck it up and get it fixed as you can afford it, and as cdthiker noted, it's still cheaper than maintaining a car note. Have your mechanic give you a list of needed repairs broken down by priority and cost so you can choose what to go after first, and once you know what's wrong you could maybe think about saving a dime and doing some of it yourself? Lots of guys on here willing to help out if you get stuck, I'm sure.

Luckily, if you're gonna buy a lemon and get stuck with it, you picked the right one. You're going to like that truck once you get her running right.

 

[95MillenniumFalcon]

You know what BMW stands for right? Big money waster. haha sorry, I had to. :heh:

Ha ha! So true. I just sold my M3 after the warranty/maintenance coverage expired. BMW Break My Wallet!

Love the 4Runner

 

[2ndGen4runner4x4]

I recently bought a 93 4runner. The guy I bought it from ripped me off a bit by not honestly saying what was wrong with the car.

Is it worth it to put in a new engine? Go after the guy for some money back? Just sell it and take a loss?????????

Same sorta thing happened to me when I bought my 95 2nd gen...

I have since...
- Installed a junkyard rear 3rd member
- Gone through and installed all new brakes
- Installed a big new heavy duty metal / brass radiator
- Replaced the engine with a remanufactured one
- Replaced the tranny/t-case with a low mileage unit not long after engine was done
- Lift, tires and wheels
- Had new hi-flow exhaust done
- All the little things, like roof rack, grill guard, etc...

When I purchased it, I thought "it's a Toyota and I'll never have to work on it". Boy was I wrong... I have well over $10k in it now.
It comes down to how much you really love your 4runner and want to keep it in the family.

 

[77'911]

You know what BMW stands for right? Big money waster. haha sorry, I had to. :heh:

No, it's " Break My Wallet". ; ) We've spent a fair bit on the 4runner's restoration as well over the years. The file of receipts is probably more then an 1 1/2 inches thick of parts receipts. It would definitely give the Bimmer a run for it's money. The 4runner's new factory rad was a whopper, and a BMW rad would cost less then a third of the Toyota's. Not all myth is true.
regards

 

[riverview]

I got my 92 3.0 liter gas 5 speed for building a dike for a guy it had a bad motor and had sat for 4 years. I bought a jdm engine for 1500 shipped and have put another 1500 in parts. I have put 10000 miles on it. it gets 17 to 20 mpg. I still to repair the rust (I hate body work) so if your body is decent I think it is worth it/

 

[amandarose]

Thanks for all the advice, this is really awesome. It's such a great car and the body is in really good condition. Seems a shame to have to get rid of it before I even get a chance to enjoy it!

 

[amandarose]

Any tips on the best places to find a not too badly used engine. Craig's list is always there ,but it's such a risk.

 

[2ndGen4runner4x4]

I got my reman 3VZ-E long block from JapanEngines.com for $1700 and I am happy with it so far. (7k miles later)

The Toyota 3VZ-E is the one Japanese engine that I would never buy used unless I just needed it for a good rebuildable core. I would at least install all new gaskets, especially the head gaskets, before installing a used unit.