Spinnbait

There's no other vehicle that I have owned and have trusted more to get me from point A to Z. Headed back-country camping this weekend and she'll take care of us once again.

ewong

Do not drive that 4Runner.
I'll be right over to relieve you of your misery



1989 Gen1 4Runner - 355K...

BluYot

I used to worry the same..went through major post purchase dissonance with my truck. I work in the bush so a reliable truck is essential...it left me stranded twice and both were my fault. After I bought it I never checked the plugs/wires and all that...long story short couldn't start it, borrowed co. truck to get home, bought new plugs, wires and cap and fired up no prob (plugs were rusted to s*#t no wonder). Other time similar thing...wouldn't start thought it was starter so replaced it(turns out it would have been fine), checked all connections replaced any corroded wires, still nothing...stupid stupid me, cleaned the crap out of the batt. terminal and ta-da!...that also fixed my wonky idle. Lesson learned to start with the small/simple things and be thorough! Been running like a champ ever since and recently did a compression test and it was 170psi all four cyl compared to the 172-175 stock..pretty good for an engine with 323,000kms. Maybe do a compession check and put your mind at ease..at least that way you can plan for the future and not worry about your engine...and if you are still worried I'll take that heavy burden off you.

Sonofmayhem

Well if you are asking you shouldn't be owning a toyota. Simple enough, toyota IS the longest lasting, most durable car on the road, chevy, dodge, and ford are liars, I hope they are only talking about domestics on those damn commercials.

GV27

Heck son, I BOUGHT my 4Runner with the same miles as yours! 4 years and 30k-odd miles and not a SINGLE problem (aside from the F'N power windows - the bane of my existence and Achilles-heal of every car I've had equipped with them. But I digress). I put a radiator in it because the original had a pinhole in it and I got one cheap. Other than that I changed plugs, filters, fluids, etc when I bought it and have just done engine oil changes since. It's time to change out the brake fluid and it's coming up on clutch, timing belt and diff/tranny oil changes in the next year or so......otherwise it basically runs like new.

curly_c

i think the only thing that is not reliable on a toyota is the freakin HORN. i think its ingrained in the toyota DNA to stop working.

Mattabilly

My current Toyota has the highest miles of anything I've owned (154,XXX.) I trust it more than any I've owned. Although I do miss my '84 4WD Xtra cab, my brother has it now still has only 85,000 original miles!

notanymore

my truck( not quite a 4runner but close enough) has 272k on it and i just had to rebuild it recently( like less than 1k miles ago) and i know several people with 200k+ on theirs so you will be fine as long as you keep up on regular maintenance

Jay351

question is... do you really want that wimpy horn to work?

I was gonna see if I could splice in a horn from a f-150 or somthing.

dlbrunner

Toyotas are like fine wine, they get better with age.

YotaTwist

There is no other truck when it comes to Toytoa's. You can beat that thing to ☺☺☺☺ an it will keep going if you take care of that. I have leared that one..lol

91muddog

train horn


i trust any toyota more than any other car.

Slashdawg

My 92 Runner has 148K mi. I bought it last summer. I changed out all of the wires, rotor, belt etc. Tranny fluid, master cyl. New brakes + bleeded system. She runs great Point is... all this stuff wore out! It did not brake. Toyotas suck for horse power but make up for it in dependability. My runner is a "NEW CLASSIC" OHV!

leebee

the biggest mistake i ever made was getting rid of my 86 runner. it had 430,000+ kms on it, started every day. i was at least the 3rd owner, i met the original owner and he said the truck never let him down.

unfortunately, the rust was more than i could repair. that always seems to get vehicles from areas that use salt in the winter. i would love to get my hands on another 1st gen, 22re 5spd!

get your hands dirty and do the maintenance and upgrades yourself. its easier than you think not to mention, the self satisfaction youll get once the job is complete.

lee

Robrt32

Mine had 200 and something when the odometer quit working.. That was a cuple years ago.. My horn don't work either

tombothetominator

my 91 3.0 has ~220K miles on it and runs great (and has been for the 4 years that i have owned it). As stated: it is all in the maintenance: if you do it the truck with last a LONG time; if you dont - it wont.

Hella supertones fixed my ailing horn problem.

jay33

My 89 has 226k on it and I think it is one of the best driving and most dependable trucks I have ever been in.

littlerunner

303,000 on 91 4runner,just got engine put back in after rebuild.wouldn't have bothered but it burned a valve(imagine that on a 3.0)148k miles is nothing.keep on truckin

pruney81

Let's put it this way. A few years ago when I lived out in Northern California I bought an 87 4runner 22re 5 spd. with 197k miles on it for $1900. All I did was change the oil and put 31" mud tires and some rancho add a leafs on it. In the summer I drove from Cali to Texas then back to Cali: 4k miles. Then I Drove from Cali to Massachusetts then back to Cali: 6k miles. I lived way out in the sticks and had a two mile backwoods dirt road. Then in the fall I drove from Cali to Montana : 2300 miles round trip. I then sold it for $3000 with 214k miles on it. Old Toyotas are like tractors, they are are indestructible IF they have not been neglected. Keep it and enjoy it man. I miss mine. I now have a 95 4Runner 3.0 Auto limited. It runs well and it's comfortable and the ladies like it but it just doesn't feel as solid as my 87 was. I wish I had kept it.

GV27

http://www.hornblasters.com/