New 2nd Gen 4Runner Owner
08-05-2010, 08:10 AM
#1
Registered User
Thread Starter
New 2nd Gen 4Runner Owner
I am a new to the club, and pretty happy to be here. I guess I should give a little background first. I have been a GO FAST car/truck guy for a long time, and always do the majority of the work on all of my vehicles. I just started Dave Ramsey's financial peace program two months ago so I decided to sell my baby a SVT Ford Lightning to get away from the payments.
I am over the hot rod go fast cars and have always wanted something fun that can go off road as well. Well yesterday I drove 230 Miles to pick up my first Toyota 4Runner SR5 with the 3.SLOW (def a huge change from my 495hp 11 sec Lightning
) but I own it 100% and it feels great!
The 4Runner has 130K and the previous owner is a mechanic, he just pulled the heads replaced the head gaskets, timing belt, water pump, did a valve job (shimmed) decked the heads etc. Runs great & slow but I can live with it.
Oh I should also add there is almost ZERO rust just some little spots above the spare on the cross member.
I am over the hot rod go fast cars and have always wanted something fun that can go off road as well. Well yesterday I drove 230 Miles to pick up my first Toyota 4Runner SR5 with the 3.SLOW (def a huge change from my 495hp 11 sec Lightning
) but I own it 100% and it feels great!The 4Runner has 130K and the previous owner is a mechanic, he just pulled the heads replaced the head gaskets, timing belt, water pump, did a valve job (shimmed) decked the heads etc. Runs great & slow but I can live with it.
Oh I should also add there is almost ZERO rust just some little spots above the spare on the cross member.
Last edited by LifterCatcher; 08-05-2010 at 08:11 AM.
08-05-2010, 09:17 AM
#3
Registered User
Sweet ride! What year is it? I drive the pickup & don't know the year/grill configurations on the 4Runners.
As you probably know, the 3VZE has some vulnerability to head gasket failure, mainly around cylinder 6 where the passenger side exhaust crossover runs into the driver side manifold (flowing opposite to the driver side exhaust - a brilliant design). That causes cyl 6 to get hot, and the poor block/head design of that cyl (and cyl 1, which is a mirror image) results in a lot of head gasket failures in that area. It's a combination of iron block and aluminum head, and aluminum expands much more from heat than the iron, resulting in movement over the gasket and also in the aluminum head squishing the gasket extra flat when hot, then shrinking back when cool, leading to minute gaps. Also the distance between one of the water galleries and the cylinder is very short on cyls 6 and 1.
There are some things you can do to lessen the risk. The best thing, which also may reduce the annoyance of the big drop in power you've suffered, is to install a set of Doug Thorley Ceramic or LC Engineering headers. That's the best single mod you can make to this motor. Noticeable boost in power and much less heat stress on cyl 6. Finish with a Magnaflow cat and 2.25" cat-back exhaust and a Borla Turbo muffler and you'll reap the max benefits available on the exhaust side. See this thread: https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...xhaust-192629/
Another thing to watch is your coolant. On my 89 truck I replaced the toyota red coolant with prestone green, not knowing any better. Unfortunately, I didn't do a real good job flushing the red out, and the two coolants are incompatible. The phosphates in the red remaining in the heater core & pockets in the block must have reacted with the silicates in the prestone, neutralizing some of them. I think I used tap water too, another no-no, and the minerals in that would have neutralized more of the silicates. Anyway, a year later, long before the 2 year life-span of the prestone was up, I opened the radiator cap one day to find the coolant completely orange/brown with rust. Can't tell you how much my heart sank, seeing that. I took it to a local shop to have them use their flushing machine to get as much rust out as possible. They told me they were flushing it almost the whole afternoon, the equivalent to something like 6 flushes, and still not 100% of the rust was gone. They refilled with prestone and one month later - the coolant was again completely rusty. I flushed and refilled with prestone and another month later - yeah, rust. By that time I had read about toyota red and gave it a try. It did MUCH better with the rusty block, and it took a year before the red got as rusty as the prestone did in a month. Unfortunately, also about that time I found some rust on the #1 spark plug and found compression low on that cyl. When I got the heads off I found the steel fire ring on cyl 1 was badly rusted, no doubt leading to the head gasket failure. So, moral of the story, never mix different coolant types and always use distilled water. That means making your last flush with distilled, since a fair amount of coolant remains in the heater core and in some pockets in the block. Also be sure to flush the plastic overflow tank. I recommend using toyota red coolant. It's primary corrosion inhibitor is sodium benzoate, an organic acid that is WAY better at inhibiting rust than prestone. Don't use other HOAT or OAT type coolants since most of them corrode the lead solder in your radiator and heater core. And be sure to change the coolant every two years & use only distilled water. This post has some more info on coolants: https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...nt-faq-192781/
Another thing you can do to prevent head gasket failure is to make sure your EGR system is working properly. It keeps combustion temps down - to reduce NOX formation, but it also protects your head gasket & exhaust valves and helps prevent pinging. It doesn't operate at or near full throttle so it has NO effect on power, and it improves gas mileage slightly at cruise. Check that the iron EGR tube is hot where it goes into plenum when motor is at operating temp and is at ~2500 rpm. If not hot, pull the vacuum tube off the EGR valve (still at 2500 rpm) and check tube for vacuum with finger. If there is vacuum, probably clogged EGR tubes or valve. If no vacuum, could be bad EGR VSV, bad or clogged EGR modulator (try blowing filter out with compressed air per fsm), or maybe the vacuum tubes got misrouted at some point.
It's good that the PO adjusted the valves. The exhaust valves tend to stretch on this motor, closing up the clearance and if neglected, causing them to no longer close fully and to burn shortly thereafter. That job should be done every 70-80k or so. (Some folks adjust the valves when they change the timing belt at 70k miles.) Adjusting the valves on this motor is an annoying job - you have to pull the plenum and the tool to depress the lifter doesn't work very well. It helps a great deal to have another set of hands. http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/sh...19#post3137919
You can find links to online factory manuals here:
http://www.ncttora.com/fsm/index.html
http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/sh...44&postcount=2
http://www.the-roo.com/4runner/
This thread has quite a lot of info that may be helpful: http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/sh...d.php?t=309179
Good luck with your new ride and welcome to the forum.
As you probably know, the 3VZE has some vulnerability to head gasket failure, mainly around cylinder 6 where the passenger side exhaust crossover runs into the driver side manifold (flowing opposite to the driver side exhaust - a brilliant design). That causes cyl 6 to get hot, and the poor block/head design of that cyl (and cyl 1, which is a mirror image) results in a lot of head gasket failures in that area. It's a combination of iron block and aluminum head, and aluminum expands much more from heat than the iron, resulting in movement over the gasket and also in the aluminum head squishing the gasket extra flat when hot, then shrinking back when cool, leading to minute gaps. Also the distance between one of the water galleries and the cylinder is very short on cyls 6 and 1.
There are some things you can do to lessen the risk. The best thing, which also may reduce the annoyance of the big drop in power you've suffered, is to install a set of Doug Thorley Ceramic or LC Engineering headers. That's the best single mod you can make to this motor. Noticeable boost in power and much less heat stress on cyl 6. Finish with a Magnaflow cat and 2.25" cat-back exhaust and a Borla Turbo muffler and you'll reap the max benefits available on the exhaust side. See this thread: https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...xhaust-192629/
Another thing to watch is your coolant. On my 89 truck I replaced the toyota red coolant with prestone green, not knowing any better. Unfortunately, I didn't do a real good job flushing the red out, and the two coolants are incompatible. The phosphates in the red remaining in the heater core & pockets in the block must have reacted with the silicates in the prestone, neutralizing some of them. I think I used tap water too, another no-no, and the minerals in that would have neutralized more of the silicates. Anyway, a year later, long before the 2 year life-span of the prestone was up, I opened the radiator cap one day to find the coolant completely orange/brown with rust. Can't tell you how much my heart sank, seeing that. I took it to a local shop to have them use their flushing machine to get as much rust out as possible. They told me they were flushing it almost the whole afternoon, the equivalent to something like 6 flushes, and still not 100% of the rust was gone. They refilled with prestone and one month later - the coolant was again completely rusty. I flushed and refilled with prestone and another month later - yeah, rust. By that time I had read about toyota red and gave it a try. It did MUCH better with the rusty block, and it took a year before the red got as rusty as the prestone did in a month. Unfortunately, also about that time I found some rust on the #1 spark plug and found compression low on that cyl. When I got the heads off I found the steel fire ring on cyl 1 was badly rusted, no doubt leading to the head gasket failure. So, moral of the story, never mix different coolant types and always use distilled water. That means making your last flush with distilled, since a fair amount of coolant remains in the heater core and in some pockets in the block. Also be sure to flush the plastic overflow tank. I recommend using toyota red coolant. It's primary corrosion inhibitor is sodium benzoate, an organic acid that is WAY better at inhibiting rust than prestone. Don't use other HOAT or OAT type coolants since most of them corrode the lead solder in your radiator and heater core. And be sure to change the coolant every two years & use only distilled water. This post has some more info on coolants: https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...nt-faq-192781/
Another thing you can do to prevent head gasket failure is to make sure your EGR system is working properly. It keeps combustion temps down - to reduce NOX formation, but it also protects your head gasket & exhaust valves and helps prevent pinging. It doesn't operate at or near full throttle so it has NO effect on power, and it improves gas mileage slightly at cruise. Check that the iron EGR tube is hot where it goes into plenum when motor is at operating temp and is at ~2500 rpm. If not hot, pull the vacuum tube off the EGR valve (still at 2500 rpm) and check tube for vacuum with finger. If there is vacuum, probably clogged EGR tubes or valve. If no vacuum, could be bad EGR VSV, bad or clogged EGR modulator (try blowing filter out with compressed air per fsm), or maybe the vacuum tubes got misrouted at some point.
It's good that the PO adjusted the valves. The exhaust valves tend to stretch on this motor, closing up the clearance and if neglected, causing them to no longer close fully and to burn shortly thereafter. That job should be done every 70-80k or so. (Some folks adjust the valves when they change the timing belt at 70k miles.) Adjusting the valves on this motor is an annoying job - you have to pull the plenum and the tool to depress the lifter doesn't work very well. It helps a great deal to have another set of hands. http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/sh...19#post3137919
You can find links to online factory manuals here:
http://www.ncttora.com/fsm/index.html
http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/sh...44&postcount=2
http://www.the-roo.com/4runner/
This thread has quite a lot of info that may be helpful: http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/sh...d.php?t=309179
Good luck with your new ride and welcome to the forum.
08-05-2010, 10:04 AM
#5
Registered User
orrr...instead of spending $650 on headers.
you can ditch the stock crossover and do a full custom exhaust from the manifolds back.
just make sure the passenger side exhaust bank ties into the driver side BEFORE the O2 sensor(s).
and who's 1st gen 4runner is that in the background of the second pic?
you can ditch the stock crossover and do a full custom exhaust from the manifolds back.
just make sure the passenger side exhaust bank ties into the driver side BEFORE the O2 sensor(s).
and who's 1st gen 4runner is that in the background of the second pic?
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08-05-2010, 03:36 PM
#8
Registered User
its either a 92 - 93. It has no rear brake light, nor does it have TOYOTA down on the grill. 
for those who dont know much about 2nd gen 4runners...
90-91 had the TOYOTA on the grill and the tire swing out. Also came as a 2 door
92-93 modernized Toyota symbol, no brake light, and no swing out.
94-95 same toyota symbol on the grill, brake light, no swing out, also came as a limited edition in 95 with LIMITED on the doors.
for those who dont know much about 2nd gen 4runners...
90-91 had the TOYOTA on the grill and the tire swing out. Also came as a 2 door
92-93 modernized Toyota symbol, no brake light, and no swing out.
94-95 same toyota symbol on the grill, brake light, no swing out, also came as a limited edition in 95 with LIMITED on the doors.
08-05-2010, 09:32 PM
#10
Registered User
Thread Starter
Thanks and @sb5walker EPIC reply thank you so much.
of course I have tons of ideas running through my head. The inside is a little ruff so I plan to tackle it first. I want to get a dash rug for it and thinking of pulling out the seats and carpet and herculining it.
They guy I bought the 4Runner from owns the 1st gen.
Thanks for the warm welcome guys.
Chris
of course I have tons of ideas running through my head. The inside is a little ruff so I plan to tackle it first. I want to get a dash rug for it and thinking of pulling out the seats and carpet and herculining it.
orrr...instead of spending $650 on headers.
you can ditch the stock crossover and do a full custom exhaust from the manifolds back.
just make sure the passenger side exhaust bank ties into the driver side BEFORE the O2 sensor(s).
and who's 1st gen 4runner is that in the background of the second pic?
you can ditch the stock crossover and do a full custom exhaust from the manifolds back.
just make sure the passenger side exhaust bank ties into the driver side BEFORE the O2 sensor(s).
and who's 1st gen 4runner is that in the background of the second pic?
Thanks for the warm welcome guys.
Chris
08-06-2010, 05:20 AM
#12
those are period 93-94 graphics. Welcome! just as i did, you will find a wealth of information on here. the knowledge base is like no other. a lot of respected members on here own 2nd Gens.
08-06-2010, 12:49 PM
#13
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