Mountain Cop

"It's best to have failure happen early in life. It wakes up the Phoenix bird in you so you rise from the ashes." -Anne Baxter

My wife's aunt has had an 86 4runner for many years. It has been cared for, maintained, and has carried her over many states and many years. I have tried to purchase it in the past, but she continued to use it. Last Friday night I had a dream. My dream involved an oak tree falling on the 4runner.

The next morning I heard that there had been a fire in the barn that the 4runner was usually parked in. Nobody was hurt, but the truck had seen better days. I immediately drove over to check on the car (and dog, people... etc, but this is a toyota site). There was carnage, but there was not destruction. The car will undoubtedly be totaled. It is, after all, 24 years old. Some parts are no longer there. Others appear to be some sort of modern art project. Still others appear to only be affected by the sands of time and the wear and tear of adventures past. Still hope springs up.

The car's faithful owner admitted to having no plans to rehabilitate her wayward steed. I volunteered to take on the task of nursing the vehicle back to health. The offer was gladly accepted.

The insurance adjuster will be out tomorrow to take a look and give a verdict. From the point of the car being totalled, I will make my attempt to purchase it back from the insurance company. From there, I drop a battery and windshield into it and start removing the melted bits. I have no aspirations for a "full restoration." Rather, the goal is to make a decent four season adventure and trail stomping rig, which might also haul a bit of firewood and take the dogs to the lake and the vet.

But, you wanted to see pics, didn't you?

AWorth

Wow.. that sucks, hope you can bring her back to life, good luck to ya

BigBluePile

iTrader: (3)

Epic build thread!

murdarunna19

thats pretty cool but what a bummer to have happen in the first place

StangBanger

Thank god the top was on and windows were closed.. it could have been way worse..

MaK92-4RnR

that corner light looks like melted cheese... thats insane.

eighty5yota

yikes!! vinyl headliner

DRO85SR5

dude that sucks house fires blow but atleast no one was hurt , cant wait to see the 4 season mobber

kiyobrown

Wow, I teared up just a little looking at the sad pics. Reminds me how I felt when I walked out of work and my 88 4Runner was stolen.

Good luck with the rehab, look forward to seeing more pics.

MaK92-4RnR

where in california did this burn up?

Mountain Cop

Hopefully it will look pretty destroyed to the insurance guy! The less I have to spend to buy it, the more I can spend on fun stuff. So far, I know I will need new corner markers, tail light lenses, front turn signals, a battery, side mirrors and a windshield. The grill is shot, but is a bit lower on my priority list. I'm sure other stuff will come up as I scrape away the ash and clean the thing up.

The headliner is now a seat cover. I didn't need that anyway. Hopefully I will know for sure today that it is totaled.

toyospearo

WOW!
Doesn't look like a total loss at all. A little love will bring it back.
Would be a great build thread.

malteserunner

iTrader: (1)

Looks like fun. Keep us posted. Let me know if you need some glass, I've got some spares lying around.

Mountain Cop

Thanks dude! The only glass that went on it was the windshield, so unless you have on of those lying around, I should be good.

I talked to the owner today. Their homeowner's insurance guy came out, but mentioned that he thought their auto insurance should cover it under "collision". They are going to try to fight that (due to the lack of any such "collision"). In all reality, though, it doesn't matter to me WHO totals it... or doesn't. The owner said that it was mine either way.

Does anyone have opinions about battery brands? Since that is the first thing that I am going to replace for sure, I might as well get it right. My dad has tail light lenses for me. They are off a truck of the same year, but it is the same lens, right?

I am thinking over how to handle the front blinkers. Having two sets of amber lights seems a little superfluous.

My goal is to get it to fire on Saturday.

Thanks for the replies! I'll be sure to document this experience as I go and will certainly be picking your collective brain for advice.

MC

malteserunner

iTrader: (1)

Pun intended??

I don't have a spare windshield, sorry. As far as batteries go, I'd spring for an Optima if I were you. The taillights on the Pickups are different than 4Runners iirc. Best of luck. We'll be ready to share our knowledge when you need it.

Mountain Cop

Not intended, but noticed and allowed

No worries. I was counting on buying a new one anyway. The price is right for the lenses, so if they don't work, I'll just give them back. The front ones are worse than the rears anyhow.

Thanks again for your help.

Romix

That is a real shame.
It reminds me of that show Top Gear on the BBC where they set that truck on fire and it still ran. Anyone seen that toyota segment?
Good luck with this runner, it's still a champion.

Mountain Cop

"I have not failed- I have found 10,000 ways that do not work" -Thomas Edison

I haven't actually found that many ways that do not work. I found some things out though. I found that one of the fuses in the fuse block was extremely brittle, as well as stuck. I will likely end up bypassing that (now broken) fuse and putting one inline. I found that the battery in the truck was very dead. I found that the battery that I brought with me was also dead. It is now on the charger. I unplugged the front lights and found that there were some shorts in the wires. I examined the computer and found that it didn't appear to have endured much heat.

I then ran out of light.

Hopefully, tomorrow I will have a full battery and can go take another shot at it. I also need to find a fuse block diagram. Anyone have one or have a link to one?

malteserunner

iTrader: (1)

Dave can get you a schematic from All-Data at his shop. You can also download an FSM here.

aviator

Actually it does'nt look all that bad... a few plastic bits got a little melted is all... and they are all available from yards or aftermarket at reasonable prices... a full resto to factory new sweetness is very possible...
try a small needle nose pliers and some LPS or WD40 to get that broken fuse out.