Burnt1

Hey everyone, my first post and my first 4Runner. I?ve been trolling the boards for about a month now, and have learned quite a bit. You guys rock.

I just bought a new to me 4Runner, and had a few questions. First off, it?s a 1996 dark green limited with e-locker, and rocking 145k. All in all the entire ride is sweet, the front leather seats are a little worn, but no rips. The outside is pristine with a few really really minor scratches. The engine sounds and runs very smooth, and the tranny doesn?t seem to have a hitch either ( Tranny fluid was slightly brown in the center of the paper towel with lots of red bleed off). All the power motors run smooth and strong.

So far I love this ride, and hope to get another 100k out of her without any real problems. From what I?ve read on here it definitely seems possible. I?ve read about the milkshake tranny thing and plan to keep a close eye on the radiator.

OK, so now for my problems and questions.

1. It needs an alignment. It pulls slightly to the left and the steering wheel is about a degree or two to the right when driving straight. I plan on taking it to the stealership unless you guys give me a better suggestion.

2. I took it to the local river access point to test out 4wd. Buried my self in some rocks until the rear end was skipping and then I and let her rip in 4-hi. Needless to say I wasn?t losing traction anymore. I did panic and started to think my e-locker didn?t work, but after searching the forums here I found a thing or two. I haven?t got to test it yet, but I think it should be fine once I am in the proper gear.

Now, ever since I put in 4wd, I have been hearing a metallic clank or clink sound from both the left and right front tires whenever I hit the slightest vibration. Like cowbells or pieces of iron are the best way I can describe the sound. It?s not very loud, as I can only hear it with the windows rolled down. Tried to search and found some stuff about CV boots (mine are perfect).

3. When I turn the key to ?acc? after about 1.5 seconds I hear a fairly loud mechanical noise from under the hood. Sounds like a pump or actuator or something?

4. The shift indicator on the gauge cluster does not work. Every thing else on the cluster works fine. I found something about a neutral/park switch, but I don?t think that applies to me. My shifter works without a hitch, there just no indicator lights on the dash.

Well that about sums it up. Sorry for the long winded post, I just wanted to get everything in on one shot. Any help or suggestions for anything above are much appreciated. Thanks for reading.

unitofstuff

Did you check out the sway bar and endlinks? The endlinks aren't hard to break at all, especially if they have 145k miles of rust on them.

Congrats on the new truck.

CJM

1. Go to an alignment shop, a place that only does alignments-stealer is $$$
2. E locker only works when you turn it on and in 4hi. Are you sure 4wd is disengaged, might have rocks int he brakes too..
3. Thats the fuel pump priming
4. Lights burnt out..

misterzee

Congrats, sounds like you got one sweet ride there! I have exactly the same thing but in RED.
I guess you figured out that the ELocker only kicks in when you are in 4W LOW.
If you dont have any service records, change ALL the fluids, coolant, AT, Xfer, diffs, etc. Make sure you know whether the timing belt was done at 60k, and again at 120k give or take a few thousand.
I have never seen a shifter indicator in the dash, and I'm on my 4th third-gen runner. You have to look down at the shifter. There IS an indicator light for 4WD, and DIFF LOCK.
A good shop can do an alignment, doesn't have to be the DS.
Noise under the hood? Lift it, listen. :-) Mine gives a little "burp" when it sits... I suppose that's evap emission stuff.

Burnt1

Haven't checked those, but I do remember reading something about that now. I'm kinda a newb, I'm not sure which ones they are, but I am sure I can figure it out. Is this a critical replacement, and is it costly?

Thanks for the congrats.

1. OK thanks
2. I read on here that it was 4lo. If it is 4hi then that concerns me, thats what i tried it in. Although I don't think I ever gave it a chance to engage either.
3. Should it be noticeably loud?
4. Is that hard to fix? any tutorials around? edit.... OK so I guess there wasn't one to begin with.

Thanks for the help

Corey

iTrader: (1)

Indeed it is 4low, unless you do the hack job.

Welcome to YotaTech Burnt.

SLC97SR5

-4-Lo for the Diff-Lock to operate and it does need a few seconds to actuate, you can help it engage by creeping forward and turning the front wheels fom side to side--especially if it wasn't used by the PO.

-The noise under the hood is the ABS unit pre-charging, this is normal.

-I assume you mean the 4WD shift indicator, probably just a burnt bulb.

-The clankning could be endlinks but more likely is slightly tweaked dustshields for the front rotors. you can manipulate these with your hands and some pliers to pry them out of contact with other components.