When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Just bought a 85 from a old guy at my hunt club for $500. I witnessed it run a year ago but it's been sitting for a while. Now he said it won't start. I'm going down to pick it up hopefully this weekend. Any advice and any suggestions on where to find some interior parts would be greatly appreciated.
MY OPINION: DON'T TOUCH THE INTERIOR UNTIL YOU'VE GOT IT RUNNING GOOD, GOT THE BRAKES ALL THE WAY TO THE GOOD, AND YOU'VE REPLACED ANY STEERING OR SUSPENSION PARTS.
If you want OEM interior stuff, buy from a yard or members here with good ratings. The good folks on yotatech tend to do right by each other. I know I try to.
Haven't started replacing anything yet. Going on get it to the house and work on getting it started first (gas,carb,ignition. Then brakes and go from there. Any helpful hints onot things to look for would help.
Sweet deal on the truck. If it ran that recently, i would check fluids, drain gas, change fuel filter, and hit it. May want to pull the plugs and see if it turns by the crank before hitting the starter. Ive had valves stuck after sitting for too long.
Problems with any vehicle that sits for a long time is that seals dry up and parts get sticky. So keep an eye on it for a few weeks after you get it running.
General rule of thumb, anything 10+ years old keep a good eye on the oil level etc lol.
Very basics (without going into exact details), crank, start but instant die is generally mass air flow meter (on air box), igniter, or sometimes wiring (rarely of what I've found).
Computers can go bad, quick simple test that isn't 100% perfect is to turn the key on, check engine light should come on, if not, wiring or computer is junk. Light on doesn't mean it's good, just it passed it's own power on tests.
No spark at all is between distributor (the sensors inside), igniter, coil, or computer (see above).
I've only ran into a couple of bad computers, both were caused from rotted out fenders and winter salt water getting in the electronics.
For the interior stuff, like it was said above, get it running/driving before you sink money into it, but assuming things go well, The passenger side dash pad is the hard one to find for cheap. There is a for sale thread I saw a pretty nice one on for $45 which is a steal, in good shape they tend to run $200-450 on ebay. Bucket seats are somewhat uncommon and with them comes the shifter plastic surround trim. I see some wiring hanging (looks like dome light wire), is the headliner trashed? That's another semi hard to get part, atleast for online.
An interior upgrade is the dash clock (the block out next to the heater controls kick out, and the wire etc is already there). I see it has AC and power steering and the tilt wheel. I'd guess it's a DLX truck, or maybe a SR5. Speaking of SR5, that's another upgrade, the gauge cluster with tach which is often called the SR5 gauge cluster. Not all trucks are wired for it though, so might have to run a rpm signal wire, and have to change out the oil sending unit due to changing from a light to an analog meter.
Another "upgrade" if you want to call it that is the vent windows for the doors. I'm pretty positive you can get the mirror + frame and bolt it right into your doors. The door panel and outer window seals are different though. Cheapest is to get a donor door.
The carb isn't the factory unit. I don't know enough about the aftermarkets to identify them.
You pretty much stole the truck, they sell around here for $1000 no questions asked for parts trucks. Front axle alone runs around $400-500.
Not to do a sales pitch, but I do have a fair share of this era of pickup (body/interior wise). Shoot me a pm once you get her running and such with a list of parts you're looking for and I'll see what I can dig up.
If you are towing it home I'd hit a self service car wash on the way home and clean the engine bay and the whole exterior. Cover the carb with a plastic bag and don't get water inside it. It'll make it more pleasant to work on to leave some of that grease. That truck looks like it's in good shape beneath.
I've read a lot about the flat towing problems, and Toyota does not recommend it at all, but I've towed a lot of pickups on a car dolly, and transmission neutral, transfer case 2wd has worked very well for me. Most I end up driving and never noticed any extra slop or anything like that. One of the pickups I grabbed was from Texas, and it was flat towed between Michigan and Texas several times in its life before the guy rolled it. It shifts and operates great and they never removed the drive shaft. I used to pull them on everything I got, now I keep speeds 55mph or slower. In 2wd, the transfer case should be spinning all the guts so it should be fine, the area of concern is the actual transmission. While it's in neutral, the gear set doesn't turn in the fluid to lubricate. I suspect they turn a little from basic friction and maybe that's why I've been lucky. I do watch temps fairly closely, I've had one with a bad axle seal (well the bearing was race to race) and got hot enough to smoke a little. Ended up towing it backwards on the dolly, which nullifies the whole drive shaft pulling issue, just leave the front hubs unlocked, put the wheels stright, throw the seat belt though the steering wheel (for safty) and latch it, pull the key and lock the steering wheel.
Also post a pic of the silver plate under the hood, or write down the numbers. Don't need the vin, but if you post the model number, and the numbers along the bottom, we can tell you the exact trim package (Std, DLX, or SR5) from the model number, and axle gear ratio and which trans you have from the other numbers. Should be something like G292 W56.
Thanks guys for all the help. I will be towing it on a double axel trailer so no drive shafts worries. Also I do plan on giving her ass a good degreasing/ washing. As for the headliner, a picture speaks a thousand words.....lol
Looks easy enough to get this beast going and look pretty good (to my standards atleast), head liner, passenger dash pad (if it bothers you), keep the seat covers on (or replace the seat cushion) and get her running and driving and have a blast =). Only part that is missing is the dome light cover, I got one of them. I also had a brown (well tan) head liner for an xtra cab, but I have a local buying it to cut down for a standard cab. He has a gray dash, so maybe he will want the gray one out of the truck I've just picked up, if not, you want gray instead of tan?
Well I got her picked up and gave her a quick spray down. The clutch was stiff as ˟˟˟˟ for the first time or two then it worked fine. Put a battery in it and put a bottle fed gas hook up to the Webber carburetor and ran it for about 15 min then the fuel pump started pumping gas out the line. Shut her down and rehooked up the line and she ran pretty good. Took her for spin around the yard and she ran a little rought when I was done. But she smoothed out. So I guess their is a little trash in the tank so I'll drain that next I guess.
Yea I'd agree with draining the gas and putting in fresh. There is a drain plug on the gas tank I'm pretty sure, pretty nice detail Toyota did on these.
Had that more than once. Bought a truck as an 86 and as I was loading it, I was like wow this is an odd one, the interior is this that and the other different, center caps different etc. Checked the date on the cab and it was OCT 1986... so it's a 1987 model year which was my first one, all 8 or so others I've bought were 86.
Had that more than once. Bought a truck as an 86 and as I was loading it, I was like wow this is an odd one, the interior is this that and the other different, center caps different etc. Checked the date on the cab and it was OCT 1986... so it's a 1987 model year which was my first one, all 8 or so others I've bought were 86.
I was wanting a 84 so it worked out. Wanted that factory straight axle.
03-28-2017, 05:46 PM
