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So i found 91 4runner for sale, in pretty damn good condition aesthetically. Its the 22RE, automatic, with 320k km (200,000 miles).
he's rebuilt the cylinder head, valve job, timing chain, new alternator, starter, radiator, brake master cylinder, battery, front tires.
Ive never owned an older 4runner, everyone alway talks about how their engines are tanks. Just kinda wanted peoples opinion on it, got a ton of miles on it but you think it'll hold out for another few years?
With it being an auto 22re it's going to be very slow.
Ive never driven the 22RE, gonna test drive it this weekend hopefully. how bad are they? typically Im not going to be towing with it, maybe some kayaks on the roof rack. Is the 3.0 much different/better? I've heard so much trash talk about the 3.0 being underpowered, but not much about the 2.4.
Bad enough there is plenty of info on 5 speed swaps. You don't have to be towing anything, just pulling itself along. Give it a good test drive and decide for yourself. One person it might be "plenty of power" another person not so much.
Well the 3.0 is 150HP I believe. And the 2.4 is 115-120ish I think. It's the auto that sucks the little power that they have.
theres a 92 5-speed standard 3.0 for sale as well, but its a 5 hour drive away from me so i can't really test drive it. its only got 120,000 km on it but i don't have any other info.....its also twice the price
theres a 92 5-speed standard 3.0 for sale as well, but its a 5 hour drive away from me so i can't really test drive it. its only got 120,000 km on it but i don't have any other info.....its also twice the price
Personally I would avoid the 3.0 engine. My old pickup was on its 4th one when I bought it with a blown head gasket at around 170k miles. I swapped in a 3.4
And my 4Runner is on its 2nd as far as I know and it's gunk, the 4Runner only has 173k miles on it. It will go under the knife soon.
The 22re's are overrated IMO.
Personally I would avoid the 3.0 engine. My old pickup was on its 4th one when I bought it with a blown head gasket at around 170k miles. I swapped in a 3.4
The 22re's are overrated IMO.
im not handy enough to engine swap so thats probably not really an option for me. Im basically trying to figure out which engine (2.4/3.0) will work for me and if its worth the money for the larger engine with less miles
it's not a "muscle car." But for me, it's more than enough. The good news is that you can tell for yourself in the first 4 minutes of a test drive.
I don't know a lot about 4runners; but that doesn't look like a factory color to me. (Also, pretty nice looking for the snow-belt.) You might ask about damage history. Not that it will be a deal breaker, but you want to know if you need to worry about a twisted frame.
An automatic behind a 22re is weak and not much better behind the 3.0. With it being the 4 door version I am sure it will be slower then the ones I have driven with the automatics. It does look like a nice truck, but these are 20 plus years old and I have yet to see one that has not been messed up in some way. Previous Owners do a lot of hack jobs with them. Great trucks but be prepared to do some work on them.
I guess to restate the question, if it was your call what would you do:
1991 22RE 4 seed auto with 320,000 km, replaced headers and a fair amount of bits and pieces replaced, or:
1992 3VZE 5 speed standard with 120,000 km nothing replaced, for twice the price
Depends a bit on what you mean by "twice the price". If it's $500 vs $1000 I'd go with the 3vze. If it's $3000 vs $6000 I'd probably go with the 22re, because $6K would be too much for almost any 1992 4runner.
However, in general I'd go with the lower mileage 3vze, assuming your OK with a manual, for several reasons.
- The 3vze with a manual will definitely out perform the 22re with an automatic
- I'd rather have a 120,000km vehicle than one with almost 3x the miles.
- I'd definitely rather have a vehicle that is largely in factory condition than one which has had who knows how many after-market mechanics mucking around in it. I'm not a big fan of buying someone else's repair work. It's almost impossible for anyone to duplicate the precision of the factory assembly processes.
- The head gasket risk isn't that much different with the 3vze vs the 22re, if you actually look at the statistics. They both had problems in those years. At that, though, you have considerably a better chance of not having a problem than of having one. Probably 90% of either engine never blew a gasket.
A 3.0 with the 5 speed makes a huge difference, same with a 22re. I like the 22re, but I personally think the 3.0 has less issues then the 22r motors if you get to looking at them. That will be getting into the 22r versus the 3.0 debate that is never ending.
I have bought some nice trucks in the past (23 and will be more in the future). Even paying good money for a nice truck, I have always had some kind of an issue with a 22re. I dont abuse mine and drive easy. Several issues are age related. They are easy to work on and reasonably inexpensive. Basic tools can do alot of the work on them.
It is hard to get one that is as good as when it left the factory. It is done in the best of conditions. Once they get owned by a few different owners, they really go down hill. I would rather have the one that is as close to stock as possible that no one has messed with and been taken care of the best.
I had a 91 runner with the 3.0 and a 5 speed in it. The 2nd gen runners are some great little trucks. I cant see the tag to see where it is from. Reason I sold mine was rusted frame and rusting thru the floor board. It was orginally from Minnesota when I got to looking into the history. I see snow in the picture so I would be aware of those issues.
ya fair enough. I dove the 22re last night and it was a little sluggish. nothing i couldn't live with. but it got me thinking that the 5spd 3.0 might be the way to go. this is her:
Looks nice on the pictures. Check carefully for rust. Not having the chrome trim around the wheel wells is a good thing in that regard. The chrome strips trap moisture and lead to premature rusting there.
What part of the country is this? I'm assuming somewhere in Canada since you're talking "mileage" in kilometers.
You can take the VIN to your Toyota dealer and have them run a "background check" with respect to the head gasket service bulletin and other recalls/service bulletins. Some dealers will still replace the HG if it hasn't been done.
What part of the country is this? I'm assuming somewhere in Canada since you're talking "mileage" in kilometers.
You can take the VIN to your Toyota dealer and have them run a "background check" with respect to the head gasket service bulletin and other recalls/service bulletins. Some dealers will still replace the HG if it hasn't been done.
haha yup I'm up in the great wide north, in the prairies. I definitely will check it out for rust when i get out there (eventually) - the engine pics look pretty clean.
Thats a good idea with the VIN I had not thought of that. Where will that be on the car? had some communication troubles with the seller so i might need to walk him through it.
EDIT - ahhh nevermind, just found it on the yotatech tools
It will also be on the seller's title and registration. Presumably he has those documents. (actually, it's always good to check that the docs match the vehicle before handing over the money.)
ahhh turns out the guy was skeezy and he was claiming the 4runner was in mint condition nothing wrong with it, factory parts, never been fixed. ... he left out that it was written off in 2011.
01-29-2015, 08:05 AM
91 4runner 22RE questions
