EL-REY

Alright, ive been considering this but here is my story. I just purchased my pickup last weekend, it was suppose to be a weekend/2nd Car so i don't put as many miles on my Subaru WRX STi. So far ive fallen inlove with it. Its not in the best condition..but i really really like it. The paint is worn and banged up, the suspension has rust and it has been lifted, and the engine leaks oil...I want to hold on to her for a while. She has 244k on her. the guy i bought it from didnt give 2 SH*** about her...so who knows how bad the engine really is. My question is..Is it worth fixing her up. I realize that its going to cost for possible engine rebuild or just a seal replacement and maybe a cheap paint and body to buff her out.

Sturmcrow

I'm from the midwest, so can confidently say, that you should do whatever you can to keep her on the road. In IA, OH, MO (the last three states I lived in), cars are killed by rust. Yours looks like a beauty queen in comparison. These 3vze engines get a lot of crap from yota owners, but they really are pretty solid engines. I suppose it speaks well of Toyota that their V6 that regularly gets 250K+ miles is considered one of their worst engines.

The V6 is known for head gasket issues, and adjusting the valves is a huge PITA, but other than that they are pretty solid. True, they maybe get a smidge less fuel economy and power than the 3.4 liter, but try to find a nice tacoma at the price you can get a nice V6 pickup and I think you'll see that it is a wash in the end.

I just got my '92 in August and had to fix a bunch of little things. The latches for the quarter windows were both cracked (one was gone). I replaced the missing one with one from a junkyard, but it was cracked too. Probably best to buy those new, though they aren't cheap. My sliding window latch was busted too, but for $35, I got the part online and no problems since. The lens for the dome light was gone, but that was a cheap OEM replacement. I did have to get a base for the passenger side mirror from the junk yard. It was in terrible shape, but I basically transferred the pretty parts from my truck to the ugly internals on the replacement and no problems since.

EL-REY

I agree, apprx how much would you say it would cost to rebuild the whole engine (im guessing around 2500) to just replacing seals and head gasket????
Also how do you prevent or fix rust??

Sturmcrow

I am not a body guy at all. I can spend a week tearing an engine apart and putting it back together, no prob. Something about sanding, priming, body filler, sanding again, priming, paint, paint, paint, sand, paint, just drives me batty.

I have heard good things about Naval Jelly to fix rust (it converts it back to steel) before welding, bondo, and paint.

If you are talking about rust on the suspension parts, do not even worry about it. If you live in an environment where rust is a problem, the body panels will rust out long before any of the frame/suspension parts do, imo. The steel is just so much thinner on the body. Judging by the look of your truck, I would just drive it until the head gasket fails (with proper maintenance of course) fix the HG, and then drive it another 10 years no problem.

As I said, the valve clearance adjustment is a pain, but something you might plan to do the next time you don't need the truck for a couple of days. In particular, if the #6 exhaust valve is allowed to wear for too long without adjustment, it can burn, and then you really do have to do an entire rebuild to do.

I just saw that Carlsbad is on the coast. I leave it to your judgement if you think the suspension parts are rusted enough to be a problem. I would not use Naval Jelly in that case, but replace them with aftermarket parts. I would not trust control arms that had rusted away and then been chemically treated. Honestly though, a little surface rust is no big deal.

Sturmcrow

I have a buddy down in Oceanside that I visit from time to time. If you like, I could drop by and look over your truck sometime. I'm no expert, but I have been reading these forums religiously for the past 8 months.

a4runnerfreak

There is recall info in 1 of the stickies at the top of this forum. Call Toyota, give them your VIN number, and they will tell you if you are covered under the HG recall. I don't remember the years off the top of my head. If it's a CA truck, the rust would be your normal surface rust, unless the PO lived near the ocean. Keep it! You'll end up fallin in love with working on it....trust me. LOL. To answer your question overall, YES, she's more than worth it!

EL-REY

that would be awsome, if you would like to come buy just to give me a few pointers on the truck, also on the engine if you want to give a once over and give me the harsh truth of what ive gotten myself into LOL. Just kiddin. I really like little beast. I see everyone else s trucks on here and they look so damn sweet. I want to get my truck looking that great. Well hit me up on messenger.