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I figured I should start a thread considering all the stuff I have been doing to the runner lately. I have owned it for a year now and the only thing I put into it was gas and oil. Then come state inspection time I fail due to bald rear tires, so in the frenzy of digging around the wheel wells to pass with only a week before red-and-blues-in-the-rearview I find tons of hidden rust. More searching begets more rust, hence, lots of work.
I will post photos soon, since I have removed about 100lbs worth of materials from her, and I think I like the lean look better!
The story of the tires was basically a disaster all around.
First, I find that the previous owner put on 265/75 aspects, so of course they are tougher to find and more expensive. I decided due to the expense to buy one new, and one used for cheap.
After the new one was mounted I went to the used place to have the other bad and the spare, which was the original 265/70 size, changed to passable used 265/75s. Sitting in the waiting room the desk clerk tells me the tires they were going to put on turned out to be dry rotted, so they couldnt pass an inspection anyway. Defeated!
All other places in town didnt have the 75 aspect size, so I ran to the pick and pull (for the first time in my life) and found a stack of near new tires in my size, but LT, not P, so I grabbed them anyway. Back to the shop to mount them, and had both LTs put in front, and the right spare mounted, so good to go.
The next day at home, feeling industrious, and seeing the near 20 years of brake dust built up in the rims decided to scrub it all out, so up goes the truck, and as I am undoing the lock nut, it shears in half. The shop used an air gun to put them on, so I proceeded to shear the face off every lock nut I had. The shop fixed the problem for free, but still a major PITA.
Passed the inspection, but now an oil leak has been dripping more heavily than before, I believe from the valve covers.
Howdy! Looking forward to pics. Hate it when shops use the air ratchet. The shop I get my tires from are used to me requesting hand torquing the lug nuts, though last time it was obvious they didn't.
Hope your rust isn't too horrible! If leaky valve covers check the torque on the bolts, more than a few of us have found loose valve cover bolts, at least on the 3.4.
So it's a 97...which engine? Manual or auto? Miles?
And pics. Did I mention pics?
I was planning on (calm down, read past the word 'Jeep') restoring a wartime Willys Jeep, but life being life, the 4runner is rebelling slowly and sucking up my Jeep funds (see, a wartime restore is worthy of the word Jeep still, right?) In that light, I wanted to retain a bit of wartime flair, so was going to ODgreen the entire runner, but have since decided that would look terrible, but have already (thankfully) only plastidipped the rims OD, which surprisingly held up completely during the entire wheel debacle of the past week.
And the valve gaskets, yeah, Im pretty sure I killed them. Yes, they were way loose, but never having dealt with the engine before, I cranked them down and probably smashed the pass side. Anyone know where they sell decent but inexpensive torque wrenches?
There are about 254k on the odometer now, and auto trans...couldnt find a manual here, I looked and almost literally died trying due to the car I was driving lot to lot being way past due for a scrapyard.
Oh yeah, photos...
And this SHOULD be what I think is the valve cover gasket leaking everywhere.
Could this lead to loss of pressure while driving up a hill? She shudders whenever I hit an upward gradient, regardless of speed so I have to back off gas, then slowly reapply speed to allow acceleration without a shudder. This only started after I "tightened" the bolts to the valve cover.
Sorry I don't know what the uphill sluggies are about, doesn't seem like it'd be because valve covers were tightened but I'm more mechanically inclined than actual mechanic. A lot more.
That white thing under the passenger seat is the fan for the rear heat. While you're messing around check the metal lines that run near that area (under the truck) and go up the firewall to near the heater valve at center top of firewall. They rust out sometimes so keeping up with them is a maintenance thing.
Nice seat mount! I've seen the front- especially the right side- crack where the foot is bolted in, but not that until now. Will be interested in seeing how you decide to fix or replace it.
I finally got all the gaskets and tools needed for the valve cover gasket replacement. All was sailing (generally) smoothly on the passenger side (that loom is a PITA) but the drivers side with the leak hit a good snag.
At first glance I thought the gasket had a major tear across the corner, but...
Now I need to find a new cover. Hitting the junk yard now, then the dealers. I cant find any OEM for sale, only the Dorman copies, which I do not trust.
I got lucky and found a new (to my car) cover in the pick and pull plus an unrusted rear hatch latch (the one that holds the gate closed, I dont know official names of anything) ,both for $28.
Finished the engine, only to have some electrical issues, ongoing at this time, refer to my thread in the tech section.
Long story short, she works again. Towed to the dealer and told nothing is wrong at all, so thats dcent news, but was took forever and was expensive. Anyway, now can begin doing stuff again, but was banned by the gf from doing anything in the engine bay.
1Next up on the list is new spark plugs (the car still shudders at 50mph accelerating).
2silicone vacuum tubes to replace the split and shattered mess of original hoses in there now. So, technically, Im not taking the engine apart.
3Around Xmas time Ill get 3 bed liner and roll the interior floor plus some stops rust by rustoleum to try and check the spread of rust.
4I will also 4 scrub the under body and put undercoat there to keep rust away, because it still looks good, but the first time I drive on the beach, the salt water will take care of that.
Glad to hear it's all good and moving again! Would love to know what it turned out to be out of curiosity but can definitely live with 'nothing wrong'. Sometimes the simplest things are the most complicated. Well hey, how else are you supposed to get good at something if you don't get to dig in, right? You just dug a little deeper, is all.
Oh, the mistakes I make! 'Course, without them there'd be no successes either. Never met anyone who was perfect.
Got the rear hatch latch installed, so no more rattle on the door. I figured the engine shudder was either spark plug misfires or compression troubles, so I went with the easy fix first and got Denso platinum TT spark plugs installed. On the way to Advance the check engine light came on and the free diagnostic there came up cylinder 2 misfire. Got home and changed out the plugs (much easier than I thought), took it on a test drive, and back up to 100%. Looks like the old plugs were ancient.
Did a bunch of stuff recently. I replaced both front and rear sway bar bushings with poly and had the front pass side bolt holding the clamp on shear off, so still need to take it somewhere to be extracted and replaced. Also have put down the first coat of Herculiner on the interior. I dont care who says otherwise, but that stuff does NOT roll on at all. Had to hand paint every square inch of the interior twice. Looks good though.
Now the problem lies in me trying to get fancy and putting a coat of duplicolor BedArmor in olive green down (operative word trying) but it worked for the first two test sprays and never again after that. I now have an OD jackson pollack on the floor of my ride. Ill post pictures after it cures, which is taking longer than expected, because it got cold last night for the first time all year. Figures.
Also removed my rear heater and bypassed it in the engine bay.
Wow, a year exactly since my last post. Crazy how time flies.
The past year has seen the truck get a growth spurt, she grew 3" with the help of rough country. I went with them because the bad reviews were from those that have hyperexpensive lifts and think everyone needs to spend that much to be happy, or those that took a rough country lift into some truly rough country. Considering the terrain in my area is flat and sand, i have no need for something that will handle serious off-roading. I know rough country is basically for looks and light wheel bouncing on unpaved surface, and im alright with that. Besides my ball joints refusing to release to allow me to install the struts (it took 18 hours of beating and cursing, applying various rented tools, yet still just decided to release on their own schedule) the installation was surprisingly easy. I am convinced the person that designed the rear shock upper attachment area is a sadist, because those bolts were the most difficult things to ever be reached in my life. They made the drivers side spark plug closest to the body seem like a simple task. I am going to keep the tires at lt 265/75 but if i am forced to change the tires again for state inspections, i may bump up to 285/75 with a spacer in the front because of the upper control arm almost rubbing my 265 tire as it sits now.
besides the lift (throughout the past year, and not necessarily listed in order, not all in one marathon mechanical session):
i changed the two strut assemblies,,
the brakes on all four wheels (i hate drum brakes) I still have the shimmy-shake when braking hard, and the pedal is still abit mushy although i bled them correctly. Thoughts?
the front and rear sway bar bushings have become poly,
radiator replacement, because the original one cracked and exploded.
Tru Cool transmission cooler, mounted on the radiator. No pink milkshake for me.
began changing my own oil
changed the differential fluids and transfer case fluid (took the rear to a place due to the fill plug being too rounded for me to pull). The random leaking which i thought was from a busted head gasket turned out to be the front diff leaking, but since changing the oil, the leak has magically stopped. So much better than a head gasket replacement. Now need to find if the front diff has a breather, and if so, probably is clogged. Anybody?
Began to slowly change all lights to led
Future plans:
snorkle, for no other reason than i just like the way it looks. I could cheat and invoke hurricane Matthew and the severe flooding as the justification (i live within 1 mile of the ocean) but it really is because i want one.
New rims, because the ones i have dont allow the tundra brake mod, which means:
Tundra brake mod, probably 199, because i dont tow anything, but would like better stopping power. If not, definitely new rotors to try and narrow down the shake reasons on braking.
Satoshi grille mod, again because i like it. Will probably use the same grill material in the snorkle head to make it look like i have a design plan for the car instead of just randomly throwing parts at it, which is more true than not.
Finish switching all lights to led from superbrightleds.com. (Not a plug, the led lights available at autozone/advance aren't actually brighter than factory incandescents)
I will work on getting pics of it now, but honestly, you all know what a lifted runner looks like by now if you're reading my build up thread, because that means you read all the other better ones, so yeah, it looks like that!
10-27-2015, 06:53 AM
