Well, lately my 83 pickup has been nickle and diming me to death. Just put in a new power steering pump and alternator this month, i know its not a big deal but Im a student and its killing me. So the other day Im heading from Victoria to Port Alberni (2.5 hr drive) and my truck is running fine. Now dont get me wrong, its been running great lately, no problems what so ever. only has 220 000 kilometres on it too. Anyway so about 1.5 hrs into the drive I notice the truck is really starting to lose power, having trouble maintaining speed at 100 km/h. The truck is also jerking really bad occasionaly and was idling reaaaaaaly rough (shaking the whole truck). I made it home and immediately got a new fuel filter and threw it in which did nothing. So I take it to my mechanic and he says that the #2 cylinder is dead, the valve seals are all fried, and the carberator is flooding. Over 1000$ worth of work. So heres my problem. I bought the truck for 1200, have already put well over a grand into it and now this???? I have no money to fix it so what do I do? I have a 92 4runner that is uninsured so I can use that but damnit i like my 1st gen. My only options are really to let the truck sit for a year or 2, to sell it as is for next to nothing, or to part it up and SAS my 4runner in the future (i know this is the wrong place to say that). I could wait a while until I come accross money to fix the truck but honestly I dont know how long the truck is gonna last anyway being as the body/frame probably wont last too long anyway. And I know as soon as I fix it something else will just go on me being as it is 26 years old. Please feel free to give any advice at all as I am starting to feel lost like a jeep owner would.

 

do it your self. go find a head at a junk yard, get a headgasket clean both surfaces and BAM u got a running truck for less than 200 bucks or do the valve seals ur self. its easy if u know what ur doing. These firstgens are SOO easy to work on there is absolutly NO reason to have a shop work on it. i can dissasemble a first gen down to pure frame in less than a hour weld the frame and have it back together on the road in under 5 hours and im still in school. all together iv done 5 of these firstgens including mine

 

u should be able to find a whole 22re with minor work for a couple hundred

 

Well it's seems you have a dilemma on your hands... I'm already surprised about the maintenance you've done; alt and powering steering pump...These usually last well over 200,000 miles...Being you only have 136,000 miles on the truck, it's just being broken in...I've seen how beat to hell east coast (cold weather) trucks are and if your truck has a rusted frame I don't think putting money into the truck is worth the trouble...But if not, and you do sell you probably won't find another 1st Gen with that kind of mileage...But as Yotaboy said, it's a great mechanics truck, if enjoy working on cars this an easy and rewarding vehicle to own..Get some tools and especially if you have a second vehicle do the work yourself. There's a lot of good DIY threads out there..But this is a 27 year old truck, there are thing that will need to be replaced. Carbs are notorious lousy, and trannys seem to last about 150,000 miles...I don't recommend fixing these parts yourself. Motor rebuilts are do-able if you have the time and patients. Other than that the truck is very basic mechanically...Parts are usually cheap (if you can find it). That's what i love about these trucks and is why after 17 years I bought another one...1st Gens are special trucks, they don't makin like that anymore!!...Good luck with your decision..t

 

I say if you feel like you dont want to put more money into the truck, park it and cover with tarp, save money and buy another one, take the two and make an amazing first gen pickup. If you really want to sas the runner then sell it and go that route, but dont keep putting money into a truck you dont feel deserves it, it will just make you more upset when it needs something else, my runner has nickeled and dimed its way into my life forever, if i were to try and sell it for what i have in reciepts, people would tell me to see a psycologist...lol

 

These first generation trucks are hard to find i say if the frame is solid keep it and try to fix it yourself or pick up a whole 22 and just do a swap

 

These trucks are old...I'd say you either have to be willing to put a lot of money & work into it, or get rid of it. Yeah, they're Toyotas, but they're OLD. You never know how the people before you who owned the truck treated it. It's going to have issues. If you don't think you want to deal with that, then yeah, either park it and cover it and decide later, or get rid of it.

 

I think no matter what you buy you are always going to have problems that you will need fixed. Not even a bicycle will last forever without some maintenance. Sounds as though you don't have a lot of money since you are going to school. If you go buy another vehicle for X amount and then the previous owners trashed the vehicle and you have to put money into the new vehicle then you pretty much got nowhere and probably spent more money.

If you want something that you don't have to pay for the upkeep buy a new vehicle so the warranty covers it but that doesn't sound feasible since you are going to school.

I say keep it, I don't know how long you have owned the truck but at least you are familiar with it and you know how it has been treated since you have owned it. I hate buying a used vehicle because you don't know how it has been treated or who owned it before you. Keep the problem you have because you might just end up buying another problem you will regret.

You never know maybe after you fix this problem your truck might run solid for a long time without any problems. Sell all your Christmas presents for money. Summer is coming up soon, get a job. You don't want to see some guy driving your truck around after you sold it to him with a smile on his face because he fixed your problem and now the truck drives great. Or maybe you do. Anyways, good luck and Merry Christmas!

Oh ya and if you do decide to sell that truck for next to nothing, put it on a ferry and send it my way.

 

Thanks alot for the input guys. I think I may have overreacted. I am defenitely going to keep the truck for now and store it at my parents (they have an undercovered area) which is nice cause its always raining here. My dad is really into cars and has alot of tools so I think he and I are going to try and fix it up sometime next year and possibly restore it somewhat in the future, of course Ill have to do a thorough check and make sure the frame and everything are good enough. I defenitely am crazy about these trucks though and even though it has had a few problems it has always ran great and has gotten me whereever Ive needed to go offroad so I cant really complain. I think if I just keep an eye out for parts and research how to fix these problems I can do it myself and not even do too much damage to my wallet. Plus the more work I do now will probably benefit me in the long run as I have alot to learn about these trucks. I know id just hate myself for getting rid of it because Ive only had it parked for about a week now and I already miss driving it!

 

There ya go problem solved. These old trucks are almost indestructable and are easy to rebuild. They are also fun to work on and build to suit your needs. Take a break, study get a good education, maybe take a class at a tech school, then build it your way.

 

I have a better solution, you should drive it down to Cali and park it at my house. I'll even let you store it for free if you leave the title too!