Well, I got the rig to the dealer today to get diagnosed.
Some have seen the problems elsewhere that my rig has been having as of late.

First off, I have been laid off from Boeing almost 4 years now, and have not had the $$$ to nurture my beast.
The rig as of late has been very ill, and thanks to the contributions last week I was able to get the rig to the shop today.

The rig was:
1. Shaking violently at 50 MPH when the tach was at 2K.
Increasing RPMs to 2.5K smoothes out rig.
2. Exhaust stinks, and is red hot.
3. No power to pass, I hog the granny lane.

Toyota told me today number 3 cylinder is shot, no compression at all, this is why it runs like crap.
They said I could go with a new short block, but they see so many snafus with this after getting the heads milled, they never run good.
Plus, I paid $10.5K for the rig.
I have almost that much into it in mods.
I do not want to stick another $5K to 6K into it for labor and a engine.

My brother in-law said to get a can of that Rislone Engine Restore and dump it in, and that should help the compression out a bit and gain me some more life.
The good news is I start back at Boeing next Monday, and hopefully Toyota Credit will work with me on this, and I can get into a used rig from my dealer.

I just can not see dumping $$$ into this rig.
Not sure what will go down here as I am very overwhelmed now switching jobs, shot engine, lots and lots of stress, but I will be selling stuff off the rig later.
And no, no shipping.
Local pickup only for stuff such as the ARB bumper, sliders, ect.

The stereo is coming out for me, as well as the CB and winch.
I can use those parts in the future as well as my aux. lights.

All good things must come to an end.
The 4Runner has served me since November of '98.

 

putting money into and replacing the worn parts cost alot less over time than a car payment .

 

Can anyone give you a motor? It's not like they are rare. Heck if you can get a couple people plus a motor, you can get it in and out in a weekend for dirt cheap.

James

 

Glad to see we could be of some help Corey!

Keep us posted on whatever you decide to do!

 

I gotta agree with this. For not much more money than the collection netted you, you could put in a "crate" motor that would buy you 50,000+ miles to make up your mind what to do next and get the resale value back up. The install can be done in a weekend.

Don't take a huge hit with it not running when you can easily squeeze more life out of it and be able to make a more informed and casual decision.

 

What would you give that ARB up for?

 

C'mon guys... let's not pick his carcass clean yet... I think he should explore other options before we start parting it out for him...

 

I'm new to this forum and I've only seen your rig by clicking on your detailing link tonight. Man, this rig is clean. If it still looks the same, a new motor would be fine. Even if you do upgrade, I'm sure there will be someone that will want to buy it and put in a new motor in it.

Hopefully, the donated funds will help you either way. Good luck.

 

Not sure what I am gonna do Rob, but the good news is child support ends in June, and that alone frees up a truck payment there.

I am tired of the doggy 3.0, and to be honest with you, I have dreamt of a 3.4 lockered Taco ever since eyeing your rig many years ago.

An older Extracab 3.4 lockered Tacoma would be nice, or if I could swing a 4 door one.
Either would be nice.
Plus ya gotta admit the 3.0s are terrbile at gas mileage, mine gets about 11 to 12 right now, and when it was running good, all I could get was 15 to 16 out of it.
Plus the power is not there even when it was running good.

That is due to not having correct gearing for the 31" tires.
I am geared for the smaller 28" tires.

I have not owned a new rig since I bought my '90 extracab brand new.

 

Corey, would you consider doing a wrenchathon on a weekend to get you up and running atleast until June so you can weigh some other options? It just sounds like suicide trying to get into something right now as you know holding out till June would be more reasonable.

Just some food for thought.

 

I agree with Rob, I installed a motor in my '97 from a crashed runner and it has been great. It took us a long evening of wrenchin to exchange the motor.
I wish I was closer (and there was no border to deal with), I would defenitely offer my time and even working space.
Corey's 4Runner has become somewhat of a classic with all the mods.

 

Have you gotten a 2nd opinion? A smelly exhaust that is hot is usually due to the catalytic converter. A plugged cat will also make your truck run like crap.

It's a long shot, but maybe a new cat would get you by for awhile....

P.S. your truck was an inspiration when I was building my 90. Good luck and keep us posted!

 

I have stood at the same crossroads a couple of times with my '95 4Runner, and each time I sunk the money into it to keep it running. My rationale was to put newer, better parts in where older stock parts had failed. It has been an expensive adventure and I honestly can say it has NOT been worth it. I have sunk was too much money into that POS 3.slow engine over the past two years and now I'm so far into it with money invested I have to keep feeding the machine just to try to get a few years of good recreation out of it.

I keep thinking that the "repairs" have to end soon, but they never have and I'm afraid they never will. I think dumping the rig now before you sink a bunch more money into it makes good sense. Get a 3rd gen -- they're a lot more fun, IMO.

Ed

 

did some one say arb?

 

No 3rd gen for me Ed.
I want to get back to a truck again.

The more I think about it, the less I want to sink more money into this.
Even if the engine was fine and dandy, blue book on my rig is around 4 to 5K I bet.

I allready mentioned I have over $20K into it.

Well, its time to hit the fart sack, I have to get up in 5 hours or so for my last day at my job :bounce2:

 

*cough,cough*..."Hello...former boss?...I'm sick today. I need you to kiss my..."
Good for you Corey...now if those Air Canada pilots would just settle down, Boeing will be getting another big order

 

Corey; After our brief chat, I looked up this thread you started last year on your '91.

Frankly, your experience is somewhat terrrifying, as you've had a lot of experience with this engine. After all, if the guy that is key to this forum can't keep one of these 4Runners up, how much hope is their for the rest of us...

Gotta couple of questions if you'd be so kind. When you say no compression, what does that mean... literally zero? Could that be a stuck/broken valve? Did you do a leak down test to sort out what the cause is?

Also, given all the tips and clues this forum provides, did you really get no clue or warning before this last failure?

Also, if I've read this forum correctly, it is usually the 5th or 6th cylinder that has the problems.

So what happened prior to that cyclinder going dead?

Just looking for stuff to watch out for. Right now, my newly aquired '94 is running well (at 14mpg). Don't care much about the gas, as long as it continues to run well. So I'm watching it like a hawk for coolant usage. Think I'll get a compression tester and a leakdown test rig to add an additional layer of "early warning".

There are several really good Toyota repair places in the Bay Area, even including one good Dealer. At the moment, I've only got 3K plus tax and license in it. Wife loves the vehicle. She's even taken to doing her hair before going to town. Not bad for a 64 year old... So I will do my best to keep it up.

We've both been spoiled by the 85 22re, which we've kept. And really spoiled by my '85 RX7 which has been unbelieveable cheap and fun to drive. I will be letting that sit, and will keep up the two Toyotas, as it is handy to have two vehicles that she can handle. (she hates the rx7, for reason I don't understand. Love the engine in that thing)

Anyway, one last question. Why not go with the 3.4liter engine, as if I'm reading the posts correctly, is a virtual drop-in?

 

Corey,

Sorry to hear your gal is ill. Whatever you decide, good luck. Personally, I loved my '90 3.0, but the '00 3.4 that I have now has won my heart. Go with your gut, brother...

Rick

 

Mr. Harper... you're doing a great job of digging up old threads today - which is funny 'cause there's a lively discussion going on right now about just this issue.

fwiw... Corey's trading his truck in on a new FJ.

 

Yes I'm aware of that... newbie I'm afraid. I'll try to be aware of the sensitivties of the long time members.. OTOH, there are lots of admonitions to do your homework with the search tool. Never occured to me that one should be careful about "reviving" them via posts.. As I'm sure you are aware, there are a lot of unfinished old threads. Meaning no apparent resolution.

Corey and I were chatting. Got most of my answers from his new chat room. He's been checking in at breaks etc from Boeing. Trying to see if shooting his weekend is worth it yet. On the truck, he said it was Silver and he's hoping to pick it up today.

I like the chat, works really well. Won't use IRC, gave it up a long time ago for security reasons. Too many holes in it.

But thanks for the headsup (polite). Fraid I did another one with the poll on MPG. I do suspect there are lots of newbies (at least) that are wondering the same thing.