LDRTRK

Greetings,

I just picked up a 1990 Toyota SR-5, Xtra Cab, V6 4wd pick-up with 160k miles two weeks ago. It's got a lot of Bondo in the rear quarter panels and front fenders but the purpose of my purchase is strickly recreation and firewood hauling in the woods. The truck interior is a very good condition, tires are shot and there are no visible fluid leaks. The exhaust is shot aft of the header and there is a crack in the top of the radiator. The truck runs albeit rough and will not idle below 1k rpms.

I ended-up paying $1200 for the truck since the POS owner stated "It's my brother's truck and he took realy good care of it...he just replaced the starter for $200 and the brakes are new". After working to get the front rims off for about 5 minutes (with the BFH), I discovered the outboard caliper pistons seized on both sides and the rotors loooked like the surface of Mars. I subsequently pulled the hubs and there was (surprisingly) a pretty good quantity of clean grease.

After the above revelation, I ran the VIN in the Toyota database and found that the HG had been done at 99K. I then decided to pick-up a compression gauge while purchasing new rotors and hub bearings. Here's the bad news...

Cylinder #2 155 lbs
Cylinder #4 160 lbs
Cylinder #6 30 lbs (added Tbs of oil and retest 70 lbs)
Cylinder #1 170 lbs
Cylinder #3 less than 5 lbs (40 lbs with Tbs of oil in cylinder)
Cylinder #5 165 lbs

So I need some advice....what is the probable diagnosis ? Should I tear into the engine or dump the truck. Is there any other checks I should do on teh engine ?

Thanks for any and all advice !

Joe

ShawnQ

I just picked up a similar vehicle, 1990 4Runner, Auto, 4wd, 3.0, and the HG recall had already been done.

However, I can't find any bondo or rust, and there are a lot of new parts on it. A/C Blows cold and everything else works great.

BUT, the headgasket on pass side is bad.

I am planning to do a long block in mine (189k miles). The longblock here locally is $1350, or I can spend $650+/- to have the heads fully rebuilt. I think I'll go the long block route for the money and peace of mind.

I paid $1000 for mine.

In your case, I would look into a long block or possibly a pull-out engine. However, make sure you check the rest of the major maintenance items. It seems like it could be a lemon.

SQ