I took my 95 4runner to the dealer today for the steering rod recal. When I picked it up, the service tech said the oil cooler o-ring was leaking and it would be about $250 to replace. Is this common for this generation of 4runners. The service tech also said it needed the 30,000 service. Can someone tell me what that entails.

 

I think the one on our 89 pickup is leaking as well. Its a 3.0. 250 sounds a bit high, you could probably do it yourself.

 

have you serviced your truck yet? How many miles and if not I'd do some drain and refills of your trans, boxes, rear diff.. etc. Don't neccessarily do a svc, its a lot of fluff... but then again your truck is older too. Thats your perogative, yet I would definitally do a fluid exchange and some plugs if ya haven't already or haven't done so recently. The actual service stuff will prolong the life of your veh

 

I serviced it about 1500 miles ago (not the dealer). My mechanic changed the oil, air filter, rotated tires and changed the master cylinder

 

How old are the plugs,wires, cap and rotor? They may need replaced.

 

Check it yourself and make sure that the oil isn't leaking from the valve cover or somewhere else and running down past the oil cooler. I had a dealer tell me that my main seal was leaking when it was really just the valve cover leaking and finding the low point on the drivetrain . . . which is where the tranny connects to the engine.

Pull out the removeable schmutz covers in the driver's side wheel well. Clean it up good. Then, keep an eye on it and see if you can't figure out yourself where it's coming from.

$250 seems like a lot to remove two hose connections, 2 bolts holding the brackets, and undo the relief valve. Hmmmm . . . . what does an o-ring cost these days? Heck, I'd do that job for $250!

 

$75 to $100 is what it should be worth.
Sounds like the $250 might include an oil change and new coolant.
I did mine about 2 years ago, it was just 2 o-rings.
Job is very straight forward but messy and a knuckle buster so wear gloves.
On a lift it would be much easier.

 

my girlfriends '90 4runner 3.0 v6 is having this exact problem. a smart mexican guy from calmini told us it was the o-ring on the oil cooler. we need it replaced. he says to have them do it or a mechanic because install is going to be a pain. the seal is 10 bucks and labor is 100. has anybody ever done this before or have any research on it? how hard is it really?

 

It's fairly common for the o-ring to leak, it gets hardened by heat and doesn't seal any more. I changed it on my 93 4Runner, it's about a 1 hour job. The only hard part is getting your hands in there to get the hoses clamps off. I removed a metal heat shield from inside the frame on that area and that helped. You have to drain the cooling system as the oil cooler is connected to it. Then remove 2 small hoses and unbolt the cooler from the block. The o-ring is behind it, replace that and then put everything back.

I think $250 is a bit much, $100 for the labour sounds about right.

 

yea its 100. we had it quoted at a toyota 4x4 place over here. he said it was a gasket seal and 100 for labor! i was like, i can do a seal thats not too tough. and it doesnt sound to tough either. i'll probably have to get out the good ol' creeper and have a peek at the job.

 

My '91 4Runner had two O-rings, and one large flat O-ring between the block and cooler itself.

In my case, the last guy had installed the larger O-ring incorrectly and rolled the edge, casuing my leak. You need a 30mm socket. The cooler is just held to the block with this one long bolt with a 30mm head (with one O-ring at each end). Then a 14mm bolt for the cooler bracket.

I was doing so other maintainence at the time, so coolant was already drained. The job itself is pretty easy, access might be the hardest part. Just get the seals you need from the dealer first. Probably want to inspect the coolant lines before, as this might be a good time to replace those as well.

 

Looking for advice on replacing oil cooler seal on 2000 4runner. Difficult to get to? Tips? Part availability and price?

 

Nope. I don't think so. You play the game wrong.

Try again by asking the questions in an appropriate manner, and I'll see if I can help you.