I have a '94 4runner with the 3.0 and a manual tranny. I have done the isr mod, installed a k&n drop in, and put in a flowmaster which may be leaking alittle. I have had a ticking saince i purchaced the runner about 3k miles ago. It has 185k on it now. Today after school it sounded alot louder and the fan was making alot of noise. When it idles it is a ruff idol and sounds like it is refing then idoling then reving again. i have searched alot and found nothing. If someone can give me any advice let me know. If you want to here it or something i can give you my cell number.

thanks alor guys,
Greg

 

I hate to say it, but everything you just described sounds like when I had a loose spark plug. It shot out, jacking up the threads and made it require a helicoil. Check the torque on all your spark plugs.

It's very rare that this is actually your problem, but after that happened to me I started noticing threads like this that describe my exact problem, so I figure I should throw it out there to chew on at least.

 

sounds like it might be the fan bracket is dieing on ya.

with the truck running take a look at the fan and crank pully from the side and see if its wiggling werid

 

ok well i took off my intake to spray in carb cleaner and it wouldnt start. I put back on the stock intake and it started up after a few tries. My fan dose seem to wobble alittle and is making alot of wooshing(more than my dads 3rd gen)

 

I also have a ticking like noise since I bought mine, and it has had about 10,000 miles on it, so the noise might just be the engine being old. I don't know, but it seemed like what paintball was talking about. Since I have a coolant leak, my dad checked it, and we added some with it running, and it made reving noises also, when idling, and it was in neutral, but the reving was very light.

 

my fan bracket also just went on me recently; it's an expensive part/sub-assembly. also note to use throttle, not carb, cleaner as per toyota FSM.

good luck.

 

the 3.0 makes a normal noise?!?!?!?

 

About 2 weeks after I purchased my used 92 4Runner,,the stock fan exploded. It was making a similar ticking noise before it went out completely. I remember reading this is not an uncommon problem with stock fans that have several miles on them. When mine broke,,it took out the shroud and put a hole in the battery. It became a more expensive repair, in a big hurry. Check the fan,, make sure its not warped -- which would indicate it is slowly breaking.

Mike in AR

 

With 185k, when was the last time it had a valve job. When I first got my 4Runner, 95 user, it had 75k on it, and ticked like a mutha. I noticed it would get faster with speed. Turned out the valves were ticking BAD. When was your last major tuneup?