MAIN CONCERN: My mechanic is an hour away. You think it's okay to drive that far with an issue like this?

Details:
’04 4runner V6, sport 4WD, 115K, rough idle at start up (30-60 seconds then runs smooth), put fuel injector cleaner, changed oil, coolant just above lo mark. This started a week ago, then today at start up, check engine light blinks twice and VSC TRAC and VSC OFF blink also, all lights go away and engine runs smooth again. I turned it off, afraid to turn on again!

I know this could lead to a head gasket job. I appreciate all advice! Thanks so much.

 

What's the maintenance history? Plugs, wires, air filter, etc?

Without knowing what the CEL code is it's hard to say. I suspect you have one or more stored codes.

Are you burning coolant? Billowing white smoke out the tailpipe while driving?

 

Hi, rworegon, thanks for responding. It supposedly had a full tune up when I bought it 1.5 years ago (bought it with 100K). I am not very good at mechanics, I changed the oil three times, and that's all the maintenance I have done for the car. No white smoke, I think it could be burning coolant, I felt like the level was higher earlier this week but I can't say for sure. nothing out of the ordinary aside from what I mentioned.

I think my neighbor might be able to read the CEL code for me, I will ask him tonight.

I just don't want to do more damage by driving it. I have about $1000 and I'd rather put that towards the HG repair rather than towing it. so really hope I can drive it to my mechanic! I will be calling him tomorrow to make an appointment.

 

Keep us posted on you find out on the CEL.
Your mechanic can give advise on driving it or not.

 

as long as they aren't continuing to blink, you should be okay.

 

Hey Guys, I had a mechanic friend of mine come over. Used a code reader, it threw a P0304 Cylinder 4 misfire. We stuck a funnel in the radiator and put a little coolant in, after running the engine for about 5 minutes, little bubbles started coming up... my friend said that's the poor man's way of evaluating a bad head gasket. So all signs are pointing towards a HG job.

I guess I will call my pro mechanic for a quote, I don't want to drive over there if I don't have the cash to fix the worst case scenario. It's a sad day.

 

Hey - I just had similar symptoms on my 2004 4Runner. According to my tech, it turned out that a cooling sensor had failed and was sending incorrect messages to my ECU causing the motor to run like garbage. It was 80 degrees outside but the motor thought it was 30 degrees below zero so the air/fuel mixture was way off.

Before you jump to any conclusions to you should have it professionally diagnosed. Sometimes taking it to a Toyota dealer can be very helpful and truthfully, at least in my neck of the woods, the shop rates are about the same as independent shops. OEM parts are obviously more expensive though.