Ok so I purchased my 82 Hilux 3 weeks ago.. Correction 4..

My story starts out by driving down to buda Tx to go pickup the hilux. I Get down there pay the man and head north on I35 Back to Austin Texas. I get about 2 miles down the road and the front left tire rapidly deflates and I swerve into the middle lane. I pull it back to the right and end up going into the ditch at about 30. Didn't hit anyone or hurt anything minus the tire is destroyed (33"mtr). Well I Call the seller and he comes out with his hi lift. We jack the sucker up and thank god it has the original spare on it that has never touched the pavement(still has the sticky things). It has enough air in it to get to a gas station for more air and I limp the truck back to the sellers house.

A week later the seller has a brand new tire on it for me all balanced and ready to go. Drive back out to Kyle and then head north again. Without using my better judgment of purchasing a new car I go to my friends house that is a toyota guy. We decide it is a good idea to take the truck to Magnolia cafe on south congress for a late dinner to talk "Trucks". Meal is good and we head out to the parking lot. I put the key in the ignition and nothing.. It will not turn. I valet parked for many years and owned a valet company for a few as well. I have had this problem 100 times. I jiggle, turn, rock, hop, you name it to this thing for 20 mins and NOTHING! No tools on me and it is getting late. We roll the hilux into a street spot and have to get a ride back to my friends house. It happens to be Friday so I won't get a ticket or towed out of the street spot till Monday morning. I had a full weekend planned out of town and I really couldn't do much about it. Just left it there till Sunday evening.

Come Sunday I go back over there with some tools and get the steering column cover taken apart and figure out how easy it is to get one of those things started without a key...

Ok so now the truck is back at my house and I start doing some work on the sucker. From not being careful I accidentally break the VSV unit while replaced the 10 miles of vacuum hoses on these suckers(30 year old truck = soft and brittle- now I know)

The carb is completely crapping out on me and bogging down on acceleration as it turns out the 2ndary is clogged. So i get into it to rebuild the carb. I get the carb completely re built over 2 days and put back into the vehicle. My buddy comes by to take a look at it and help me tune it up right. My buddy happens to be a rather short fellow so he uses the wheel to stand on to get up into the engine compartment. While doing this he steps right on my Freaking valve stem and it breaks in half and now my 33" tire is completely flat. After dealing with taking the tire off, driving to the local shop that can handle a 33" tire, and getting a new valve stem I get the fixed full tire back home.

I then go to put the spring back onto the back of the carb throttle bar? Not sure what it is called and once I load the spring it slips on my greasy fingers and pops off to the black hole where parts seem to go.

So where I stand:

The Truck almost killed me on I-35 ( always check your tire pressure on big stiff walled tires- they were at 10 psi when I left his house but looked full and the bead spun and went flat)

The key lock ignition cylinder cost me $30.00 plus 3 days of crapping my pants thinking the truck was stolen or at least stereo or w/e else ripped out of it

The new vsv valve has to be purchased from the dealership for an awesome $60.00 +

Discount tire hooked me up however pulling the tire putting it up into my car and driving it to the shop took a few hours out of my life under the hot Texas sun and my kicked my lower backs ass.

Carb Rebuild was $40.00

And the spring is lost and they don't sell them at autoshops either(This means either another jerry-rigged part on the yota or a ridiculous expense for a 25 cent part)

So basically the whole experience has been a big comedy of errors a lot of which was my fault however some not. I have spent a lot of money getting this sucker back up to speed and for every step forward I am taking about 2 expensive steps back.

I have decided that one definition of coming of age is the willingness to do things right the first time so you can skip so much bull˟˟˟˟!

Is this bad luck? Consistent with 30 year old vehicles? Or am I just being a cry baby?

Well we know the 3rd is true.

Can't wait to actually get this SOB out on the trail. I just hope the axles don't just role right out from under me!

I have had some great help on this site though so thanks everyone that lent a hand!

Jeremy

 

Yea, your just being a cry baby (LOL). Just about everyone that has bought one of these 25 + year old trucks or 4Runners has gone through the same thing, at least i know i have anyway. When you buy one of these vehicles its a good bet that the previous owner has screwed something up or rigged things to keep it running, but half the fun is going through it and getting everything fixed and working the way it should be. Just hang in there, once you get it all fixed up you will have a very reliable truck.

 

I feel your pain. I bought an '88 4runner that, "Only needed a head gasket." I didn't get taken advantage of, I took that statement from the OP to mean the engine needed a full rebuild. And even though I actually had to buy a new head and block (what was in the truck was destroyed and unusable), I truly believe the OP thought the truck only needed a new HG.

As I go through the engine I keep replacing everything... intake plenum, clutch and more. Then I look at the truck and wonder, "What else do I need to replace?" Brakes? Rebuild the trans? Gears? In hindsight I paid a little too much for the truck, but I did get a clean body, in the color I wanted and all the options I wanted. And by too much, I mean a few hundred bucks--had I know what I know now I would have haggled a little harder!

I guess I really should have purchased a newer truck that was less of a project. But, I have this one now which I really like, and I have put a lot of time and money into it. When it's done it should be pretty fun--I mean, what's more fun than an old Toyota?

I guess I would suggest going through your truck and get everything right that you can like I am trying to do, and then go enjoy it! That's the plan anyway, and hopefully we will both look back on our issues and laugh about them.

 

O I feel Your pain I had an old Chevy and had to trade it due to driving so far to work for an 87 yota pickinupchicks truck anyways she ran a little rough I just thoufght. Just adjust timing it turned out I had to take the front of the motor apart and the Guy had everything wrong lol feeling good from fixing that it starts leaking all kinds of good stuff so I then had to do a head gasket now I have to get a newcarb cause the one on it craped out And also after I got otthe speedometer stopped working lol I feel your pain

 

Yep, that happens with old vehicles
Over payed for my 4runner, then it needed new alternator, oil pump, brake calipers seized so those were replaced. Thats only the problems with the motor too, dont even get me started on the nail in the tire, the hoaky ass wiring, and all the hidden rust and bondo.

So like stated above, your not alone, most of us go through it, you will get caught up...eventually

 

My junk had its suspension put back on with lose bolts, things not in the right spots and a bent frame... no exhaust, list goes on

6 yrs later it's completely rebuilt, new frame, SAS, motors been thru, every nut n bolt has been turned on and off and everythings been furbished.

It's a learn'n journey for sure and not a cheap one. Education IS NEVER CHEAP =)

no regrets! =) Love the SOB and love the fact i can fix any damned thing on it!

 

amen. and why do we go through all this headache and hassle? For me, it's because I absolutely love my runner. It is the one vehicle that I have found that I enjoy driving, and does everything that I could ask of a vehicle.

 

The good thing is the 22r/22re are really easy to work on FTW

 

Hang in there

The fact that the 5 gallon can of gas didn`t get spilled and the railroad flare tossed is a good sign.

You just need to vent these things to people that understand . If they don`t you may as well just talk to yourself

It would be a good investment to get some thread replacements of your choice in M8x1.25 M10x1.25 M12x1.25 sooner or later you will need them

 

heh sounds like the luck I had on a bronco II and fullsize bronco quite a while back. needless to say both of those are in the junk yard now. Kinda wish they wern't though as I had them at the same time and probably coula had a killer bronco II on fullsize suspension with the 351 H.O. motor in it for a killer mud rig, but because I had no room to put them, no garage,m no driveway, renting etc etc, well.

Yours though just sounds like years of neglect from the P.O. Keep pluggin at it, once you get it all done up these are pretty resilient trucks. There is a reason right now I have probably more money in my motor rebuild than the actual truck is worth. Stupid? maybe. my family think so. but now I got a motor that should last the rest of the life of the truck and most of the major stuff is fixed on it. It might not look pretty, but I don't care, and don't need it to look pretty.

 

... we've all been there, just not that part of texas with a broken down toy. when i bought the truck, the seller said it would need an alternator for there was a (what sounded like) an alternator bearing going bad. so i replaced it. 1 day later i was on the side of the interstate during rush hour in nashville with a faulty alternator, killed the battery etc. luckily i was about 5 miles from the advance auto parts hub store. i worked at an advance 65 miles away, so i was familiar with the advance process. so i walked to advance with my old alternator and old battery, and walked back with a new alternator and a new battery... oh yeah, it was 8 o'clock at night in january, and it was starting to sleet. put all the new parts on, came back home, and had to replace the water pump 2 days later because the bearing was bad. that was one of the many stories i have from the first month i had the truck.

 

I thought I got a good deal on my 86 toy, and i still dont have to much money tied up in it yet but still have stuff that needs to be done. When I brought mine home half the bolts were missing in front diff, alot of stuff was jerry rigged in motor compartment, gas tank rusted out, rear pinion broke. Got most of that taken care of then figured out no thermostat so I put one in and 3 days later HG went. So ended up snatching the motor out, luckily sometime before I got it someone rebuilt the motor top to bottom. Just wish they would have put a lil more pride in doing so. I think I had to replace all bolts on the timing chain cover, power steering pump etc... But all in all I still have less than 2,000 in this toy and dont regret it. (If you can find parts they are not that expensive) But I still have body work to do and gears to replace. Other than the ol' lady gripeing about it I love my toy.

 

I have the same luck as takeitout. I bought my 87 4runner a year ago and have since had a cracked frame, threw a rod, arb leaking, blown head gasket, and electrical problems. All in all i love her, but shes driving me crazy. Good luck with the new toyota.

 

Without giving you my whole story, let me put it this way. I bought my 4Runner for $875, and planned to have it running and in presentable shape for a total of $1500. I now have over $3000 in her, counting shop repairs. I've only recently started driver her regularly, but if she is as reliable as most yota trucks I consider it money well spent.