Looking to buy a 1997 4Runner and found a potentially great deal. The truck has 170,000 miles and comes with the 3.4, 4x4 and the 5-speed manual transmission. The truck was bought new and has been in the same family since 1996. All maintenance has been done at dealerships and recorded. The timing belt and water pump were done at 115k so it will need it again fairly soon. Here is the list of issues that the dealer discovered during the last inspection:

Stabilizer bar links and bushings
Spark plugs and wires
Engine air filter
Fuel induction flush
Rear muffler leaking
Right rear differential seal leaking
Brake shoes and drums turned
Parking brake bell crank rusted
Leaking valve cover

Is $3,100 too much? The body is in great shape and the truck sounds/runs great. I can do much of the work myself, but want to know if there's anything else I should look for.

Let me know.

 

For that price sounds to me like you can fix all of those things and have a ton left over for mods. 170k isnt that much for a 97. I would say go for it. That's an awesome price unless you can find something else horribly wrong with it.

 

ask for ball joint money (or better yet, 4 new BJs)- it will be needed ASAP if it hasn't been addressed in the past 14 years.

i bet all i could get would be 3100 for my '96. it's in a similar boat as that, but that would be at the high end, imho.

 

definitely ball joints and thats a pretty good deal mine was 2900 and had problems

 

These are all standard/known issues with the 3rd gen:

Stabilizer bar links and bushings
Spark plugs and wires
Engine air filter
Fuel induction flush
Rear muffler leaking
Right rear differential seal leaking
Brake shoes and drums turned
Parking brake bell crank rusted
Leaking valve cover

I've had to fix all those things on my 99 in the last couple years, as most third gen owners have. Except for the fuel induction service. However, it appears the fuel injectors on these truck start to show age after 10-15 years of use. In the past I would have advised against the fuel induction service as a waste of money. However, I'm actually concidering it on mine in an effort to keep the fuel injectors working.

Price appears to be good. If you can get it below $3000 you can't lose.

Does it have the e-locker? If so, just pay the $3K and get it! You can put the timing belt off for a couple years if it was done at 115K.

Also, replace the fuel filter if you still can. They are a "lifetime" part put they get rusty and you should just replace it before it gets too rusty to remove.

Good Luck