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This motor is running great! Very happy with so far, had it running for a good 2-30 minutes while I checked around for leaks and any signs of trouble. Thankfully nothing has shown up yet. Was able to get all of the cooling stuff sorted, radiator in, hoses fit, anddd all of the heater hoses plumbed up correctly. The rear heat works! Its really a joy to get to experience all the little extra bits that the 4runners have over the pickups when you were a pickup guy for so long. When I first got the battery installed and all the new grounds and power wired up, ready to check the ECU and see if it would come to life, I heard a very strange noise. I had accidentally flipped on the rear wiper at some point and it was cleaning a nice layer of dust off the rear window. Was surprised and exciting that it works still, just like the rear heater.
All that remains for the swap is to get the exhaust system built from the cat back. Waiting on some new hangers, just couldnt get the originals to work with the new muffler and routing I wanted to do. Once that is all buttoned up, Ill be taking it down to the local Big-O and getting an alignment since its just down the street. Then its off to a Toyota dealer to get the ECU verified. The only real issue here is that.. well, I have it registered as non-operational and its up for renewal in August. I am kind of in a bind here because I need to put some miles on it so I can get the ECU monitors to pass before I take it into the referee. I can't get license plate tags until I get it smogged and I cant get it smogged until I get it through the referee. DMV wont give me anything but 1 day temp moving permits, which I only have 2 of. So I need to really get lucky and get my ECU monitors to set and take it to the Toyota dealer in the same day. Then hit up the referee and pass first try for my second 1 day permit. Keep your fingers crossed guys! Ill need it! Took me much longer the last time around.
Ooo, almost forgot, I got my AC hoses and PS high pressure hose back from Tri-Valley Hose. They did me right again, great stuff! They really can make anything happen. All 3 of these hoses are a mix of both the donor and recipient vehicles, one end from each.
I dont have any pictures/videos to post, nothing super interesting to show. But things are basically done with the swap and I am getting ready to go to the BAR ref. Yesterday I went and drove the 4Runner for the first time since I have owned it which was such a great moment. Its been a long year working on it, and it is a nice reward to finally get behind the wheel. This 'first' test drive did reveal some more lingering maintenance issues the previous owner failed to reveal which has caused a bit of a speed bump for me trying to get it to the ref. The speedometer cable is bound up, from what seems like corrosion in the cable. I got it all apart and I had to order a new one, there was no saving it or making a new cable, the housing is too junked up. I had an appointment to go through the BAR ref inspection next week but with out a speedometer cable, the ECU isnt getting a speed signal from the instrument cluster, and it wont set any of the drive cycle monitors to ready! I had it up on jack stands for 30 minutes trying to get at least 1 of them to set before i realized what was going on. So my plan was to take it down and get an alignment done (very badly needed), go to the exhaust shop and have them put a few finishing touches on the tail pipe, and then stop by the Toyota Dealer to get them to verify my ECU for the ref inspection, all while hoping I would get most of the monitors to set and be ready for next weeks appointment and only using 1 of my 2 single day moving permits i got from the DMV. Welll, half of that went as planned, the exhaust and alignment went great. But the toyota dealer wanted to charge me $185 to hook up the scanner and print out an invoice that says the ECU is too old to get any useful information off of. I was really frustrated with this.. last time they did it for free, I assume because I got lucky with the guys and they were actual toyota fans at a toyota dealer who wanted to help me out. I kind of went in expecting to be charged, but $185 for 5 minutes of work? The ref needs a Toyota invoice stating that they scanned the ECU and it is the correct ECU for the engine and it has not been flashed/altered. You cant do that with these ECUs and there is no reason to. So all they end up doing is hooking up the scanner, and getting basic information like we all get, and no CAL VIN or any other ID info off of it, its too old. Then they just type that into the invoice and let me go on my way.
If you cant tell im still angry about it, trying to call around to some other local dealers to see if anyone else is interested in it, but I don't think I'm going to get lucky with it this time.
$185 to type 2 sentences!!
My rear diff pinion seal is leaking horribly bad too. Going to change that out this weekend, and put new fluid in the trans, transfercase and diffs while im at it.
Good update. That's frustrating. Freeman Toyota in Santa Rosa might be able to help you. I'd give them a call. Also, I'd try Roseville Toyota, as there are lots of Toyotas in the Sierra foothills.
Good update. That's frustrating. Freeman Toyota in Santa Rosa might be able to help you. I'd give them a call. Also, I'd try Roseville Toyota, as there are lots of Toyotas in the Sierra foothills.
Thanks for the suggestions! I have an appointment with Livermore Toyota this week, if that doesn't work out, ill definitely call both of them up and see what they say. Its funny, when you try to explain over the phone what you need done, these service departments act like your speaking another language.
I found a set of tires for the 4Runner on craigslist. Only problem was that they were in Carson City NV! We made a deal and I decided to risk making the 3 hour drive over the sierras and pick them up. You can't see em, but in the back of my pickup is a nice set of barely used 32x11.5r15 BFG KO2s. On the way back I had to pull over and have a bite to eat while enjoying the nice summer day looking over lake tahoe. Was a really nice day for a long drive in the pickup. Averaged 20.5 mpg over the trip, not bad on 33's! Can;t wait to get these tires on the 4Runner, it needs new ones so bad. I just need to try and clean up the stock SR5 rims first, I honestly havent payed much attention to their condition, hoping they are not too corroded and just need a good cleaning. I think im going white letters out again, its a good look on these trucks i think! Hope you guys had a good weekend. Ill report back soon hopefully with good news about the ECU and the Ref!
That pickup looks soooo good!! Nice score on the tires. Love that tire size on my 4runner.
Well Livermore Toyota was even more expensive.. $170 to do the 'inspection' and write 2 sentences. I just let it go, at this point I need the paper to get through the ref and thats it. I paid and left, now hopefully the ref accepts it with out batting an eye!
After installing the brand new Toyota speedometer cable, I was also able to get all of my emissions monitors to set in the ECU so im 100% ready for the ref now! Super glad that they all set with out any trouble. What really helped was putting the 4runner up on jack stands to set the Evap monitor. After that, the rest of them set driving to the dealer and back. Whew.
I did find out my left tie rod and my pitman arm need replacement, should give me something to do this weekend along side replacing that pinion seal and possibly tearing apart the dash to replace a broken heater control cable..
Debating if I should install the new tires before or after the ref appointment. The current ones make it look a little homeless and bring down the overall look of 'how much does he care about this thing'.. but on the other hand, the 32's will probably hinder my smog test results a bit.
Wow.. Glad you're ready for the ref. I would keep the small tires for the ref.
Love the two side by side! We need to meet someday.
Definitely, I didn't realize you were local in the bay area! I ended up leaving the junk tires on, as much as I wanted to get the new ones installed its worth the wait if it helps the 4runner pass smog. I am pretty nervous about it, the test is in 2 days!
Over the weekend I decided to install a replacement out tie rod on the driver side, and a new idler arm. Both were shot, which is funny, because I just had it aligned and they didnt mention anything. You would think they would want to try and up sell me some over prices crap parts and labor. Maybe they could tell by looking at the 4runner.. no way I would pay it lol! The tie rod end was REALLY stuck on there good, had to use my dads oxyaceteline torch for it to finally give way.. The idler arm was quite a bit easier luckily. Good thing I paid the extra $30 for a free year of alignments, i bet they wont be happy to see me so soon!
After that chore was over, sunday I decided to tackle the leaky rear pinion seal. Damn that was job, and something I really regretted starting so close to the ref inspection once it was mid afternoon and still screwing with it. Someone had been into that diff before and it was over tight. I have never done any work on gearing/diffs and thankfully my dad (he is 80) came out to help. I am really lucky to have him around to help me when I get stuck. He was a mechanic most of his life, and owned a Semi truck diesel repair shop out in Livermore CA for 25 years. So when stuff is stuck, he always knows how to get it unstuck. Someone had over tightened the pinion bolt and my dad didnt think it would be a good idea to keep driving it with out checking the bearings and gears. Over tightening it is bad because there is a crush sleeve in there, which had been crushed too far, as well as shimmed up from the last guy. My dad ended up helping me disassemble the diff and with the help of a perfectly sized socket some luck and a hammer he pounded that crush sleeve enough to extended it a couple thousandths to give us some length back to torque that pinion down with the proper amount of tension on the bearings. This is by no means the most correct way to do this, but it was sunday afternoon, with the ref appointment 2 days away and no time to get these parts and get them installed by then. Luckily everything went back together just fine, new seal and all the bearings and gears still looked fine. Some of them had probably been replaced, too bad it was still kind of a sloppy job
So that was a fun last minute adventure before the ref. Around 3pm sunday I was really regretting starting that! It all came back together pretty quick though thankfully.
Passed the referee today on the first time through. Last time it took 3 tries, what a relief. Maybe its just me but I get so much anxiety sitting there while they do the inspection. Its very odd because you feel so helpless and in the dark. They took about an hour and a half all said and done. When you get there, you go in and do some initial paperwork, and hand over your documents and explain the basics of what you did. If you get through that ( dont forget your registration, receipts for engine and donor information ) then you move on to the next part, the inspection. You cant be out near where they do the inspection. They ask you to stay in the building next to the automotive shop. So your just sitting there alone most of the time listening. You hear your truck start up and pull into the garage. A little while later the head guy is walking in and out past me checking data on his computer, then going out and inspecting more stuff, this happens several times. You hear the truck start a few more times, idle for a while, then a dyno run for the smog test. He walks back in and out a few more times for more data all while saying NOTHING! Your just like ?!?! Trying not to bother the guy cause he holds your fate in his hands. In the end he passed me and I paid my $8.75 and got to put my sticker on the truck. The smog test came back kind of average, not really surprised with 157k miles on the engine, but it seems like I might need a new cat sooner than later.
There was one odd hiccup that happened. He was not able to find any information that said my 4runner had a 3.0 as the original engine. He showed me some state documents that only had info for the 22re. I thought that was super strange, he said it should be here if it had one. In the end it didn't matter, but I don't think he ever found what he was looking for.
Since I used a temp moving permit for the day, I decided to make more use of it and get the tires put back on and it re-aligned again.
You can tell if the 4Runner originally had a 22R-E or 3VZ-E engine by looking at the VIN or frame code.
If the VIN reads something like JT4RN66..... then the 4Runner had an "R" series engine which would be a 22R-E.
If the VIN reads something like JT3VN66..... then the 4Runner had a "VZ" series engine which would be a 3VZ-E.
Thanks!!! Your right, that is a great way to tell. I wonder how much it would have helped though, I only say that because it didnt seem like anthing I said would affect it since he needed to find reference in his docs for it. I bet after enough searching there must be the right info in his data somewhere, as I didnt have this issue with my pickup, its an 88 3.0 originally as well. Very odd! My vin is a VZ series.
06-06-2019, 04:54 PM
