As the title says, I bought a 1995 4Runner for $350, though I initially bought it for $600 but the seller gave me back $250 when the brakes totally gave out shortly after leaving. Apparently keeping the brake fluid topped off had worked up until then. I had tried to sell it back to him for $400 just to be done with it, at which point he gave me $250 back bringing me to $350 for the truck, plus $80 for the unexpected tow. According to the owner it had been sitting for 7 years due to an engine problem (a misfire) and he had driven it periodically in that time when his other truck was broke down. When I bought it I knew it had the misfire and that it needed new rear brake lines, a good amount of suspension work, some exhaust work and all the regular maintenance due from 7 years of sitting (fluids, pads & rotors, etc). On a positive note, the tires are basically brand new.





The first thing I did was drop it off to a mechanic relative to replace the rear brake lines as I didn't have time and would have got the lines bent by someone else anyways. I had him bypass the leaking proportioning valve for simplicity's and cost's sake (is it ok to bypass the proportioning valve?) After that I took it to a mechanic to diagnose the engine problem, they found no compression in cylinder 6 then ran a camera down and found a burnt valve. I hesitated to fix it as I've never done anything deeper in an engine than a valve cover gasket so I put it on Craigslist for all of a day then changed my mind and decided to go ahead and pull the heads off.

Everything came apart surprisingly easy, I probably have a little less than 10 hours in on the teardown. I'd like advice on getting the crankshaft bolt off though, I tried an impact wrench, a breaker bar propped against the ground using the starter motor and finally a piece of angle iron bolted to the pulley (the angle iron and bolts bent). Anything else I can try short of a stronger impact or a stronger steel pulley holder? I took the heads to a local machine shop for the valve job, I got them back and put them on earlier this week (I got the Toyota "engine overhall gasket kit" if it's worth noting). I also bought a set of ebay stainless steel headers/cat bypass that I put on today, they seem to fit well except that I'm going to have to move what I assume is the transfer case cooler. I also have a problem in that one of the bolts that holds the heater core line to the top of the block is stripped.





As the engine sits now:


I finally got it jacked up and the wheels off today to begin replacing rusted lower control arms, the passenger one is barely holding together. I'll also be checking all the suspension components while I'm there, I haven't dealt with torsion suspension before so any tips/tricks/warnings are appreciated. So far in the suspension I know I need to replace both lower control arms, struts all around, rear springs and who knows what when it comes to ball joints, tie rods and sway bar links.

Rotted lower control arm:


So as of now I'm roadblocked from assembling the engine by a stripped bolt in the block, I can't do my timing job until I get the crankshaft bolt off, can't finish my exhaust until I move the transfer case cooler and I probably wont be able to get any body work done this year because of my lack of a garage and the cooling weather. Sorry for the long first post, I do want to give a general thanks to the community here as your posts have helped me along the way.

 

Wow that is some crazy rot on that control arm! For the crank bolt, I have read that some people use a Dremel to cut relief cuts in the flange of the crank bolt. I've never done it, but seems like it should work. The starter method has always worked for me, but maybe in the rust belt the bolt seizes to the crank.

 

I cut reliefs in my bolt. The flange acts like a lock washer, it's concave and cutting reliefs in it allows it to flex away from the pulley. After i cut reliefs in mine it only took a minute to pop off. Of course doing this requires replacing the bolt.

 

The body looks to be in great shape from the pictures. Welcome to Yotatech.

 

Thanks for that tip. I'm going to borrow a more powerful impact from someone and if that doesn't work I'll probably try your method.

Thanks, the body is in worse shape than the pictures imply. There's rust around all the wheel wells, the bottom of the doors, the rockers and the tailgate are really rough. I'm going to replace the fenders and the tailgate, I'm unsure if I want to go too much further than that. Either way, body work will be a project for next summer.


On my last day of working on the truck I managed to get the front end all put back together except for the inner/outer tie rods on the drivers side which I had to order. For the front end I replaced shocks, sway bar links, upper & lower ball joints, CV axles and lower control arms on both sides. I got the exhaust installed the rest of the way except for connecting it to the muffler because it's coming up a little short of the muffler. The flanges are hanging maybe 3"- 4" apart but I can pull back the muffler to within an inch or so but no more, I didn't mess with it much but it's close enough that I'm sure I'll be able to make it work somehow. Finding a place to put the transfer case cooler may be a chore though, I've found people who'v had to move it when they install solid front axles but their mounting positions don't look like they'd work for me. It looks like I'm going to have to put it uncomfortably close to the exhaust or farther away than I'd like.

And a random question.... Anyone know where the oil dipstick tube mounts to on the 3vze? Was it to the exhaust manifolds heat shield? If so I removed that for my headers, anyone have any good mounting ideas?

 

I'm looking for some insight on the problem that this truck has had it's whole life and has followed through at least two engines. Some background... The guy I bought this from claimed to have put two engines in the truck and had the same problem with both of them, he didn't offer many details other than that he said one of the swaps was done by a local Toyota dealership and the next swap at an independent shop. In general he didn't seem to know a lot about the problem it had or why it required two engine swaps other than that it was the same problem both times apparently. I already had doubts about his story but my doubts seemed confirmed when I went to the dealership they pulled the service records and only showed one record of the truck being in there and that was for a timing belt replacement at 137k miles in December 2009. However, I just looked at Toyota.com's service history and they show more service records at the same dealership that the dealership didn't offer up to me when I was there.

There's two records in particular that are notable. In April of 2005, at 80k miles the previous owner had the truck in and their comments are as follows: "Replaced plugged PCV valve, added 3 quarts of oil, cleaned oil out of intake. Customer states vehicle seems sluggish has noticed smoke from exhaust and is using oil." The next record, at 104k miles in July of 2007 says: "Replace customer supplied engine assembly - Install customer supplied engine" This seems to confirm his story, I even tend believe that he had another swap done after the one at the dealer as he claimed to have done. And through three different engines what seems to be the same problem arose. The current (third) engine had a burnt valve and when taking it apart the egr was completely clogged.

I'm hoping someone may have some insight on this, how can the same problem follow two or three engines? What outside the engine could be at play here?

 

So the EGR tube is depositing oil into the intake?

 

I don't think so, the tube going from the EGR (I think it's from the EGR, see pic below) into the intake plenum was completely clogged with rock hard carbon build up for about 3-4 inches at the end where the two holes are. After reading up how oil in the intake often relates to the PCV valve I took that out and it does seem a little oily at the outlet. I ordered another PCV valve just because it's cheap and I have easy access. Would the burnt exhaust valve have caused oil to blow into the intake through the PCV? I'm just hoping my piston rings aren't bad because I did not check.

The tube that was clogged is the one pulled half way out at the middle of the intake plenum: