96 4runner project
 

Hello everyone, im in the process of buy a 96 4runner that needs a new engine... My question is if I could put a newer year engine... I found a few 2001 engines. Thank you

Yaaaaaa!!!!! Soo I fanilly bough my 97 4runner. The PO told me the cylinder 3 have low pressure soo im going to do a pressure test tomorrow

You can. Any year 96-02 just look at the exhaust they are different manifold wise and flage think it goes 96-99. 2000-02

well. here it is, my 97 4runner 4wd, auto tranny, with 225K miles. low compression on cylinder #3, no dents, paint ok, clean interior. sunroof. Found it on CL for $1500. I think I got a deal.

Attachment 164587

Looks good! Body looks very clean for that mileage.

You should try the seafoam/marvel mystery oil stuff before you do anything super expensive with that low compression. Texas_Ace has a great writeup on how to do the treatments and most have had good results.

Yeah, I think you got a pretty good deal on that. 4Runners around here seem to hold their value pretty well. I'd be shocked to find that for $1500 near me. Nice buy!

is there a way to get the CEL codes without the OBD2 scanner code reader... None of the auto part in my area do it for free. :(

It's a good del got mine for 1600. Have fun with the motor swap lol. It's a pia. U dont have to remove the radiator, or disconnect the power steering or ac just unbolt them and hold them out of your way. You will have to unplug all the connectors off the tranny because all the wiring comes out with it. Got any more questions feel free to ask or pm me just got done with mine 3weeks ago. Ps it's worth it in the end

thank you crazypaint!!! Im going to get the CEL codes first and see what I got to work with... The PO wasn't not sure what was wrong with the engine.... He was telling me one thing and his wife was telling another.. the 4runner run good so I'm going to start from the cheapest solution.

Ok, so last night I went and bought me a cheap OBD2 scanner code reader.. I just come back from checking the codes and I got three codes
P0303
P0300
P1300

Im going to chance the cables and spark plugs today, any suggestion on the brands

Soo, I changed the spark plugs and cables. still have code P0303 and cant take spark plug from cylinder #3.... soo it seem that I might have to replace the engine after all... if you have any suggestion, you be more that welcome..
here is a pic of the old spark plugs
Attachment 164394

Any suggestions on how to take a stuck spark plug out of the head.. I even tried cheater bar to break it loose but woulnt bunch!!!

Did you shoot some PB Blaster or other penetrant down the hole?

Hmm, needs dual electrode spark plugs too. :)

yeah!!! I put wd40 over night and nothing happened...

Wd40 and blaster are different. Blaster is what you need for this project

Like crazy said, use PB Blaster overnight and you should be able to get the plug out.

Also, like he said, you should use dual electrode spark plugs. Instead of having one little metal thing on the end, they'll have two. There should even be a little picture on the timing cover on the front of your engine that shows a little picture of the two, with a big "x" through the single electrode plug.

As far as what brand plugs and wires, ONLY use NGK/Denso plugs and wires. You will save yourself time and trouble by paying a little bit more for the OEM stuff. You don't have to go to the dealership, they sell Denso/NGK wires and plugs at your local parts store.

Here's plugs you should use:

These:
http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/web...034%7CL3*16071

Or these:
http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/web...034%7CL3*16071

And here's the wires you should use:
http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/web...034%7CL3*16072

UPDATE!!!!!!!! Thank you guys!!!!! I went and bought the PB Blaster and let send overnight and it work!!!!!! Well, with a little of elbow grease too but I did it.. Change the spark plug and no more codes!!!!!!!!
spark plug #3
Attachment 163993
new one with a lot of the anti?
Attachment 163994
and the next thing i'm replacing on the engine... but why are soo expensive?????
http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/web...923%7CL2*15034
Also, as I was doing the test run, I tried to run the A\C but it wasn't cold at all.. So I check this little tank. I forgot the name of it, but isn't it has to be green when the A\C system is full?

oooppppssss!!!!! I forgot to post the pic of the A\C
Attachment 163992

you likely have a leak somewhere if you can't see any fluid. I'm having to replace my condenser in a month or so.

Nice job getting the old plug out. Good idea with the anti-seize, but try to keep it on the threads only, lol. And like chadsy said, you probably have a leak somewhere.

My AC system has been leaking for the last few years. It must be a pretty small leak though, because I haven't been able to find it, and it takes months for the system to lose the refrigerant and fail to cool. Before every Summer I just go get a can from the parts store and recharge the system. I usually forget about it until the following Summer. It's cheaper for me to spend $20/year on A/C than to go have it worked over.

EDIT: Also, I see you posted that you're changing the boot on one of the coil packs. Is there something wrong with yours? If you're talking about getting new coil packs, you should go OEM.

Wouldn't it be nice if every engine swap was really just a bad spark plug? Congrats

Nice work getting that plug out. PB Blaster to the rescue yet again. :-)

I change all the boots because they were soo old and bad.

Thank you JBurt and rworegon. I was lucky it was only a bad spark plug and I was able to take it out..:grouphug: You guys should of heard the noises that spark plugs was making when I was turning it.....
Now my other problems to fix are the A/C, I cant open the driver side door with the key and a water leak somewhere infront of the engine. After all this little issues are fix, then the mods would begin:banger:

Is the water coming in from behind the gas/brake pedals? If so, it's likely a drip coming down through the grommet in the firewall. The grommet is right under the brake booster on the engine side. If any aftermarket wires have been routed through that grommet, it's known to leak a small drip of water down the wires and into the floor.

Recharge the A/C. If it works, then you probably just have a leak somewhere.

If it's just the key cylinder in the door, you can get those fairly cheap and have it keyed to your car key. The removal/install is pretty easy. If you did the spark plugs, you can do that.

Nice work on the truck!

I just found out the my runner has rust on the roof. :facepalm: I read a few post about this problem been pretty common on this model. I guess it was too good to be true on the price.. Now I don't know what to do about it. It has rust on all four conners of the roof rack....:(

On the leak situation, it looks like it is leaking for the thersmostat housing... Like between the water pump and the block... It doesn't leak too bad and doesn't over heat. But it is kinda annoying.

On the key problem, I bought the runner from the bay area. So I put some wd40 in the key hole to clean the interior and didn't work.. Did I made it worse? does it have any sensor inside? and can I take off the part from inside or outside?

here are some pics of the rust and the leak.
Attachment 163750
Attachment 163751
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and after I wash it :banger:
[IMG]http://i966.photobucket.com/albums/ae141/7nor0
cal7/IMAG0289.jpg[/IMG]
some of the interior just to show you how clean is inside
Attachment 163754
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after washing it
Attachment 163749

She looks pretty good. Despite the rust and water leak, you didn't get ripped off for only $1500. You could sell it right now for a profit if you wanted.

If you're really worried about the roof rack rust, pull the roof rack off and have a look at the spots closer up. You could probably pull the roof rack and spend a few hundred bucks at a body shop having them clean those spots up. Stopping the rust before it eats through too much of that metal would be ideal.

If the water leak isn't slowing you down too much, you can keep refilling with coolant and live with it. When you want to tackle a project, you can get a new water pump gasket and/or water pump and replace the old stuff. It's not too bad of a job, and there are extensive writeups around here.

thanks 98sr54runner, Ill do that next week.. I had 3 2nd gen 4runners and worked on the 3vze engine before... HUGE different on the power of the engine. I have decided to keep it and fix the problems slow it..

And to begin on the mods, I found out that one of the fog lights is out..
Attachment 163588
I had been reading a few threads and decided to go for a bigger fog lights: however, I don't know nothing on electrical issues... I read on a tread that people have to upgrade the wires or you can burn your vehicle... How can I tell if I have to upgrade the wires of the fog light I already have? also, which fog lights would you guys recommend me.. Ill have like $200 to spend. I heard the PIAA are good.

I think what you're talking about as far as upgrading the wires was guys that were taking 100w halogen bulbs and installing them in place of standard 55w bulbs. This is totally doable, but you'd definitely want to upgrade the wiring. Any set of fog lights that you buy will come with wiring that will be plenty suitable for their use. If you really wanted to upgrade the wiring for the set you buy, you could go as low a gauge as you wanted, but it's not really necessary.

Before you go and do all that, you should do some testing on the broken fog light. Is the wiring broken or disconnected somewhere? Is the bulb out? It might be a cheap fix, at least to sell if you're sure you want to go with bigger lights.

If you want to get in to upgrading the wiring, or if you plan to have much more than that set of fog lights on the battery, you should consider the "big three" upgrade. You can google and read tons about this mod.

PIAAs are good, Hellas are good, KCs are awesome. It's all about personal preference and budget. There are tons of brands, all varying in quality/style/price.

This is what I want to upgrade to.
http://www.performance4trucks.com/Li...FW6CQgodB2gAew

well, I had some time to take the rack today and doesn't look right so I took it to the only body shop in town and they told me it needs a roof job which would run me between $3k to $4K.... I asked them if we could patch it and even that would be around $2k.. now I don't know what to do... Im going to ask more around, but here some pics
Attachment 163424
this is the worse spot of the roof
http://i966.photobucket.com/albums/a...7/IMAG0304.jpgIMG]
Attachment 163425
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I'm far from an expert in this area, but the roof is made of basically sheet metal. I would think that it would be possible to cut out those rust spots and weld some new metal in. They don't seem to be that big relative to the size of the roof. Then do some body work on that metal and make it match half-way decently. I wouldn't care if the paint was off or whatever, it's the roof and half-covered by the rack. I figured a body shop would be willing to do something like that, but you may have to get more inventive than taking it to the local body joint.s

I agree. Doesn't seem like too big of a deal. That could be cut out and have something else put in. You could even just take an angle grinder and take as much rust out as you could and then use a rust treatment, then patch up the rest with fiberglass or bondo. Definitely not the right way to do it but it would buy you a couple years. If you didn't worry about putting the rack back on it's even easier.

And the mods begins!!!!!! well, I had a change to work on my 4runner by replacing the fog light.. I got some cheap ones for now, in the future, i'm be putting some PIAA. Here is how is looking now.
Attachment 162595
for $20 for the lights, it make my runner better.. I also refill the a/c and it is working like new....
Attachment 162596

Now I have to save some money to upgrade the stereo.. Im getting tired of listening to country music.. My friend just let me borrow the cassette adaptor to plug my ipod...

so im looking for a lift kit and im debating on this two:
http://www.roughcountry.com/suspensi...ft-kit-771.php
http://www.toyteclifts.com/index.php...mart&Itemid=72

I have read a lot of the toytec lifts but those treads are a few years old and not too much on the rougth county lifts........ Im more for the toytec lift because of the front spacers... I don't think a piece of tube with a piece of plate welded both ends is stronger that a solid block... However, Im new to this kid of stuff... would like to heard your opinion on this two kits.

Hi everybody,
New guy here, I'm following this thread just to see what you are doing to it.
I have a '96 3.4L 4Runner and last year I lifted it with a Sonoran Steel 1.2 Kit.
Now I'm looking to upgrade brakes and posibly wheels (I'm rolling 15" stock rims).
So far I haven't found anybody selling bolt on brake conversions for this model.
AllPro kits seems to be for up to '95 models.
I saw the Tundra conversion on the front ones but nothing for the rear ones (unless you want to scavenge parts from everywhere).
Anyway...
Looking forward to the mods on your rig here!!!!
Cheers,

soo I installed a nice stereo for nothing...hahahaha.... I was surfing on the net the other day and saw this great deal on a pioneer app radio and decided to buy it.. when I installed, I couldn't play my old ipod.. this stereo only works with the Iphone 4 and up or the ipod touch 4 gen... which I don't have any of them... luckily my coworker is buying it from me for what I paid.... I already order anpther one.

Attachment 161720
took the amp out of the 4R to make room on the back
Attachment 161721
when I took the antenna cable, I noticed this other smaller cable. does anyone know what is the cable for?
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Wow! that looks nice.

thank you ferincr. it sound good, too. my next time is to replace the stock speakers and hook up a couple amps.

I change mine a couple of years ago too, but living here in Costa Rica I had to go with something less flashy. (you have to if you love your windows, dash, and stereo) So mine has a detachable front and USB plug so I have my music in a flash drive.
AS far as brakes I got an email from Kurtis from All Pro Offroad and told me unfortunately no brake kits for 96 and up 4runners :(.