Hey, I am looking at a 91 SR5 automatic 4runner, what should I look for to make sure it will last? What usually goes wrong with them? It has 200,000 miles on the body, The engine was rebuilt at a toyota dealer at 140,000 the transmission is under warranty and has 24,000 on it. Does any one out there off road with an automatic? Any input will help, Thanks Nate

 

well normally i would say head gasget recall, but you say the engine's been rebuilt so it obviously would have been replaced

umm... other than that *shrug* timing belt?

 

Also, How many automatics are out there, I really want a standard but at$ 5,500 this one seems like a good deal. should I jump on it or hold out? Does any one out ther go off roading with an automatic?

 

Well I don't have too much to say in the way of off-roading with and auto, but I'm also looking into a 94' in about the same price range and it's an atuo so I would like to know how the 3.0 and the auto fair off-raod. I would love to hold out for a 5spd but it's hard to pass such an amazing deal by. Sorry I know I didn't add much I just added another head to the auto orff-road question.

 

The auto trucks have less power since the tranny sucks up some of the tiny power of the 3.0 - if you can live with that then no worries.

One quirk of the auto tranny is that the truck won't shift into 4th until it reaches operating temps. If you get an auto truck with the 31" tire package then you likely have 4.88 gears which are nice.

 

make sure and check that the cv boots are still sealed properly and no oil is leaking....i got screwed on that one.....of course i didn't even know what cv boots were back then ( a whole 4 mo. ago )

 

I replace CV boots all the time. I think its called a feature if the factory won't admit to it being a defect. Actually I found a torn inner CV boot on my passenger side this weekend when I dropped the tranny. I have manual hubs so obviously this is happening when I go offroad.

 

Some talks on autos/manuals

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/show...ghlight=tranny

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/show...ghlight=tranny

There's more archived here also.

 

victor...do you replace the cv boots yourself....and if so is it hard to do...thanks

 

You'll have to take off your hubs whether they are ADD or manual. You have to get a 54 mm (2 1/8)socket to remove the big nut that holds then end of the axle shaft. Now here's the worst part. I have always disconnected my top balljoint to let the spindle down. Now when you remove the 6 bolts that hold the inner side of the CV axle there will be enough room to move that side off its studs. I am going to remove the 6 studs this time and go to a bolt shop and get same sized metric bolts so in the future I don't have to disconnect the balljoints. Anyone out there who has done an SAS want to sell off their axle shafts?