Hello I am new to the forum and I just bought a 2002 4runner 3.4L V6 having owned a 1993 manual some time ago.

I have been doing a bit of research and read about the radiator sharing cooling space with the engine and the transmission ? This would be new (mechanically) to me and was wondering if you would recommend a re-route that would include an additional cooler that separates the two ? I read that the two coolants can mix. ?

Also is there anything else that I should look out for ?

I changed the oil and discovered how sharp the plate is surrounding the drain plug. (needed 10 stitches) Yea that sucked.

The coolant looked good.....all clear not milky. ( mentioned my concern above )

The timing belt was done 25K ago but I was going to pull the cover and inspect.

I have heard a little squeaking on the the serpentine belt possibly so I may replace that for good measure.

The valve gasket appears to be leaking a little but nothing major.

I do have some shaking upon applying the breaks and reaching speeds up around 70mph. I read that the rotors are a bit small for the weight of the vehicle but you can upgrade to the Tundra rotors pretty easily. I imagine the current ones on there have never been turned either so I would attempt this first. I will also have the alignment checked and the tires balanced to see if this resolves the shaking.

There was a few cosmetic issues in the cabin. The clock was pushed in so I pulled the dash and reset in its proper place. The lock on the passenger side was down in the interior of the door so I pulled that out and set in its proper place.

Lastly I attempted to add an external switch to the rear door that would allow me to roll the window up and down without the key in the ignition. I found the wire that runs the motor down but I can't find wire that rolls it up. From my research it's supposed to be the Green with a Red Stripe but that wire does not run the motor up for some reason and I have grounded every other wire in the harness in an attempt to activate the motor in that direction with no luck. If anyone has attempted this mod and could provide some guidance that would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading and if you know of additional areas I should be inspecting please lmk.

Thanks for reading.

 

Welcome aboard.

Yes the rad can crack internally, and leak into the heat exchanger where the trans fluid is, if you never see cold temps you can bypass it and use a external trans cooler. I just put a new rad in every 15-20 years, or say 200,000mi

Lower ball joints, OEM only, if your lifted they bind and fail, if neglected they fail, change every 200,000mi or 15-20 years.

Timing belt is good for a long long time, I have over 300,000Km on one of mine, non interference engine so your good till the water pump or a pulley gives out usually.

No Serpintine belt, you have 3 separate belts, I haven't had good luck with aftermarket here, mitsuboshi and one other brand is what OEM used.

Do not turn the front rotors, it will make them even thinner and warp quicker, I have never needed the TBU on any of my 4R's even with 33" tires, as long as you got the bigger of the 4runner brakes systems (265/70R16 tires size on door sticker)and your rear drums are working properly, you should be good. 70mph shake could be anything, make sure you grease the 5 locations on the rear driveshaft every oil change, and the front drive shaft if you use 4x4 lots.

There are 2 different window systems for 3rd gens depending on year,. There is power all the time at the hatch key for up and down, perhaps tap into those.

Get good at using the FSM, lots of info once you figure out where it all is, rear window body electrical stuff is in there aswell.
https://www.ether3al.com/runner96-02fsm/

 

Welcome as well, as Malcom99 pointed out the major things to be aware as a "new" owner of a later 3rd Gen. The Tundra upgrade is a huge upgrade for our 4runners and I also did a mod sourcing all my parts from a wrecking yard. I have since upgraded those parts with new rotors and pads. Super upgrade and lots of guys on here have done this using mine and others write ups. I just did a major tune up on mine with new spark plug coils, new wires and new OEM spark plugs. She runs super again at 210,000 miles. If you don't know the status of these two items then it is pretty simple to do yourself and it isn't expensive at all, the plugs (and use Denso OEM Toyota dual tipped plugs) and the spark plug wires. I used NGK this time. Great preventative maintenance to ward of the dreaded CEL 300 series error codes! Besides the normal items that Malcom described and your concern with the "strawberry milkshake" you can install a transmission cooler and bypass the factory tranny cooling or replace the radiator. I have been toying around with installing two tranny coolers out of Ford Rangers pickups or early model Explorers and capping off the OEM cooling through the stock radiator. If the correct preventative maintenance was NOT performed religiously on the cooling system, you may be on borrowed time. I have only used Toyota branded red coolant. Consider spending the little extra buying the factory branded coolant. My truck is still a work in progress as I have since installed input and output tranny temp gauges. Its an ongoing mod of my '98. Feel free to ask questions here, search previous mods, posts, questions etc. Enjoy the ride and there are lots of very knowledgeable folks on here. Enjoy!

 

Thanks for the reply Malcolm ....that is a wealth of information.

I was recently looking into what exactly I bought and discovered that I have the ARB lock system in the front vs the elocker in the back and from what I have read it sounds as if the rear lock would be for the toughest of terrain. I also had heard a bit about the limited mobility of steering when a locker is engaged and this I am guessing would be a side effect of locking the front ? Would then the 4wd high be considered an all-wheel drive hybrid and then the 4wd low would locked would be considered a true 4wd ?

What is the biggest difference between the two locks and how easily could I replace the rear axel with the elocker ?

Lastly I am mainly going to be driving in the sand in Mexico on surf trips and possibly some ravines but nothing to heavy. I dont think that I would need the elocker but maybe it would inspire bigger and more treacherous terrain. Ha ha I kinda want to go F***** something up and find out what I am dealing with so I know its limitations.

 

Thanks for the reply Ritzy.....

I am defiantly going to look at bypassing the radiator with an external cooler. That sounds like a nightmare. What is the dreaded CEL 300 codes ? I could some research but it sounds like you have 1st hand knowledge of these codes ?

Wires and plugs are a great idea ....Now NGK or OEM dual tip ?

 

You have to run NGK or Denso Dual ground electrode plugs as per the sticker on the T-belt cover or it may damage the coils, both where used at Japan's flag ship Tahara assembly plant.

The front Locker is suppose to work well if your going in a straight line, nice option. The rear E-locker option for Automatic 4Runners included 4.30 gears in the front and rear diff's, inorder to add the e-locker you would need to match the diff's ratio, most Automatic 4R's with no e-locker have 4.10 gears. Manual Trans 4R with e-locker may have 4.10 gears, If you search you will find write-ups as to what is involved with adding the factory e-locker, the ratio is stamped on the ring gear. Ritzy actually asked the same question back in 2008. With front and rear locked you wouldn't be able to turn very well at all, you would have all 4 tires turning at the exact same speed regardless. There are lots of other options for lockers front and rear.

Steve at Sonoran Steel is a excellent source for parts and information.
http://www.sonoransteel.com/phong/re...ic_locker.html

Here is an excellent explanation of the different 4WD systems that where offered in the 4R, I'm a big fan of the Multimode system and the old style manual j-shifter.
https://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-g...ulti-mode.html

Enjoy, lots of info on these rigs, just have to dig through the chatter, although its been oddly quiet on YT.

EDIT: P0300 multiple cylinder misfire, flagged by the on-board diagnostic system, OBD2.

 

Malcolm hit it on the head, and yes I did ask the similar question as I was looking into doing a read end swap to have a factory elocker. LOTS of work but maybe some day. As for the "tune-up". Absolutely a must to use the dual tip plugs I found OEM plugs online in the Toyota boxes and they were Denso dual tip My lat set was NGK and I will be posting up some post install pics as the plugs had about 50K miles and the electrode tips were a bit oval shaped. Back to factory installed Denso. Used NGK wire set. She is running like new again! I ended up also buying some after market coils so the set of all three items was less then $100 the plugs were only about $20 and the wire set like maybe $25? Start with "new" and you know where you are. Best of luck with your "Toy"