One other issue plaguing my friend's '92 4Runner is the big intake "hose" that is between the TB and the plastic triangle looking thing is broken in a few places. Duct tape makes feeble attempts at keeping leaks to a minimum.

From air filter to engine it goes:

Round air box/filter-->plastic hose-->plastic triangle elbow-->plastic hose (this one needs replaced)-->throttle body

What do I ask for at the parts counter and does O'Reilly/Autozone carry this?

 

Sorry, but I dont' think you'll find that piece at a parts store, it's a dealer item. I know because I recently replaced mine. Mine had two cracks in it where it attaches to the TB.
Not even the local Toyota dismantlers had one. I don't have the part no. but I told the parts guy at the dealer I needed an "intake elbow" and he seemed to know what I meant from that description. FWIW, I paid about $60 for it.

 

Horray! A $60 piece of hard rubber hose!! I figured it would be a stealer-only part that would be expensive. Hers is split @ the TB and broken nearly in half at a couple of the "wrinkles" near where it connects to the plastic triangle. That part happened when trying to get it off said triangle upon one night of tool flinging, cursing fun w/ the truck.

Did yours seem to run any better upon replacement?

 

Yeah, I couldn't believe how expensive it was either. Mine was already cracked (which I had also duct taped) but while trying to troubleshoot another problem, I decided to clean out the TB. When doing this, I decided to try to re-duct tape the elbow and that's when the two cracks it had split and a whole pieced broke off. At that point, I figured there was no way of fixing it. Oh, and the truck did seem to have a little bit better throttle response with the new elbow.

I was amazed at the difference between the old one and the new one. The new one feels like soft rubber (almost too soft) where as the old one was hard, brittle plastic.

 

2 suggestions:

1) Junkyard

2) Foil tape (the kind used to seal air ducts in buildings)

 

I was thinking of filling the area w/ silicone, but while I would do that on my own vehicle she will throw a fit at such southern engineering.

Stealership wants $66+tax and they have the part. I'll call the local parts store, if they don't have it or don't know what the hell I'm talking about (as I certainly don't) I'll just go get the stupid thing from Toyota. It's not worth searching the world over, just fix it.

Thanks for all the gracious help!

 

for that money you might as well do the ISR mod. Just my .02

 

What's an ISR mod? Will it give it more power? Or just any power at all? This thing has got to be the most gutless pile on the road. You have to keep it on the floor to get it to go down the highway and it won't even keep 70-75 mph. You don't make many friends on the highway at less than 70 mph. Turning off O/D just raps it up to about 4000-4500 rpms but doesn't go any faster. Quite pathetic for a vehicle that's 4.xx geared w/ 30" tires.

Apparently it's called an "intake hose" (duh) and if I recall looking at parts guy's screen this one is #1 and the other one that goes to the air box is #2. It did seem to help it idle and run a little better. And yes the new part was soft and squishy.

 

check out Corey's write up https://www.yotatech.com/~corey/tech/blu_intake/blu.htm