After weeks of one thing after another going wrong with Mr. Yoda I have broke down and taken him to the stealership.

Here is a list of what I did before taking him in:
Tranny rebuild
New belts
Throttle cable
New hoses (all of them)
Some radiator patching
Coolant flush
Injector cleaning
Idle adjustment
New tires
New alarm
New front axles
New shocks
Little stuff here and there
TOTAL $3600 give or take some

Now after this Mr. Yoda ran very differently. At idle the truck started shaking and seemed to be missing now and then. Most importantly I was aware of some leaks after doing an oil change myself. Not one leak, not two, no no .... about six. Some antifreeze and some oil, others were power steering fluid. I tried everything I could think of and read many many posts to try to figure these leaks out. I also got some opinions from other shops. I knew where 4 of the 6 leaks were coming from, the antifreeze was a mystery.
The stealership mechanic pulled me aside cause I asked them to run a check on the campaine and where my truck stood since I bought it with 162,000 miles on it already. It had already been done in 1997, then he said "you wanna hear something amazing?" I said sure, why not .... he said "You have the original spark plugs still in your truck from day it rolled off the 'new car' lot." I couldnt help but laugh hysterically .... one thing I never checked cause the guy who sold it to me said he changed them (LIAR!) To make a really long story short ..... here's what's being done at the stealership because I don't have the time, nor the garage space:

tune up (duh)
cam seal
crank seal
timing belt
water pump (cause of antifreeze leak, but radiator shop couldnt seem to find it .. hmmmm)
oil cooler o-rings
power steering pump
power steering box
idler bearing
steering wheel alignment (big tire abuse)
Total ..... $2600

Toyota tried to charge me $2711 for a power steering gear box ... I laughed at them again and showed up with a used one for $125.

Ok, done babbling. Just wanted to share ... how girlie of me teehee!

 

That's some serious bills
Hope it works out great.
You should keep the plugs and frame them

 

Bahahaha! I should cause that's just insane!

 

$3600+$2600= New Truck.....

IMO.

 

I wish I could have seen the look on the stealer's face when you walked in with the 125 part vs going with their 2700 part!!!

 

Yes, I know and it was hard to make the decsion on whether or not to just get a new one, BUT I got this truck for free and I have put a lot of into it to make it the way I want it. Understand my addiction!

 

Not only did I walk in with that part .. but I am female so he questioned whether or not I got the right part and if it worked , blah blah blah .... it was definitely a Kodak moment when the Yota mechanic came in and said "looks good." Salesman ... er serviceman Eric was not a happy camper so he tried to jack up the labor cost .... didn't happen mwahahaha.

 

I had a 1993 pre-taco and gave me so many problems..I had several thousands of $$$ of added up bills of things that broke and other stuff ( the whole electrical went out and needed a new harness as well) It almost made me go the chevy and get an "american" car because I was so mad at toyota...but my Dad's ( later my) 1991 4runner ran so well...and my wife's toyota was/is also such a good car I stayed loyal to toyota...just some times you get a bad egg...man that little truck was such a pain in the butt...It would not go a week without something going wrong.

 

Now I get your girlie comment on the first post, seems I'm getting a little bit slow. Good for you, teaching them greedy people some manners.

 

You rebuilt your own tranny? Will you marry me? LOL j/k

Seriously, that's very bad arse that you did that stuff yourself. Doing the alarm yourself is also very impressive. Doing mine was a major PITA so I have a lot of respect for anyone that can tackle that job.

Wanna help me change my ADD hubs over to manuals, replace a CV boot, replace the timing belt, water pump, do the ford tarus electric fan mod, and do the ECT mod? And what the heck, a set of ball joint spacer installs too?

 

Dude, my 91 pickup had the origional plugs, too. I have them sitting in my garage.

Were they all corroded looking? Mine looked caked in white-ish crap. They had almost no gap.

Still, 155k on origional plugs isn't as bad as your 170k. I feel sorry for your Runner.

 

I didn't do ALL of that myself. Some I did myself, some I had help with, and others I had done at a shop only because I am pressed for time ..... I would prefer to do it all myself ....... build me a bigger garage and we'll talk!

 

I haven't seen the plugs yet, but I am going to ask to see them and a few other things.

 

This might be a dumb question or at least obvious but how did the dealership mechanic know those were the original plugs from the day it rolled off the lot? just curious

 

He pulled off the wires and tried to wiggle one out, but it was melted in. Guess from what he saw they were whatever brand Toyota puts in thier new trucks. I don't know, didn't get into much detail with him about it, too busy laughing!

 

Mine said 'DENSO' on the side, and were corroded to hell. Plus I picked up around a dozen MPG after I changed the plugs.

 

...with new problems.

What MO dealer was this?

 

Something to look forward to, thanks!

 

It wasn't a Toyota dealership, just a little rinky dink place.

 

I feel your pain. Here is what I have done on my Celica (with 60,000 miles on it). I think the previous owner beat the crap out of it.

Last summer:
Replaced all coolant hoses
Turbo rebuilt (smoking out of tailpipe)
Oil cooler O rings
Intake hoses
valve cover gasket
changed oil, tranny fluid, rear differential fluid, coolant, transfer case fluid
Spark Plugs, rotor, cap, wires
Other misc stuff
Total ~$1,000


Last month:
New Toyota OEM head gasket
ARP head studs
Head rebuild and mild porting
New Timing belt & drive belts
New oil seals: rear main, front crank, cam, oil pump.
New turbo coolant hoses, new water pump
Stage II 1/2 Cermatellaic clutch
New power steering pump (leaking)
Total ~$3,000

If i didn't love this car, it would have been long gone by now!!