tarsotenorio

Guys, firs time posting here! My name is Tarso, I'm from Brasil and just came back from San Diego - CA. While in SD I had a 2000 4runnner with more than 300.000 miles and I used to love the car. Actually I still love it, but I had to sell it to come back. Now that I'm back in Brasil, I'm trying to find "the one" that I will take with me forever, but it's hard to find the one here in Brasil.

Last week I thought I had found it, but unfortunately, It's in another state and I would have to travel to see it in person. So I asked the actual owner to send me a video of the car with the engine running, and that's what I got:


Whatching the video I realized that there is a strange tapping noise while the engine is on. Not sure what it is, but making a good research, I got to this thread:

Is this sound Tapping? How many days to live, Doc?

My question is: Do you guys think the car from the video has the same VSV (Vacuum Switching Valve) problem, or is it something more serious like a valve problem? Please help! To me it seens like the same tap noise.

I've been dreaming with a 3rd gen 4runner since I sold mine in SD, but not sure if I should give it a chance and travel to another state to check the one from the video out. If that noise is the same Vacuum Switching problem, I would definitely travel just to purchase, grab the car and fix it.

PS: sorry about my english!

Thanks

Noil

It does seem a little loud on the tapping however sometimes video cameras can make things sound worse than what they are. VSV problem occurs more often when the engine is warmed up; I would ask the seller to send a video with a cold start and see if the tapping is still there. If it is it could be a more serious issue.

This is what the motor should be sounding more like:
You can skip to about the halfway point.