Hello,

I've agreed to purchase a '99 4runner with a 3.0 turbo diesel with 160,000km on it. The thing started, drove, shifted beautifully except one thing bothers me. With such low mileage he said hes had the engine overhauled recently. I'm waiting to see the documents tomorrow on exactly what was done, but he told me he was getting poor compression and some dark smoke out the back. After, I see no smoke and everything seems to be fine. Should I be concerned about anything here?

 

Depends on what was done to it. The fix for low compression is likely the rings, and that would concern me I think. If it was things like injector rebuild, filters/gaskets, etc then that's just maintenance stuff IMO.

 

would that be abnormal ring wear for 100k miles?

should also mention I'm in panama, nothing but warm weather here. I've seen a lot of 3L turbo diesels for sale, seems to be fairly common. The labour standard here can be very poor, that's my main concern with what type of work was done. You can never tell if they're going to do more damage than good. Having worked in an engine shop , and being a machinist I'm a bit nervous about it.

 

My 4Runner is just two small countries north of you (Nicaragua).

I'd recommend either finding a good diesel mechanic or a Yota dealer near you and having them do a thorough check of your engine before dropping
big-cash on "suspected" repairs.

(I must of had three-four 4Runners looked at before I settled on buying my '99 four years ago... have had ZERO issues with my 3.0L Turbo Diesel.... )

Cheers

 

I had to pass on it. They guy screwed me around with a prior lien on the title. I couldn't wait 2 weeks so I picked up an '04 Xtrail with 89,000km on it for the same price. I really liked the feel of that diesel so I'll keep an eye out for later this year. The nissans are functionally great but the ride quality isn't quite the same.