Holy crap Jason-....didn't see this post till just now...where have I been.

SOOoooo...here's an update.

Parked the 4Runner because of the seals. A couple of weeks later I jump in to run up to the store for smokes. Start her up and she starts billowing white smoke. Well now..ain't that special. So she's been parked since. I have a new to me engine that I picked up in February and have since gone through and replaced the Timing Belt, water pump, hydraulic tensioner...let's just say I replaced every thing that should be for a proper timing belt job. Picked up the used engine for $1k and have since put another $600.00 give or take few pennies here or there. ANY how, I made a deal with a friend that if he swapped the engine in/out for me, he could have the old one. Well, he backed out at the last minute and now I get to do the fun work. Really, it doesn't matter but with one exception. I work two jobs and with me having to do the work here, one is not getting the attention it should. There's circumstances around it that I don't want to go into detail about so I'll leave it at that. Either way, I had the 4Runner towed back home today and have started the work. Hopefully I'll have the newer engine in this weekend with it in a drivable state....and then those damned seals need some attention. I have truly missed driving it but am thankful my wife and I have a couple back of vehicles for things like this. Pics will follow shortly as I down load em here in an album.

 

At the salvage yard freshly picked..


All Genuine Toyota parts from beginning to end.


All buttoned up this last Sunday and ready to takes it's place.... Oh yeah, and the minivan that we've had such a fun time with is on the left and one of my back up rides on the right.


And this is where the process stopped tonight.

 

Wow buddy sorry to hear about the engine woes, sound like your in good shape to get it all back together tho. I need to get the TB done in mine soon, I've started gathering parts but it just seems to keep slipping to the bottom of the list.

 

So I made a little bit of progress today even though I really didn't want to work on anything today.

Spent what time I had yesterday labeling the wiring harness where things weren't obvious. I kinda like the way Toyota has it laid out...but I'm sure all manufactures do it in a similar fashion. I also, got it to a point where it was ready to pull last night with just a couple quick checks to make sure before starting today. Like I said, I didn't have the drive to go out and knock it out like I usually would and I let a couple of things get in the way. Any how, on to the pictures...

So this is what my empty engine bay looks like....


And here it is with both engines in one shot...


I started to take the clutch and flywheel off the old engine and quickly realized I forgot to drain the oil as it came oozing out of one of the bolt holes.


Old engine on the ground ready to donate it's wiring harness...


And the newer engine prepped for receiving the old wiring harness...I'm not using the wiring harness that came with the new(er) engine because it's for an automatic and I don't want to have the extra connector for the auto transmission just dangling under the vehicle...and the dude at the salvage yard yanked the wire for the A/C compressor clean out of the handy connector Toyota provides. I'm sure he thought it was just a convenience item and I could just hard wire to the compressor.

 

Alright, update:

The engine is in and running pretty darn good for the moment. I've been driving it since last Thursday, daily and haven't had anything come up as an issue. The axle seals were replaced with Toyota seals and after a little massaging I was able to get the collars where I think they need to be. Replaced the cheap A$$ Dorman wheel cylinders again with the proper Toyota ones and they went in a whole lot smoother. Really nice to be able to enjoy the 4Runner again. Still have a few things left to do on the list before it can be wheeled but I'm still watching for a leak coming from the axle seals. A couple more weeks of daily driving and if they don't leak, I'll call it good. Then I can proceed with the other stuff.

Thanks for checking in...

 

Mmmmm, coffee!
Glad things are going well so far.

 

Woohoo! Nice that you are back up and running.

What was the dude at the yard using the hammer on?

 

He was stamping the initials of the place in the head. Totally understood for the warranty. Actually, I'm glad he chose to do it on the head instead of the block. He didn't have to hit hard either. A side note, the 90 day warranty was up before I even had a chance to fire the engine...so it HAD to work.