Hi, I'm a newbie. I had a '84 4runner that I sold a little while back cause it was just too far gone to be safe for my kids. But I fell in love so I had to get another. I had my eye on an '85 4runner for a while now an finally bought it today. There are some issues though. The truck is in good shape(only 81K!) but has been sitting for 5+ years. It definitly needed a new fuel pump. When I was installing one the inside of the gas tank looked horrible but it didn't seem to be rust. The old gas that I siphoned out was brown and like varnish. Once I put fresh gas in the truck ran great. Is this just some kind of sediment from the gas getting old? Will it dissolve and burn up over time? Do I need to replace the entire tank? Is there an addative that will help? Basically what am I up against here. The truck is going to just be a beater so if I can get away with just changing my fuel filter a few extra times that would be cool. Any advice would be great!!! THanx aLot

 

just pour a can of seafoam in each time you fill up for the first few times you fill it up, then after than do it every so often.

 

The 85 gas tanks have a DRAIN plug on them. Ask fustercluck about it.

 

sounds like an interesting story! do share!

 

Here is a picture of the '84 that I just sold. She was a great truck but just had way to many issues for me to deal with. I have a 3 year old and a newborn and the truck had no back window, the sunroof was gone, and the windshield was falling out. The guy that bought her rode a bus 900 miles to pick her up and drive her back to colorado. She made it with flying colors. Just a testament to how good of trucks toyota makes. The '85 I just purchased is way cool. I dont have any pics now but I'll post some tommorow night after I get it a little more cleaned up. I live in IL so it has the midwest cancer but not too bad. She had been sitting for at least 5 years before i bought her so I was a little worried. I changed the fuel pump and put in some fresh gas and a new battery and she fired right up. She runs great and only has 81,000 original miles. Has alot of extras too, like a brushguard, nerf bars, lund visor, nice fender flares. It's gonna need some cosmetic attention but mechanichally it's a wonderful truck, new clutch, brakes, tires, and rims just before it began it's long slumber while wating for me to stumble upon it. I am so excited I can't sleep! I'll post some pics of my new 4runner when I get a chance. Hope to make it to the cliffs for the 4runner bash.

 

Here is a pic of my new 4runner. It's an '85 with only 81k on it. Unfortunatly it sat so long it's got some issues. Nothing serious though, I am still having fuel problems. Been using some seafoam and it seems to be helping slowly but surely. Thanx for the advice. Been driving it everyday though, not bad for a truck that sat for 10 years. Needs a brake booster too, anyone have an idea where to get one of those? Will a booster from a corolla or camry work? I can find those.

 

Well, now I have a new problem. But lets start from the beginning. When I purchased the truck it needed a new fuel pump. While putting one in the gas tank didn't look too good so I cleaned it out the best that I could and used some seafoam. The truck ran very well for the first day or so. I didn't drive it much but let it idle for 30 minutes or so without any problems. The next day I went to start the truck and I believe a valve got stuck and was probably bent. I took it to my mechanic who got the valve unstuck but had no explanation why it happened. I continued to drive the truck for a couple of days and the knocking did'nt go away. Out of the blue I decided to change the fuel filter so I tried to put a new one on. There was no fuel filter to be found. According to the book at Autozone it was supposed to be on the firewall. I looked there and followed the lines back to the tank and found nothing. After putting on a basic in-line filter the valves do not knock as loud but still do, especially when the motor is cold. The knocking almost goes away completely at higher RPM's and highway. So what damage have I likely done? Bent valve? Could the bad gas with no filter have caused the valves to act up? Any help is appreciated, THanx AL

 

That guy who bought your 84 aint crazy. I flew 400 miles to purchase a truck from Ol Fuster. What a guy.. I took 8 or 9 hours of driving to get back home, more like 14 including about 5 hours of sleep. 2 hours at a casino, and 3 more in Holbrook, AZ.