Hey all. Picked up a '95 4Runner with a 3.0, Manual Trans, and 220k miles on it about a week ago. Has coolant in the oil, but the engine sounded good and for the price, I wasn't going to pass on it.

Here are the pics from when I picked it up:







First thing I did was removed the damage multiplier and mudflaps. Last night was the first night we had some real time to dig in, and this is how far we got:



Once we got it torn down this far, we noticed it had a seemingly brand new water pump and timing belt, as well as everything that normally comes with them. Pretty happy about that. Should have time to work on it tomorrow, so will update soon.

PS - I am VERY new to this vehicle, and 4x4 rigs in general. I've been driving Honda Preludes for the past decade, and they are the only cars I've really worked on. So if you see anything that looks questionable, please don't hesitate to let me know!

 

Great looking turck you have. Being as old as it is and some of the previous owners there are bound to be issues like on any one that old but once you get the bugs worked out, you will find out why they are so popular. Welcome to Yotatech.

 

I think everything that could go wrong with my old Hondas, has indeed, gone wrong, so fixing stuff is no big deal. I just need to get rid of these gross FJ wheels. *ick*

 

Tonight's update:



Well, I already knew there was coolant in the oil, but still, yuck.



Also, found a whollllle nest full of these guys next to the timing belt tensioner. They were all dead, thank goodness.





Extracting the three bolts we broke trying to get the cam pulley bolts off. We ended up just having one person hold the crank pulley still while the other yanked on the bolt with a breaker bar. Don't know why we didn't think of that sooner, it was easy peasy.




This is the shape the radiator was in when we pulled it. Those fins were crumbling like paper. Is there something specific that causes that, or is it just a ˟˟˟˟ty radiator?

Next update will be either tomorrow or Tuesday. Thanks for looking!

 

before you went to all the trouble of tearing the motor apart you should have considered
a remanufactured motor, just put one in mine for about 2,200.00 now the motor has no millage

 

the problem with the 3.0 is the cross over exhaust, the #6 cylinder get extremely hot from the exhaust, that causes the head gasket to blow

 

But where's the fun in that? This is just a project for me. I don't play on DD'ing it. Winter driving, some off-roading, that's about it. If I was going to DD it I'd have just done a 3.4 swap.