Hi guys, I'm looking at buying my first toyota, a 1985 Toyota pickup extended cab with the 22re and a 5 speed trans but had a few questions.

Here's the low down on the truck.
-It has a rebuilt motor with about 20k on it. Rebuild was done by Attarco.
-Rebuilt tranny around the same time
-It has a custom 1 piece drive shaft
-Electric fan with a switch in the cab
-33" tires with American racing wheels
-It has a header to the cat then a Borla cat back exhaust.
-Strait axles
-It has steel front and rear bumpers with a roll bar in the bed.
-Newer shocks
-Interior is clean
-Exterior has a little rust on the tail gate and one side of the bed.

That's basically what I'm looking at. The total miles on the truck are around 200k. The owner says it has been sitting for about 4 months since he got a commuting car.
I was planning on seeing the truck this weekend but he went to drive it to work and the head gasket blew... He says he will get it fixed and let me know when it's done if I'm still interested.

I wanted to see what you guys thought about that though. Is that just something to stay away from or would the head gasket blowing not really concern you if it is repaired correctly?
Thanks for the help.

 

Everything depends on the price and how bad you want it.

If it was me, I'd much rather buy it dead and repair it myself, than to have God knows who work on it.

 

He's asking 5000 before it had the issue. I would not be opposed to getting it and doing the work myself but he doesn't want to sell it broken.

Also I just remembered he told me that recently it had a new radiator installed with the electric fan and they installed an aftermarket temp gauge. To me it's sounding like it had an overheating issue and they changed that stuff to fix it but it may have already damaged the head gasket. He says he has a mechanic who specializes in 22re motors. I just don't know these well enough to know if they are prone to other damage if you overheat them and blow the head gasket.

 

Something feels a little off .

If it was over heating I could see a head gasket failure but on a fresh engine with only 20,000 Miles since a rebuild

Then I really hate Electric fans I wonder if the fan quit and they cooked the engine it would not be the first.

If they won`t sell it as is I think I would walk away.

A steam cleaned engine had been passed as a fresh rebuild many times.

It would be nice to see what the work looks like .

 

I'd buy it for really cheap, broken.

Fix head gasket and whatever caused it to blow, myself.

Profit...

 

depending on where you live, $5k is approaching the high end price of a stock '85.

too many variables... if for instance, you live in the rust belt and this truck came up from arizona, was never driven in the winter, it could be work $5k with a blown motor... because fixing rust is very time consuming and never really a perfect solution.

 

Is this going to be your primary vehicle or just a fun truck? Like posters above something is off. Why would he need a commuter vehicle if the truck is otherwise dependable. The truck should get 17-20 mpg so it should be getting decent mileage. If he can't give you paperwork proving the engine and tranny were rebuilt walk away and keep looking.

 

Thank for the replies guys. It would be my primary vehicle. Heres a few pics of the truck. From talking with the owner, he got a new job that made his commute about 3 times longer so he wanted something better for commuting. He says he has receipts for the engine and transmission as well as the other aftermarket parts it has on it.
If there was indeed an overheating issue, is there more that could be wrong with the engine besides the head gasket and maybe a warped head?

 

I can also show you what ever paper work you want to see.

that my 250,000 mile engine was just rebuilt.

If I was driving that far to work it should pay really well I would keep the truck.

Then I have 4 vehicles street legal and it is only me driving them

Spend the time and money doing all this work unless there is something more going on like his wife just filed for divorce or he found out twins are on the way.

That I can relate to.

Selling your truck to get a clown car to commute to work

 

It is a nice looking truck but it is still a 30 year old truck and no telling what issues it has. There are going to be plenty of things that need looked at and most are easily done but anytime I buy a used truck, hope for the best and expect the worse.

If the truck was in my price range that I was happy with and frame is in great shape I would get it and still be ready to spend some time and money on it.

 

Thanks for the replies guys. The owner contacted me today asking if I wanted to buy the truck with the head gasket blown and do the repair myself. Like some of you have said I do like this idea over having him doing it, but what would be a good price to pay for it with the blown head gasket? I've seen other ones in the $2500 range but they have high millage and don't have the accsesories and add on's this one has. I know I need to take a close look at the frame for rust and damage but if everything is solid, what do you think a good/fair price would be?
Thanks

 

The head gasket alone will ding you around $1000 at a shop. If it blew and he shut it down right away and it never got hon then the head might be ok. If it got hot then it's probably going to need a new head $4-500 ish. Check the block buy gaskets. Timing chain oil pump and water pump because you are in there anyways. $200 ish. Engnbldr.com has specials on all these parts regularly. If you are pulling the motor to do the work (easier for me at least) then put a clutch in at the same time. (Slave and master cylinder as well).

Just depends on how much work you want to do and how soon you need a daily driver. Odds are the block is fine but you never know cast iron rarely warps but it has happened.
You could just buy and head and gasket set pull the old one off drop a new one on adjust the valves and drive it. If that is the only problem.

So many roads to go down.
Offer him $2500 if the frame is in very good shape. Doing the work yourself you looking at around $1000 to just do the basics, head, front end kit, clutch, master and slave. Probably a little more. Don't buy crap parts or you will get practice doing it again.