Hello, I'm new to 1st gen 4runners and have acquired an 86 DLX that I'm trying to decide on fixing up or selling. Is it normal for the 22re engines to sound like a diesel engine?

 

You mean like clickity clackity?? They are ticky but hard to tell without hearing it, if you go on YouTube and search a bit for 22re videos you may be able to kinda see what you think the best you can from a video. What’s the history on maintenance? Valves do need to be adjusted as a routine maintenance item, timing chain slap can cause extra loud noises if it’s time to replace.

 

Yes, I did check some videos and it does sound like them. I haven't adjusted the valves yet but it sounded very loud to me but I guess that's normal. This truck has been sitting for at least a decade and from what I've seen the maintenance has not been done.

The truck wasn't running when I got it. I threw a fuel pump in, drained the old fuel and got it started. Drove it a short distance home. I'm now going through it to see if I can finance a rebuilt. Here's a list of issues I know of.

Brakes-Fluid was like coffee. I replaced wheel cylinders and am waiting for a master cylinder to arrive so I can replace that.
Engine compression- 170 to 140. I put a little oil in the low cylinders and see improvement.
Engine starts right up and idles great.
I'm trying to get it driveable so I can get it smogged.
The truck vibrates a bit while in drive at a stop.
Auto trans shifts fine but clunks when changing gears.
Interior is a mess which isn't a big deal to me. H
Body is in pretty good shape.
Suspension is pretty worn.
CV's and ball joint boots are ripped.

I'm a sucker for old cars but I don't need another money pit so I'm trying to decide on if it's worth the cost to move forward or let it go. What do you think the value is on a truck like this?

 

Hard to say on the value but it does sound like it needs quite a bit, return on investment is hard to judge depending on how much is needed and if you’re doing the work or paying someone to do it, I can tell you parts are out there but are becoming harder to find especially interior stuff. It can turn into a money pit real quick……I frequent Bring a Trailer and they pop up quite a bit, you can go search first gen 4Runners and see what they have gone for and kinda go from there, this of course depends on what other things it needs the more you dig in

 

I will do most of the work myself but still, I've been looking at parts on ebay and wow....I don't think the value of these trucks justifies the cost of the used parts. It's definately going to be a tough decision to keep or sell. I'll get the brakes wrapped up and take it to get smogged. Then I can make a decision. Thanks for your advice.

 

First gen 4Runners are still desirable to Toyota lovers. Especially rust free basically stock ones. Unfortunately, parts are getting scarce and expensive. At this point in time, people have them because they love them. Not so much as an investment or to flip.

My wife and I bought an 86 DLX with auto trans as our first new vehicle and first Toyota. Had it for MANY years and over 450K miles on it when our son totaled it. I personally think the auto trans with that 4 cylinder is a negative but it never gave a lick of trouble. Didn't even leak after all those miles.

If you decide you don't love it enough to bear the cost of parts, you can easily sell it for a fair price. There ARE people out there looking for a good solid platform to build on. Especially if it runs well and passes smog.

 

Another thing is the 22 engines don't like when the valve cover is over-tightened. You can get excessive valvetrain noise from that.

 

Thanks, I'll take a look at that valve cover. I'm hoping to change the master cylinder and check the valves this weekend.

 

Valve setting is super important. It’ll quiet down a lot after you do. Even season to season temps and humidities can change the amount of noise you get. These Toyotas are a lot less sensitive to environment than other motors with manual valve lash setting in my experience.

 

Hello again, if anything the valves were a bit tight.

Congratulate me, the truck passed California emissions. I was pretty worried about that but I took it for a nice high speed drive on the freeway before pulling into the smog check. An hour later and a hundy out of my wallet and I'm ready to register. Next step is continuing maintenance and working on the interior.

 

Congrats on passing California smog, not everyone can. These motors are at least more fuel efficient than others from the era.

 

Thanks Livergang, I wasn't really expecting it to pass but very happy it did. I went through a lot of maintenance on the truck and found lot's of stripped bolts and really shoddy past work. I still have mushy brakes after replacing both wheel cylinders, brake lines, master and pumping about 3 liters of fluid through it. Not sure what's going on there but there are no leaks.

I've been working on interior for the last month.

Interior Before


Working on the dash


Where I'm at now. Fixed all the cracked plastic, painted, good used dash pad, rebuilt shifter and did some preemptive wiring for upgrades later. Oh and new carpet.

I bought this slightly damaged top for cheap so............

 

That reminds me I need to put my carpet back in.
And respray my topper this summer.
And a long list of other things lmao.

 

Always something to do.


Chopped it.

 

decent enough, especially if it runs and passed smog. the a-pillars look good; no rust through evident. that's a good thing. rust on the a-pillars is usually caused by failing seam-sealer in the roof gutter that runs along the top of the door opening and down the outside of the a-pillar. i have 2 1st gens on the road that i daily drive. one for winter, one for summer. both are my preferred vehicle for any distance travel; i drive each one at least once per year on a 1,600- mile round trip to the midwest. we do each way in one day, so 800 miles per day. and in truth, i almost always do an added trip from the destination in the midwest to a camp owned by family that adds another 350 miles to the total miles driven. we do this trip 3 times per year, minimum. with the front sport seats, it is a comfortable drive to make. i made the trip once in my '88 volvo 240 sedan (sold), and it was the worst road trip i've ever made. completely messed up my back, the seats are so poorly designed. sold the car a few weeks after i got home from that trip.

i also took the first '87 on a cross country trip 10 years ago before i added the sport seats. it was still comfortable enough (the seats were the same fabric as yours), and i put 9500+ miles on it in 30 days on that trip. zero issues on the trip, other than a failed headlight, which i changed at a rest area in nebraska on I-80 on the way home; although to be fair, the water pump literally failed in my driveway overnight after i arrived home.

with consistent maintenance, and quality parts, the 22re and the 4runner are capable of long service and daily driver duty in the modern world. you won't set any speed records, and the gas mileage isn't outstanding compared to some suvs made today, but they are simple to work on and able to get you to your destination and back over and over again. mine have 243K and 295K miles (purchased with 97k in 2013 and 239K in 2018), which is right around 191K total miles i've driven in a 1st gen over 13 years (14.6K per year, on average).

 

That is amazing you put so many miles on your trucks and enjoy them. That's very inspirational. Thanks for the feedback.

I would like to build this truck as a beach cruiser and once I get it mechanically sound take it on camping/off-road trips but nothing as adventurous as yours. The beach is about 5 miles from me and I usually go camping within 300 miles of where I live so I won't be putting on nearly as many miles as you.

 

So you’re keeping it then??

 

I'm going to get it road worthy and fix up the interior. I'll drive it for awhile and decide.

I did promise my wife I'd think the fleet this summer but it doesn't look like that will happen. haha

 

Anyone ever seen this? If I stomp on the gas and the engine revs go up the dash warning lights flash/flicker. All of them.

 

When you bled the brakes, what order did you do them? Did you also do the LSPV in the back?