Hey, I am new to this site and I have to say it is great. I have discovered a lot of useful information on here. I have 2 areas of concern with my relatively new 2001 4runner:

1 - spark plugs, I can only positively identify the three on the right side and I need to change them. I don't have a manual (I dont even think they have published one yet). It seems like a really simple thing but I am new to
4runners and toyotas in general.

2 - tire balance. what is going on? i have taken my truck to get the tires balanced 3 times and they still cant get it right. I have a feeling that because the tires compared to the body of the car are fairly large (in general i think this is true for many standard trucks and suv's) they are harder to balance. I also think that the shop that installed the tires take them off to balance them and I think they may need to balance them while still on. Has anyone else had any problems here? Above 60 mph it vibrates fairly badly.

 

2. You need to get your tires balanced at a place thatuses a hunter load force balancer and has a haweka (sp) adapter. All yota wheels are lug centric, this means they sit onthe lugs unlike the hub centric wheels like everyone elses cars do.

You may also have bad tires, with heavy or light spots, but I am willing to bet its the balancer. Only go to a place that tells you they got that stuff and watch them do it.

 

Thanks for the advice. I bought 4 new tires when I got the truck and the place that installed them has never gotten it right. You would think they would know how to balance SUV tires. They said that it is hard to balance the tires for toyota trucks in general.

 

Then dont take it to this place, they obviously dont know how to do it right.

The only other way I ever balanced tires was using an older hunter machine and putting in a cone adpater and it worked cause I did it myself using the shop.

Call around and find a shop that has the goods, it will cure your problems.

 

Thanks, I'll call around.

 

The spark plugs on the passenger side are underneath the ignition coils, you also have to remove the air intake tube. You'll see 3 little black boxes on the valve cover, undo the 1 bolt, 10 mm I think, and remove them. The plugs are underneath.
Make sure you only use Denso or NGK plugs, the dual electrode ones are specified. If they haven't been changed before you might find NGKs in one side and Denso in the other. The 3.4 engines seem to come from the factory like that. I repaced mine with only NGK and it seems to work fine.

Nice user name btw

 

I'll look into this. I've hunted around a little but have been hesitant to start taking things apart without a manual and/or experience. I'm pretty sure they haven't been replaced in a while because the ones on the right look pretty bad. I'll try the NGK duals.

Thanks, ditto.

 

get a chiltons/hayes if you're worried about it. They are vague, but enough to get the job done.

Brett

 

I haven't seen a Chilton or Haye's manual for this truck. I'll look again though. I'm thinking about getting the service manual from the dealer. When I called, the guy said that there were three - power train, wiring and another book that covers the rest of the stuff, all at $75 bucks apiece.

 

Kinda tripped me out when I saw the user name and then "I'm fairly new here..." I was like, "uh, no you're not".

Anyway, for the record, I too have always had issues with my tires being balanced on every Toyota truck I've owned. After reading about the Hunter machines, I'm def. going to call around and find a shop that has one.

 

i know for a fact neither my steel wheels or my aloy toyota wheels are lug centric. infact the AL wheels have a hole thats about 1.5x the size of the stud and you have to use the special washer lug nuts. = hub centric

 

Check out this link for instructions on replacing the spark plugs.

http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/mainte...tenancep3.html

I just did it this weekend and it was fairly easy.

 

i had the same problem with my stock tire/wheel combo when i bought my truck (used). had the tires remounted...(OWL is lame) and rebalanced. the truck still shook around 70-100Km/h. i think tire separation was to blame.

then i put on some used FZJ80 wheels & 33" MT/R's..and they balanced perfectly! the trucks ran smooth and the new combo felt lighter & more nible..dunno why

anyway..id find a tire shop that has the hunters as mentioned..but when you do go, dont go for a cash deal. have it all in writing etc and ensure that if there are ANY problems, that they will deal with it and rebalance if need be. how ever many times it takes. or you can see if they have any used sets available..and try those. at least it will eliminate whether or not its your tires themselves..or the rims.

oh and the vancouver eric_the_red: there are chiltons & haynes manuals. ive got em both. dealer wanted like almost $300 bucks for the factory FSM's....WTF?!?!?

 

You won't find a Chilton or Haynes specifically for the 01/02 4Runner, they only have 96-2000. The 01/02 are different enough from the other 3rd gen that no one wants to make a seperate manual for them. For things like the engine, brakes, suspension the 96-2000 manual will work fine, especially for $20.

 

d'oh..thats right. i forgot there were slight differences in the 01 & 02...but yeah. they'll work fine unless youre looking for info on atrac/centerdiff lock etc stuff..etc.

 

Excellent. Thanks for all the good information. This site is great. I'll go look at the 96-2000 haynes like you guys suggested. Also, thanks for the spark plug link Crux.