westjohns yota

hey guys, well my 94 chev s-10 is giving out on me slowly so i ive been looking for a new dd, today i found a 1992 4runner with the 3.0 v6 and the 5 spd trans for 2800$ its 4x4, sr5, sunroof, everything, he said the motor was replaced at the toyota dealership 115k miles algo for the recall, ran and test drove the truck and its clean but the rad has a nasty rust looking color, has said he had put stop leak in there cause the water pump gasket went out but he also states that the water pump was replaced not to long ago it was just left over stopleak.... along with a torn cv boot and the front ADD hubs (i myself hate that ADD crap) his add said 3000 but he said hed take 2800 so what do u guys think? is it worth it? ive heard bad things about the 3.0 but also heard they can be reliable engine, on top of all this it has new tires and brakes, so what do you guys think? walk away or make a lower offer?

dropzone

iTrader: (6)

there was a recent thread about what products like stop leak does to a cooling system-damage wise...
engine replaced 115k ago, so how many miles on the truck now? the 3.0 is hit and miss.
my niece bought a nice '94 fully loaded with about 155K on it for 1500

thread moved to the correct section

westjohns yota

hey thanks dropzone, and its got 250k on it now, ut was replaced 115k ago is what he says

coreman23

Get the VIN and call up a dealer. If the engine was replaced at a dealer, they would have the record of it. That way you can test his story out. I'm guessing he just had the head gasket recall, unless it blew, and caused engine damage. I think they repaired the engines covered under the recall.

I don't know much about cars, but I do know that adding stop leak creates a lot of more problems down the road.

It's hard to tell you on price, because they range so much across the nation. Check craigslist and see what they are asking for them in your area.

I got mine for $1500 last year, but it wasn't in the date range for the head gasket recall. I have just over 200k on mine and I think it's the original head gasket. It has other issues, but in my area, $2000-$2500 for ones in good condition are about average.

westjohns yota

im a little above that, hes in the price range but i dont wanna buy something and have it blow up in my face headinh home, takeing it to the shop this week sometime for a compression test then ill prob take it too the dealer and have them run the vin and check and ill go from there, its in real nice shape and its a 5spd which is what i want ( i hate autos)

2big4arunner

When you look over the truck... the best thing to do is ask for a pre-purchase inspection if you haven't done it already.. In my short experience... I like getting it up on a hoist if you cant do it yourself.
If you have had it inspected then I would ask how much you want to spend on the 3.0 to make it a reliable engine with good power. There are a lot of minor things that add up that make it a great engine in my books. A lot of them can be done when you tear apart the motor to fix whatever they messed up on when they put that stop leak in.

Personally, this is what I like to do to the stock motor and I am currently into a 300k version of the 4runner myself.
1.Head gasket replacement - I use rock auto DNJ gasket kits due to good price and good product
2. Head studs from ARP - they make them but they cost money
3. knock sensor movement - it is in a bad spot and could use a relocation to the back of the passenger side head to avoid echo retardation from valve noise while running
4. crossover pipe elimination -set of headers for about 600 bucks later will add a little more but turning the original pipe a 1/3 turn and making a basic crossover from mandrel bent tubing to hook up before the O2 sensor makes a HUGE difference in heat and power from this motor.
5. Intake upgrade - 3-6mm throttle body upgrade (still looking for a viable replacement from another car but they sell upgrades online that open up that breather). also want to straight pipe that air box to let the truck breath as much as possible.

I know what your thinking.... is there really more.... YUP!

the next upgrades can be done later for more MPG and HP

6. Electric fan upgrade - visit your local picknpull to get it cheap... 70 bucks on amazon for some slimline versions. take off your original clutch fan and see the difference
7. Synthetic fluids - I got a good 3mpg out of mine when I changed everything but the motor over to synthetic including the power steering pump which was funny enough forgot about with a lot of people
8. ignition system upgrade - if you have access to a coil system... by all means replace the original distributor with something that can pack a little more punch.. I have heard a couple guys using the toyota supra setup but not sure how they got it to work.
9. electric a/c compressor - yeah... they make those now. made for the new toyota hybrids. find one used and play no more worries about using a/c while idling

any thoughts from the pro's would be more then willing

If you like what you see and want to make a good engine job (since I dont trust other peoples work) and are a little handy.. you can do most of what i said really really cheaply (under 200 bucks) the head gaskets are about 120 (complete kit) and the head studs are anywhere from 300-700 depending on how hooked up you are with ARP.

the best engine swap I can see with the least amount of hassle is the 2jz-ge naturally asp engine from the 94-96 supra or the 1UZ-FE 4.0 v8 from a lexus. both require a little custom work and a small body lift. both double the horsepower of the original v6 without touching a turbo or having to change the transmission you have.

price it all out and think about what you want to pay for your original truck. In the end, its up to you to find out the local value of the truck.

ps. I only paid 500 Canadian for mine and drove it home... posting my pics soon.

westjohns yota

thanks a bunch! well i was gonna buy it and wait till it blew up or popped a HG and drop the 5vze in it, i think thats right, the 3.4 in my book, everyone says there easy swaps so im not sure yet, doing a compression test and running the vin tommorow, will tell alot, muddy rad water still has more worried......

westjohns yota

pulled a compression check and got 175 accross all boards except the back pass side pistion, it was at 170 or so, any ideas on this one? i think the HG could go....

volfsar

I know this is a little off topic but how do you smog your truck after you drop a 5vze in her? can you even do it here in California?