My '97 4 cyl 4Runner has 280K miles / 451K Kms & to me, the engine still runs like new. I also have the original brakes on the front (replaced the backs recently due to a wheel bearing leak but otherwise they didn't need it).

Some repairs have been needed, a couple of unexpected or strange ones & some due to the very rough muddy potholed or snowy roads that I have to use to access my remote off grid home.

Right now I have to replace the exhaust manifold & finally the muffler as both are cracked.

I've used synthetic oil since the break in period & do most general maintenance myself, oil changes, spark plugs, gearbox oil, etc., but do them as per the manual spec intervals.

235,000 Miles vs. Kilometers is getting up there & you will likely run into repairs not too far off if they haven't been done already, but if the engine was maintained well (like mine), then it could have lots of life still?

Wheel bearings may go soon at that mileage, one of my backs went, I'm waiting for the fronts to show signs of needing replacement. The clutch could last to 400K miles I've been told. Front stabilizers have been changed 2x on mine, maybe due more to the road than the parts, but I don't have salt to deal with either.

Then again, I'm no expert or mechanic.

 

Besides some upcoming repairs (does the fellow have good records for you to see).

For me:

The 4Runner around town will be thirsty for fuel. Any speed over 50-55 mph will also be very thirsty for fuel, especially with more aggressive tires. Also tires can be very expensive for a college kid, let alone for me. So it may not be the most economic or fuel efficient vehicle for a college student or even worth it for "occassional" off road use? Most small cars can easily go off road occassionally and will have much better fuel economy when not off road. Why pay for a lot of fuel in between off road trips? How bad are the roads that he will "actually" be using, that a 4Runner is needed (vs. wanted)? I'd hate the cost of fuel for my 4Runner if I were a college kid on a strict budget. Heck I hate it now on those long trips to the city, though driving 50-55 mph with no traffic behind me REALLY helps.

 

Once again, I thank all of you very much for your replies.

My son found a '98 V6 in "great condition". It does have about 180K on it, but the seller seemed believable to him when she said she'd regularly done the maintenance. He asked her for the records but I don't know how that turned out.

I agree with the poster who discouraged a relatively low MPG vehicle such as the 4runner for a college kid paying his own way, but he had become enamored of the 4runner. I made sure he knew the pros and cons, including mileage, and he made his choice. Funny, just today he refilled the tank for the first time and told me he noticed the trip odometer didn't read the way it would have on his prior car. (Prior car was a 4 cyl Honda Accord that got totaled while parked in front of the house.)

Good idea on pulling the valve cover. We'll make sure to do the easy side!

Thanks also for all the other longevity tips. With luck, he got a good one and with care it will serve him well for many a mile.

 

Yeah they will last a while, I was still driving mine with a burnt valve and all the mains and rod bearings worn down to the brass along with plastic timing chain guide pieces clogging up the oil pickup and sand carving the cylinder walls...now she was thirsty for oil a quart every 3 days, but she drove great, knocked for 5 minutes when you first started her up but after that it was all good...

This was on a 22re and I still have the truck, the only reason I know all this was wrong, is because I had the motor rebuilt because of the oil burning. This truck was not taken care of, and its a good example of the neglected side of toyota...but it still ran, and I still drove it every day!! I even did my first rock crawling on that engine! It was smokey, but she made it up the 4ft wall!! LOL


Now the airbag thing, every 10 years...thats a load of crap. The manual says have it checked every 10 years, but now a days you dont even need to do that, thats why there are air bag lights!! The module constantly checks the resistance in the squib circuits (explosives). My sister was driving a 10 year old camry when she got hit head on by a drunk driver, the air bags saved her life...

sorry for the long post, just wanted to post up my experiences!

 

any vehicle will last a while if taken care of!

 

Well, the 10 year check on a never deployed air bag goes like this:

SRS Light off......check
Passenger panel cover visually normal (no bulge)....check
Steering wheel center cover visually normal....check
....Pass

Per my '99 4Runner Toyota FSM.

I pretty much do that every day. I looked it up when I passed my ten-year anniversary last May and wondered if I should visit the dealer. I decided I could handle it.

 

I bought my 4runner with 180000 miles and now I'm up to 355000, just usual maintence, replace shocks, brakes, steering rack n pinion with poly bushings. Change oil every 8000 miles with mobil 1 synthetic. I finally had to break down and put an injector in about a 1000 miles ago. I plan on keeping it forever and seeing how high miles I can get out of it.

 

Actually, I have heard of airbags needing maintenance at the ten year mark. I think it has to do with checking the contacts for corrosion and/or replacing the charge(s) used to deploy the airbag. Having said that, my 1997 4Runner has not had that maintence done, nor do I plan on doing it.

BTW, I don't think it is a 4Runner thing, or even a Toyota thing. I am under the impression all airbags need this maintenace. -S

 

Several groups recently tested airbags that were build and installed in the late 80's and they deployed just fine. As far as the contacts and corrosion the system checks for that. When you turn the key on and the airbag light comes on and goes off, that means it checked the resistance of the airbag assembly in the steering wheel and passengers side.

If the system sees the resistance is out of spec due to corrosion then the airbag light stays on alerting you to have it inspected and serviced.

Also unless you routinely pour water or spit soda on the steering wheel when you hear something funny on the radio, corrosion won't be an issue.


FOG

 

Tell that to my wife's 2002 Ford Focus. That thing has ate ball joints, ignition coils, CV joints, harmonic balancer, engine valve springs, EGR valve sensor (2), countless window regulators, 2 water pumps, 2 alternators, and 3 transmission shift solenoids all this and it doesn't even have 100K miles on it yet.


FOG

 

Sorry to go against the grain here, but as a college student with a 4runner that has been pretty well cared for, I can't recommend purchasing a vehicle with over 200k miles on it.. especially if reliability is what you are looking for, and 85% of the time you will not have to resources to repair it yourself. I'm an engineering major at UCSD who is in the same situation as your son, without the tools or time to work on my rig regularly. Sometimes you just don't have the time to take exceptional care of a vehicle, unless you pay someone else. It is unquestionable that the older a vehicle is, the more you are going to have to care for it to keep it running and as reliable as a newer vehicle, OR the more you are going to have to pay someone else to do the work. Things wear out - that is the nature of physical objects, and an object that has a significant amount of use whether exceptionally cared for or not, will still experience wear and tear from regular use leading to a higher statistical possibility of SOMETHING failing.

In my case, it was the passenger side cylinder head at 170k. The engine has NEVER been overheated, all my fluids were checked regularly, oil changes done by me personally every 3-5k miles, pretty much in between quarters (10 weeks) when I went home. Had my oil tested at 5k interval once and it was still in good condition with no contaminants. Suddenly my 5vzfe (3.4L v6) 4runner developed a minor crack in the passenger side cylinder head. I don't think I need to go into detail about the involvement of such a repair, or the cost. Coolant was fresh always, never any rust. Levels were NEVER higher or lower than normal.

So my advice, save up some dough and look for one with lower miles. There have to be some good options out there. Look for low mileage 3rd/4th gens that people are trying to get rid of for a newer 5th gen, and don't modify it if you need maximum reliability.

BUT BY ALL MEANS, GET YOUR SON A 4RUNNER. HE WILL LOVE IT!

I still love mine, despite the struggles I have had with it during inconvenient times (CA tuition hikes + 900 for a new engine sucks). I intend to keep it running... soon as summer is here, brakes and a new steering rack are going in, plus a tranny flush. Except for the one issue I have had with my 4 runner, it has never given me problems, and has never been unreliable. My girlfriend (and her parents) and I trusted it more than we trusted her 2000 VW Beetle with 30k miles on it. Have fun!

 

That's cause it's a Focus. Those were some awful cars. I will agree that most 10 year old domestic cars don't last very long, no matter how well you take care of them. Domestic trucks on the other hand, basically anything that is body on frame....they can last a while.

My 1999 4runner only has 120K miles on it. I have no doubts that mechanically it will last till 300K. However, I made the mistake of buying it from an owner that lived in MA for 9 years. Today I just spent 2 hours knocking heavy rust chunks off of the undercarriage in the rear and spraying an entire can of Fluid Film all over everything. The welded mount that holds the traction bar has a hole in it now from me knocking around on it, and there is bad rust on everything basically. I'm going to do everything I can to save this truck from corrosion, because I paid good money for it, not realizing it was this bad. I was partly misled by the seller, since I bought it from halfway across the country. If the frame doesn't rust apart, I think it'll last me another 10 years. I hope.

 

Lol this thread was created like two months ago by the OP... why the hell was it resuscitated?

 

Who knows. I didn't look at the original post date. Obviously neither did Sherpa. lol.

 

So when the airbags get 10 yrs old we're supposed to pay Toyota $2900 plus labor for new ones??????

we bought a 96 runner in 01 with 100K on it, now has 270K.

Very little maint, not nearly as many oil changes as should have been.

still running good.
Getting a 1KZT diesel & 5 speed conversion soon.

mpg sucks though, gets 16, and my 05 Tundra thats taller, wider, longer, heavier, and has twice the HP gets 18-19.

an old gas guzzling suv is a poor choice for a poor college student.

A dirt cheap scratched and dented 10 yr old Buick, Honda, Mazda or Yota would have been a better choice.

 

No, it's a free country, nobody is forcing you to do that. But it's like jumping out of a plane every day, without opening and repacking your backup chute for 10 years. One day when you need your backup chute, the price that it took to maintain it properly would seem insignificant.

 

ok... For the whole thing on the airbag thing. Its BS. Yes the connections should be checked. But unless your regularly power wash the interior of your 4runner there is nothing to worry about. The connections are all sealed and tight thus corrosion is not a problem. Now I can show proof of this as I was in a car accident 4 days ago in a 97 mitsubishi 3000gt. And the airbags deployed just fine. And as for the 4runner. Ive been in a small accident in my buddies 98 and the airbags deployed just fine also. Now it wasnt a serious accident cause we were hitting trash cans and one smashed his whole bumber and deployed the bags. It sucked but it worked fine haha.

Now a car will last as long as it is designed to and as long as the owner takes care of it.

Now anything thats "American" Ususally wont last very long. Its just not designed to. Now I do know of several Chevy's that has lasted 300K+ miles. But they also had the whole suspension, drivetrain, and about anything else you can imagine replaced. Now If you have to do all that to a car to make it last. I dont think thats a good car. Now I also know of some toyotas that didnt make it to 200K. But thats the luck of a mechanical machine. It all depends on physics and how every part was made. You just never know whats gonna happen. So I suggest everyone get the car they want and Good Luck with it


Now on the note of MPG. That depends on the weight of the vehicle, How you drive it and what the wind drag is. If you lower it, take everything outta it and drive like a old lady. Then you will get great milage. Or if your like me. You'll jack it up, load it down with sound equipment and drive like a bat outta hell. You'll get 8-12mpg. but if you drive it fine and keep it light. You'll get 17-20, I know cause I used to get that.

 

Well, there you go. That's an airbag system malfunction. An airbag should never deploy from hitting a trash can. The deceleration sensor is clearly out of whack.

 

lol. Now I agree with you on that. But I say it wasnt a bad accident cause we didnt get hurt, and we drove the thing home. But there was several concrete bags in this trash can. (Which we shouldnt have been hitting in the first place but we were tipsy)So it really messed up the front end, destroyed the radiator and pretty much totalled the right side. So we drove it home with one headlight, and no radiator fluid. The airbags def deployed properly at the speed we were at, and how hard we hit the thing. But I was trying to make the point that ive never heard of a vehicle having airbags that didnt deploy in a accident that they were supposed to deploy. No matter the age of a car. So yes Maintenance is a good choice but you dont have to replace everything just cause the car is old. Its just not necessary. The airbag system is designed to last and to work when it is needed to. So its not gonna break easily.

Just make sure nothing is visibly wrong with it and you should be fine.

O also I just thought of something. Its against the law for car manufactures to install airbags that dont have Gold plated connections so they will never corrode no matter how long and how long they are exposed to moisture. Just something to think about also.

 

Well...I am the original owner and I have 196,021 miles on my 1998 SR5 2wd. The only things I have done:
* Replace the starter around 60,000 (easy change in the driveway).
* The ignition switch was changed by the dealer 2005 ($200.00).
* Timing belt, antena motor, 3 drive belts, water pump, replace oil seals, adjust rear breaks (1100.00) at the dealer
* put 3 sets of tires over the years...(1000.00 estimate)

I plan on replacing spark plugs, wires, rear breaks in the next couple weeks...yep all original 196,021 miles on them....scarry...but truck runs fine.

Like the others have said just keep an eye on things and do routine maint (be better at it than me ) and should not be a prob.
Before you buy get a carfax and an extra set of eyes to look at it before. Also see if he has any maint reciepts...I have all mine maybe the owner will as well.