Hello everyone.

First thank you for looking into my thread. I need assistance.

I have a 1994 4runner. I am the original owner. I have always been told by my mechanic not to worry about lubing my truck. I now have 110k miles and I am hearing tupping noises especially when I go into reverse from a park position. I was told to lube my truck by people here in this forum to get rid of the tupping noise.

Well, I have a grease gun now and have searched and look at books and other websites but have had no luck.

What type of grease do I use? I was told to adhere to manufacturer specs. I cant seem to find the type of grease to use in my Chiltons book. Hoping you guys can help. Can I use multipurpose grease in the tube. Thanks for the help and sorry if I sound like an amateur...I am still learning.

good karma to you.

Ariel

 

It's been a while since I bought any, but my last tube was Valvoline Syntec. There are 2 zerks on each U-Joint and 1 on each spline shaft...10 total if memory serves me right. If its been a while since it was greased, you may not be able to develop enough pressure to get the zerk to open up. When this happens (or if I'm just too doggone lazy), I just take it to a quick-lube place and get them to lube it with their power grease gun. Either way, I lube it everytime I change the oil (every 5K miles).

 

Thanks for the advise GW. I will try it tomorrow. If anyone has something to add, please do. I will check again later to see the response...thank you

 

Go to my downloads site and download the service manual (4Runner.zip). It's pretty big, and it's for my '95 4Runner, but your '94 is nearly identical.
You'll find more than enough reading material for the holidays.

4Runner Service Manual

 

YUP!!! Synthetic grease every 5K miles AND after any water crossing. Book I read says multipupose grease, but sythetic lasts longer and is more water resistant.

 

TIP:

Move the truck so that the nipple on the rear slip yoke points DOWN. In this position, if the driveshaft is stock, You will be able to hit both of the u-joints as well as the slip yoke without trouble.

The same goes for the front drive shaft. nipple down, but this one you can spin by hand in 2x4. Getting the center of the double Cardan joint greased is the toughest one, but shine your light on it. Indeed there is a nipple WAY up in there!

Don't overfill the slip yokes. As soon as you see the slip yoke slip, stop filling!
Greasing stuff is a fun thing to do while the oil drains out of the engine during your oil change. After you do it once, you'll find it only takes a pump or 2 to keep things lubed.

Fill u-joints until the water stops squirting out and the grease starts squirting out. Remove excess grease with a rag otherwise it spins off and burns off on the exhaust. (smelly!) For this first in 110,000, maybe you want to give the u's a little extra to get some of the old grease out and get that fresh stuff in there.

I use Mobil 1 synthetic (the red stuff) easier to see if it is contaminated than the black/grey grease.

 

UPDATE:

Hey, Thank You gwhayduke!!! The service manual is exactly what I needed. THANK YOU...THANK YOU. It appears I have a 3vz-e engine and the manual will work for my 94 4runner 4X4. This will truly help me do my timing belt.

I did my first zirk greasing. Actually, I had fun with it. I had trouble at first in getting the gun loaded with grease. Trying to figure out how the tool worked without instructions was challenging. At first, the grease would not come out. Turned out there was air in the manual grease gun.

It was interesting to see the grease come out of the bushing as soon as I started pumping the grease gun manually. However, there was one zirk fitting attaced to a long tubing that did not have rubber bushings for grease to come out of. I pumped up to 6 times and could not find where the grease was coming out of. Could the grease be going down the long shaft?

Is there any place else I need to grease? I only greased the points on the card that is in my visor above my steering wheel. The card had many points where the zirk fittings can be found, but I did not find all the zirks listed on the card.

Thanks again for teaching me. I am very grateful to your time and advise.

Regards