Alright I purchased this 4 runner from auction. the car over all looked to be in great shape but when I got it I noticed there was alot of sand dust everywhere. The carpet, seats and pretty much everything looked fine but the dust had me scared so before I tried starting it I drained the oil. To my suprise between a half of a gallon and a gallons worth of water came out before any oil.

So the question.. do you think this bad boys hydrolocked? If so what parts can I salvage from the motor if the block is toast what typically needs to be done to it to save it if its at all possible.. Any opinions will be much appreciated. its the 3.4.. How much can I pick up a block for and where from?

on a side note. There was insurance paper work inside the car that had the previous owners name on it. I looked up their name and luckily got a phone number so I'm gonna call them up in the morning to see exactly what happend and what they know

 

I would say its worthlesss! Try to get ur money back unless they said that it was damaged like that.

i would pull the plugs too. Basically i would rebuild the whole motor if i had to keep it.

 

well the car was purchased at an auction (Salvage title) so theres no chance of getting my money back. The thing of it is, I've done what little research I can and it seems if nobody has tried to start it since water got in it then theres a good possibility I could push the water out without damaging the bottom end (assuming it is damaged from the initial submerge). And the way the auction would work is the car would get towed to the auction yard wait for insurance to appraise it and then get auctioned off if they decided to total it. So I'm doubtful that since the accident someones tried to start it

 

If you are lucky, you could try and pull out your sparkplugs and then just crank it to get all the water out. Then, plugs in, start truck. If you are VERY lucky, it'll run. If you are lucky, it'll run crappy. Or it'll just make bad sounds and break even more, which means motor rebuild, which means money, which means you basically got ripped off.

 

well its a 96 with 100k miles on it. paid 2700 for it so we'll see.. Heres a couple pics of it. I do this car business regularly so I have a few connections this is my first toyota so I'll have to look around. Hopefully I can find a cheap block if the head turns out to be good.

 

I say it was worth the money, but I have no advice on the motor.

Do what you can with it, and then swap a new 3.4 in....there are a bunch iof themn available I guess.

 

youre going to have to use your contacts on this one. have it towed to your trusty mechanic and have them go over it, if it has been submerged, there should be some visual indications of how high the water was. good luck.

lee

 

Looks like a nice clean 4Runner. I would not say you got ripped off. There was just a thread on here where a low milage 3.4 sold for 1200 bucks on ebay. Or you can rebuild it if nothing is bent or broken inside.

From the way it looks I would say it is well worth putting a motor in or rebuilding the one that is in it. Even if you put 2000 into fixing it you still have a 96 4Runner for under 5 grand. That is a deal I would take anyday.

 

I say rebuild it and drive it forever. Good price, and the engine is fixable.

 

Also check your fuel to see if it has water in tank, pull the seat belts all the way out and look at the belt near the retractor for water stains..(may be a flood vehicle) and to be safe change all the fluids, brake, diffs, tranny, transfer. if you can get the motor to run add some motor flush to the oil and change it again.

 

this could simply be a truck from the katrina floods. If it was under water it would have simply been towed and auctioned. Water would get into the oil. You may be luck and be able to rain all the fluids replace them & fire it up. It may not have been hydolocked at all. Be sure you replace the diff fluids, tranny brake before you drive it.

If it was a flood auto, then you got a hell of a deal, all you need to do is replace the fluids, possible some fuses, battery, and give it a really good clean.

hey better yet, I'll buy it from ya for the $2700

 

i hope it's not this 4runner.

 

sorry the pic is to big i guess
"File Too Large. Limit for this filetype is 48.8 KB. Your file is 83.1 KB. "

 

just post the link and we will follow it.

 

i have it save on my computer

 

Does the interor smell?

Like others, id pull plugs, change oil, filter, pull the air filter, distrubiter, etc.

drain the gas tank, change the fuel filter and pull a fuel line off and pump fresh fuel through the system before i started it.

Assuming the electrial system isnt fried, it should start when you get it all put back together.

after that, change the other fluids and hope for the best.

 

This is sound advice....i sunk my 3.0 wheeling once. It sat underwater for about 2hrs. My engine ran fine and is still running at about 250kmiles.

Check the ecu? It could be all rusted out...i pulled mine and tore it apart and let the thing try out real good. Drain the tranny and t/c. I am sure water is in there too!

Also drain the fuel tank...all of it. Replace filter as well.

I also used diesel fuel in the engine and just turned the engine with the starter a little. (obviously no spark to plugs.) Drained and refilled with oil....

It will smoke for about 2-3 mins....Run it around the block and then chnge oil again. Run it 50 miles....change oil again and tranny again. The only damage i got was a burnt valve on the #6 cylinder.

Have fun.....art

 

Thanks for the great advice guys. I'm still hopefull that this thing will run. If not it definately sucks cuz its money I didnt plan on investing into this but it wont be a big deal. The thing is, I'll do all the work myself. Assuming the block is shot I can get new short block and transfer all my stuff over.. correct? I've done probably 20-30 motor swaps so Im pretty mechanically inclined. Are the 96-02 motors all the same and wiring and pretty much everything besides the body? Like wiring harness' sensors, ecu and all that stuff. I deal mainly with hondas and 96-98 is obd2a, 99-00 is obd2b so theres a lot of changes with wiring and the ecu. is that how toyota is? im asking becuase my buddy bought an 01 for parts and he wont need the wiring so if i transfer it over is there gonna be issues or not? also.. where is the ecu in this thing. The iside doesnt look at all like it was in water. it doenst smell like it theres no signs of wetness no mildew, papers that were in the car dont seem to show signs of being wet