New Owner - Recommended maintenence

Hello Everyone,

I recently purchased a 1993 4runner SR5 3.0/v6 automatic with 205k miles. It appears to be well taken care of aesthetically and mechanically according to the carfax and owner (Timing belt done at 178k, regular oil changes cataloged, A/C system replaced in 2019). The only thing, I could see wrong with it is the shifter lever is a bit loose. I plan on changing all fluids (oil, power steering, coolant, transmission, brake), replacing spark plugs, wires and disrtirbutor, all the filters, hoses and belts. I know the v6's are know for head gasket failures. Assuming the head gasket has not failed (YET), what kind of maintenance would you recommend?

Thank you for the help.

 

Wow, that is a clean 93, even has the original radio. Congrats and welcome. I would also add changing the oil in the diffs and transfer case. Lube the drive train. The play in the gear shifter is actually pretty easy to fix. I'll find the post for you on how to do it. Yours doesn't have the 4wd lever but all else should be the same. https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116/loose-auto-shifter-fix-267369/

 

Welcome from Canada, nicakasper! Wow, you’d never see a vehicle like that up here unless it was in someones collection, haha. Rust never sleeps, to quote Neil Young. I second trlhiker’s comments, above. Basically a full service, fluids flush + all lubricants and filters. Maybe plugs too, at least pull them and see what they’re like. It may never have a head gasket issue, who knows? Hope for the best!

 

welcome

 

Welcome to the forum.

 

welcome to the forum...greetings from Memphis

 

Welcome from Arizona

 

@trlhiker and @Oldtoyotaguy
I was planning on chaging the plugs. Thank you for the advice and the welcome messages. Very happy to be part of the community.

 

From the picture I can tell your brake fluid needs a change - DOT 3 and the harbor freight one man bleeder, under $40 and done in an hour.
Change the trans fluid.
Change out all the vacuum lines.
Change your coolant (needs it every 3-4 years).
Look at the dist cap and rotor, change if they look beat up on the inside.

Nice looking rig!

 

I was planning on flushing the brake fluid, but how can you tell the brake fluid needs a change?
Also, what about parts like radiator and oxygen sensors?

 

Fluid is dark. It gets darker as it ages and picks up water. New brake fluid is clear.
I'm not a Toyota specialist so what I know about the 02 sensor is it only reads ahead of the cat to adjust mixture. A failing sensor might not even throw a code. At the age of your truck, an new sensor and cat would n't be a bad idea, but is probably not necessary. I would only replace them out of serious necessity.
Radiators are not known to fail like some Nissan/Honda strawberry milkshake makers. I would only replace it if its leaking. Ebay has full aluminum ones for $125.

 

If you do the spark Plugs I would do the ignition wires as well but only use the Toyota OEM or Denso unless you have a record of there being replaced less than 50K miles ago. If you have a DVM you can take an OHM reading and see how much resistance the existing wire/s is/are producing as they get progressively less conductive with age.
Also only use a Denso 02 if you go there.
Like I mentioned in an other thread the Russel 639560 Speed Bleeders are a keen addition for one man brake bleeding. You need 6 of them as the brake biasing valve has a bleed port and makes for 5 brake related bleed ports.
Give the PS front wheel a good push/pull tug at 3 and 9 o'clock and watch the idler arm to see if the end of the arm is moving up and down with respect to the housing that is frame mounted. If this 4Runner has been a pavement-queen all its life it will probably be OK but if has been off road then the plastic sleeves may have started to crack and are/or will disintegrate which is to say that you need to pay attention to this part if you off road it in the near future.

 

So I changed the oil, coolant, radiator hoses, and thermostat. This weekend I want to change my transmission and rear differential fluids and grease the driveshaft. Regarding the drive shaft, there seems to be only one place that needs to lubricated which is nearest to the transmission because the other end that attaches to the rear differential does not have any fittings. What grease should I use? What weight of differential fluid do y'all recommend? Thanks again.

 

I just did a drain and fill on mine and used 80W90. There should be a grease fitting on both ends. You seem to be missing one.

 

Does this mean that it never had one or it may have broken/fallen off?

 

https://parts.toyota.com/p/Toyota_1993_4Runner/Universal-Joint-Front--Rear/62992806/0437160070.html

 

Probably never had one. If I remember right, I had the dealer install all of mine the first time it had to be lubed. You might want to clean the area and see if there is a spot for one.

 

Hello again everyone,
I recently noticed a fluid leak but I'm not sure where it may be coming from. I noticed the passenger side idle arm is covered and the area near the front "hook", so maybe something above it. I attached a couple of pictures, one from under the car and another from the wheel well. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

Probably your power steering reservoir. A leak there is very common.

 

Dang, I thought I got lucky buying a 27-year-old car without any leaks. I'll take look around.

 

So I took another look and found the leak is not coming from the PS pump or reservoir. It does appear to be coming from this "thing" right below the battery. Im not sure what it does but it does look like the "hose" it's meant to drain. Any ideas?

 

Also, a normal part of 4 runner MX includes installing a 3 inch lift and 31 inch tires. Youll wanna get on that ASAP.

 

Some 4Runners came with 31's as standard. With a 3" lift you should be able to fit 33's.

 

even better!

 

This is your standard 3.0l baseline.
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116/what-everyone-should-know-about-their-truck-3vze-187741/

 

After doing some googling and it appears its the brake ABS actuator/modulator. Any one what this thing does?

 

If it is like the my 92, you have ABS only on the rear brakes. It modulates the pressure when you brake hard. You will feel the pulsing when it happens. It basically keeps your vehicle straight under hard braking.

 

I do feel some pulsing while driving, I thought it was the front brake pads or rotors but after taking the wheel off everything looks good. I think I'm going to disconnect the ABS following this thread: https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116/abs-question-2nd-gen-213993/

 

So I disconnected all the ABS system things including the rear speed sensor, ABS ECU (under the dash), the ABS sensor under the hood and the modulator/actuator. The rear ABS lights are off and it appears the ABS modulator is not leaking anymore. However, my aftermarket radio does not turn on. I disconnected the battery while I was unplugging the ABS ecu and when i plugged it back it activated the horn. I turn on the car and the played around with this switch (see pictures) which appears to be connected to some sort of "security sensor" under the hood. The previous owner didnt know what or how it works. I know that it turns on the small light but not sure of its purpose.
I checked all the fuses inside the car and under the hood and they are normal. I planned on taking the radio out and checking the fuse or perhaps connecting the old radio to see if it has to do with some sort of anti-theft system?
Any thoughts?

 

ugh. aftermarket alarms installed by who knows are the worst. Can cause lots of electrical bugaboos because they splice into wires from where ever is convinient in my experience. I suggest tracking all the wiring down associated with that thing and removing it. If the box for the alarm is still there too take that crap out as well. For security on a truck like that (which I think is necessary) I always suggest an ignition kill switch hidden somewhere. They are cheap and very effective.