First Time Toyota Owner

Hello everyone,

I recently got my hands on a 1999 4runner SR5 with 230k on it. There is an oil leak which I believe to be the valve cover gaskets. I also noticed there is a small leak coming from the input shaft/bearing area on the transfer case. Is this an easy fix, or does the case have to be dropped and split?

Any tips and tricks? Maintenance items that should be done? Timing was recently done so I know that's good.

I am comfortable working on vehicles, but this is my first Toyota so any advice is welcomed.

 

Hello and welcome to the forum.
Oil seeping from the valve cover is an unwelcome feature and yes it is a pretty common occurrence. I don't know about the transfer case oil leak. Are you sure it is a not grease that might have oozed our and gotten splattered?
Timing belt is certainly one of the maintenance items. What about the water pump, radiator and thermostat? Front/rear brakes? At 230K I'd also look into the hoses (vacuum, water) and replace them where needed. With my own car, I had its transmission flushed at ~ 160K. Some people say that is not a good idea but I had it done anyway. At 200K I experienced issues with one of my fuel injectors (missing) and I ended up having them refurbished. In hindsight I should have replaced all of them with OEM but the refurbishment was a good alternative. Good luck

 

like this? If so, doesnt look too difficult

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YuY6rv1hkE&ab_channel=TimmyTheToolman

 

Welcome

 

welcome

 

I noticed driving it around today that the brakes were pretty stuffy, especially on the first push but firmed up on the second. Brake fluid is low, but not low enough to be getting air in the system. No signs of leaks at the master cylinder, is there likely a small leak in a brake line somewhere? I'll be looking into it further on Sunday once some of the snow melts.

 

I don't quite follow what you mean by stuffy. Spongy perhaps? You can certainly put the car up on jacks and check for potential leaks. I am yet to encounter a brake line leak on any of the cars that I have ever owned so my inclination would be either the master cylinder or the brake calipers.

 

Welcome!

 

Brake fluid is something that should be flushed every two years or so. Even if the car sits and is not driven very much. Brake fluid absorbs water from the atmosphere even though the reservoir has a cover on it. The cover still allows for venting due to pressure changes in the atmosphere.

Welcome to the forum.

 

Sorry, yes, I meant spongy/soft. Autocorrect got the best of me. In the past, every master cylinder failure I've seen showed signs of a leak so I wasn't sure on this one.

Is the bleeding process typical(start at the furthest point and work back?

 

Either have air in the system or the master cylinder is failing. And yes to the bleeding procedure.I think once you put the car up on stands, you should check everything brake related. Front rotors/pads/calipers plus rear drum/shoes/pistons. I am certainly guilty of not replacing the brake fluid on a regular basis but if you are going to go through the bleeding process, might as well do that too.

 

I got the valve covers replaced. I also replaced the pcv, plugs, and wires. It starts a little rough now and has an intermittent miss. There is also a slight hesitation when the accelerator is hit from idle. No codes as of now. Any ideas what could be causing this? It wasn't present before the work.

 

Throwing out a couple of suggestions to check for. Make sure everything that was disconnected is plugged in securely and all hose and lines are connected with no vacuum leaks.

 

Sorry for your added pain. Things that come to mind:

First are the new plugs the standard 2-prong plugs? (they need to be). There is a chance that one of them may be bad but I am yet to encounter a new plug that is bad. Switch back to the old plug wires. If the miss goes away, then it is the new plug wire or a the new wire's plugs had not been seated properly. If the miss continues to be present, then something has not been properly connected when you replaced the valve cover gaskets. There are a lot of vacuum lines that have to be disconnected during this work. Have you convinced yourself that all the vacuum line connections, ..., etc are back to the way they were and the manifold bolts/nuts were properly torqued down? I think the manifold gaskets are reusable but there is always a chance that they may be damaged during disassembly. Not sure whether you used new gaskets or not. Also vacuum lines grow brittle over time so there is a chance that one or more of them may be leaking.

 

That was my first thought. I didn't see any sensors disconnected, but it's easy enough to miss one. I looked for vacuum lines and noticed that there is a vacuum hose that was attached to a black box behind the battery but the nipple broke off. Putting it back on didn't seem to help, but I will need to address that. Any idea what this black box is? It's tucked up by the brake booster.

The plugs are Denso and two prong. I did use new intake gaskets and torqued them all to 22 ft-lbs. I too have never seen a bad plug out of the box but it is a possibility. I'm pretty sure I got all of the vacuum lines back on (apart from the previously mentioned one) but it is always possible that I missed one. I'm looking for a diagram of the vacuum lines now to see if something jogs my memory.

 

Do you possibly have two of your plug wire misconnected? It's easy to do.

 

I did accidentally do that but it didn't make a huge difference. I ended up finding out that my buddy who was helping forgot to replace one of the coil pack boots. I guess since everything else was new, that one old boot was causing problems. Runs great now!

 

check wiring