What have you done to your 5th Gen 4Runner today?

I don't blame you one bit. The only thing I miss about that truck is the power/noises, and the wife liked the massive backseat for the dogs.

 

Thanks for the info! I have heard about cam phasers, which scares me a little bit about the 3.5. I didn't know about the other issues. The sunroof thing is scary, I imagine that cost a fortune to fix. I love the look of the giant sunroof, but would lean away from getting one. Even before you mentioned problems, I figured that's something that has the potential to be a pita. I wouldn't have ordered the sunroof that's in my 4Runner, but I bought it used and it wasn't a deal-breaker either way.

 

Had the Defenders installed today, only put about 30 miles on them so far. I didn’t push at all, but definitely feels more planted next to edge of cliffs on winding highway.

 

Parts are $6,000 + labor. When mine went bad the parts were 6-9mo out. The worst part of it was the water intrusion was coming down through the whole roof console and soaking the electrical (upfitter switches, sunroof controls, lights) and that was just begging to become a fire hazard. It's curious - NOW you can order a Raptor with the top trim but the sunroof is a separate option - I wonder why .

 

Some interior organization. 67 Designs 4R mount and pick up any climber's chalk bag makes a great sunglass holder or whatever.

d

 

Those ph

Those phone mounts look nice. How do they attach to the dashboard?

 

I got the Offroam mount that has a lip that goes into the air vent - no drilling. LOVE it.

 

They are drilled and screwed into the trim. Very easy but plan on leaving it.

 

Changed the oil on New Years Day. Trying something new:

 

Yeah I feel similar. It’s my wife and I’s choice of vehicle when we drive to South Washington. My suspension, caster, and alignment were done mind you. I’m like obsessed with driving the 4R, when I’m free do to so.

*edit: and my gas mileage is going down the tubes as some know.
I heard I should finally clean my MAF this weekend.

 

I tried Valvoline too for the first time for my last oil change. Was using mobil 1 for over 100k miles prior. So far so good and I like it. I have an oil change coming up in next 1000 miles. Will probably stick with Valvoline a little longer.

 

Wow!!
"Lifelong" so no more oil changes. That would be great but 70% less plastic? I don't use plastic oil...

 

Is this now a FORD website?

 

Is that a box with a plastic bladder? I haven't seen that locally. I like that it's 6 quarts.

 

Ok, that's wild. I'm DEFINITELY skipping the pano roof if I go that route. Thank you for the info.

 

Me too. This 6.6 quart business is getting old...

 

What’s different about Havoline Lifelong Full Synthetic is that, unlike competing high-mileage offerings, it delivers outstanding performance at any stage in a vehicle’s life, from brand new to over 75,000 miles.

I was poking around to learn a bit more about this and ran across the above snippet in what was obviously a marketing announcement over on BITOG.
It kinda cracks me up that they sort of insinuate that 75,000 is a shitload of miles.
Apparently this product is exclusive to Walmart.

 

I put that in my Tacoma with 196K miles on it around 700 miles ago and the engine is noticeably quieter already.

 

I have this. Works great.
https://www.amazon.com/Neepiar-Orga...ocphy=9018869&hvtargid=pla-2281435179338&th=1

 

Still have to buy another qt for the 1/2qt these F(VKING engineers designed the sumps to hold!!

 

For me 75k is when I start shopping to trade. Still sticking W/Pennzoil 0/20W full synthetic.

 

Rehashing the topic of road trips, got back from a cross-country holiday trip... 2k in two days and 5k over the last 3 weeks and I couldn't be happier other than the fact that the headwind in TX and NM kept me out of OD most of the leg. Has me second-guessing my Sherpa rack and I'll be figuring out an easier way to pull the awning off before trips. The rack by far gave me the biggest MPG hit so I'm wondering if a 3/4 like the new Rhino Rack design might be a better fit.

Definitely making me feel better about 4.88s now that I saw it could sit north of 3k for miles on end and be perfectly happy.

 

How much of a hit with the Sherpa? I am looking at swapping out my TRD Pro rack with the Crestone and was actually hoping I might improve aerodynamics a bit - the PRO rack sucks.

 

It's very speed dependent. The hit at 60 isn't so bad but at 80, I'm floating 15, maybe 16mpg on a good day. Before the rack I could get 18 fairly regularly even on the ATs.

Where it killed me was the obvious wind drag coming across with the headwinds... I was getting under 14mpg in NM/TX because I was in 4th basically the whole way just to do the speed limit. The turbulence noise and dead bugs all over the rack tell me it was absolutely catching the wind.

 

picture tells 1000 words.
tgif

 

Finally installed my dr kdss botck shorty, not sure I really needed it as I have 2-2.5 inch lift, but was an excuse to cut some metal, and use Santa’s torque wrench

 

And the Walmart web site says it is out of stock.

 

Head wind on 40 will kill mpg on a prius. It's brutal.