advise on toyota truck purchase...

99ncxj

99ncxj

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 23, 2006
Location
Aliso Viejo, CA
i'm looking at a 91 model toyota truck. its the sr5 extended cab, 4x4, v6, 180000mi. its got a 4" lift and 31's but i'm more interested in it for a DD truck. Does anyone have any experience with these trucks? is 2500.00 a decent deal?
 
beat me....damn 56k

ive had a 95 excab and a 90 4runner with the 3.0's and a 89 wiht the 4 banger...

i would try and find the 4 banger model. the 3.0 is alright but 180k is getting up to where its proablly gonna crap somthing out. the 4cyl is gonna get better milage and its funny bc they just about have the same power.IMO
 
Only having 31s is really kinda small w/ a 4" lift. 31s fit w/o rubbing on the stock suspension.
I only bring this up b/c it suggests it once had larger tires... you don't spend that kind of coin on a Yota lift for no reason. Given this, it means one of two things:
(a) some PO regeared the axles to match for bigger tires, so now the power curve could be way off using the 31s, or
(b) they ran bigger tires and did NOT regear, in which case there could have been alot of stress on the diffs, and you could be looking at issues or replacements soon.

Eitehr way, you need ot be sure to find out as much recent history as possible so you know what you're getting into.
$2500 isn't a bad deal, but it's not smokin' enough to just jump on it either... e.g. not unwarranted to hold back and dig up more inof...
just my first thoughts.
 
5 Speed or Awfulmatic? 5 speed would be much better.

Yea, as noted, at 180-200 and around 10 years old is the zone where head gaskets are ready to go unless it was a mall cruiser. With a lift kit, that was likely not the case. It is my belief that the viscus fan clutch slowly deteriorates over time and allows the engine to start gradually overheating during the summer or under load. Many people don't notice the gradual upswing of the temperature gage which is a warning sign that the clutch is failing at the worst time. The over-temps is what starts the head gasket failure process. Movement of the aluminum heads as temps rise causes the gasket to break down. Therefore, I strongly recommend that the OEM fan be replaced with a flex fan. They are predictable and very reliable and come in different levels of heat removal. Also, replacing the engine coolant every 3 years is also important in preventing dissimilar metal corrosion and etching of the aluminum components as the engine ages. My jury is still out whether or not this also contributes to head gasket failures.

My $0.02
 
It all depends on how well the motor was taken care of. I've got a 93 yota sr5 w/ the 3.0 in it, it has 300,000 miles on it, all i've ever replaced on it was the water pump, plugs, wires, & timing belt twice.
But yeah still be cautious when buying a 3.0 cause they're know for blowing head gaskets!
 
CoonDogger said:
4 banger? GO for it. Replace the timing chain in it and it will go for another 180,000
Click to expand...

Unless it doesn't... My former roommate had an 87 runner with the the 4 banger (owned since new and taken care of) that never saw more than stock tires that had been rebuilt TWICE to make 240k miles...

Yota trucks are great, but they're still just pieces of metal, if you abuse them they'll fail. Or even if you don't. Different roommate had a 95 runner w/ v6 (again original owners and maintained very well) that had the diff grenade on the ifs 8" (stock tires, never lifted) at 145k mi, at near 200, the spindle for the fan came apart and the fan went through the radiator...

I guess those examples are exceptions to the rule, other people report much better experiences with yotas.

All I know is I wouldn't be going anywhere near an ifs truck that's 17 years old for $2500, not with as many times as I've had to drive a roommate to work or most recently drive a roommate to winston-salem to pick up the runner (that's where it broke down) with new rad and fan assembly...

I'd say it would make a good DD and would be worth trying to talk the price down a bit save for the lift kit. Like everyone else has said, that says to me that someone had bigger tires than 31 on there at some point. If you can get them towards the $1500 or $1000 mark it'd be worth your time though.
 
These trucks don't have a lot of power to begin with, and unfotunatelty the auto really sucks down even more power. Dosn't help that the unit itself is a really heavy mofo too, adding even more weight to an already poor weight-to-power ratio.
I don't know that they are specifically problematic, per se, at least not more than any other 17 y/o automatic transmission.
 
ok, thanks to all. I guess i'm in the market for a 22re, 5sp, ext cab, 4x4 truck. should i stick to 90-95 years or what?
 
99ncxj said:
ok, thanks to all. I guess i'm in the market for a 22re, 5sp, ext cab, 4x4 truck. should i stick to 90-95 years or what?
Click to expand...

That is more a choice of preference/style. The newer trucks are bigger (more inside room) by a small margin.
 
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