SOLVED! Post 2853 Leaking Injectors, Dealer Techs Rock! Extended Cranking after Engine Swap 3.4L 5vz

I've been eyeballin 4runners lately(3rd gen) and I think they set about the same as a first gen taco. If ya look at the ones with running boards they seem to set lower but its just cause of the "look" I believe. They are easy to lift too. I'll lift mine when I get it, its a must. I'm surprised you guys never lifted your taco, specially the way you used it. I remember way way back you two where going to get new shocks and struts for the nightmare truck, that would have been the opportunity to lift it. Its really not that expensive for 2.5", which is perfect for most applications. I say buy the runner and since it will pry have at least 100k on the odometer it'll be getting close to needing new suspension. Then just do a lil upgrade lift her up a bit and you have a bad ass new yota that will do just what the nightmare used to plus some. Ya gotta get a 3rd gen runner though!!! They are the ones that look like our first gen trucks!


P.S if u haven't already noticed searching for a super nice runner is much easier than looking for a taco! They tend to be far better priced too!

 

http://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/632051505/photo/

Maybe we should get this Taco and make Mod jealous (forest green)? Nah, that's mean. It's sure purty. Lotsa miles though.

 

your opinion of what "lots of miles" is is much different then mine, to me anything around 120k is low miles, even for an 02

how many miles did you drive your taco each year? you bought it with 70k and now it has 200k so you put 130k miles on it in the short time you had it so divide 130k by the number of years you had it and that's you average per year or to break it down farther, it was only driven an average of 200 miles a week. just sayin'

something to keep in mind as well is where those miles came from, if it was long commutes to work and back and mostly highway miles then that puts a lot less wear on an engine then if it was all short trips around town or off roading on weekend type of miles

 

I agree with keakar, those are not bad miles on a 2002. And it has leather interior that looks to be in great shape! They list it as charcoal, so maybe they are not too bright and will come down on the price significantly.

 

here is an absolute beast if you like to play off road 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser 4X4 - $20,980 http://www.cargurus.com/Cars/invent...ersModified=true#listing=106302023_isFeatured

and its the right color too lol

and the things people do with and to them http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/fj-cruisers/184135-lets-see-your-fj.html

 

Thanks for the compliments, I've worked hard to get the toys I want. Sorry you aren't closer.

I'm constantly changing things around to fit my needs. I can never be entirely satisfied with the place. Last night I got tired of the look of the store bought railing in my loft. I ripped it out and built My own. I still need to attach some pig fencing in between the railing posts. I plan on putting a bunch more of my tin signs along there. I wish I had a before pic, but no one is missing much.

 

Fat fingers, try again.

 

I have to agree with Keaker, not really that many miles. Any manufacturer can expect vehicles to go 200k with minimal issues. These V6 Toyota trucks can go 300k. It is a lot of money, but you will have it for 10 years...and you know so much about these motors, it would be a shame to flush all that knowledge down the drain.

You have the advantage that most of us here in the salt belt don't. Yeah, no fucking road salt!

Pretty nice truck. You don't see trucks like that around here.

 

Eventually,,going to do a full strip, scuff and shoot of a Forest Green onto this old truck. I have a excellent green picked out that can be quickly doubled as a camo background color. New tailgate and away we go. I see a slight resemblance to my truck in Kirks garage pick,,but mine runs and drives.

Done with red,,my "85" was Marlboro red.

 

Bry838, thanks for the thoughts on the 4Runners. I agree, there are definitely more of them around and often for lower prices than Tacos. Not a huge diff, but a little less. And yeah, I wondered if it was more of an optical illusion that they appear to have less clearance than a Taco. Sounds like you think so too. Good!! I will keep my eye out for a 3rd gen. - I like the look of those best too! Just Wikipedia'd it - looks like 3rd gens are 1995-2002s. Makes sense - Toyota seemed to do their best work in the design department during those years!

Keakar, maybe we do need an exorcism? Not sure. Last night the TV in our bedroom wouldn't turn on! That's now the Taco, the mower, the table saw, and the TV. My husband may have eventually figured out the TV thing - I fell asleep before knowing the outcome. Will cross fingers on that one. Because even the cheapy cheapest models to replace all 3 of those things would easily add up to $1K+! Although that seems like pocket change nowadays, with the Taco costs. I suppose that's the silver lining in all this? Taco's breakdown = everything else breaking seems small and trivial. Wow, what a great positive uplifting thought!

Sterdog, I would totally take ya up on that 4 Runner from the folks you know, but it's just too far. Can you encourage them to drive to Oregon in it for a final road trip? We can give them a tour of the best breweries around!

Mod, are you seriously gonna do the green paint thing? Wow! Will you DIY it or take it somewhere? If you know how to paint/detail vehicles, ya wanna do my Civic? I do actually offer other forms of payment than broken cookies, just ask Koditten! The broken cookies are just the starting point - then we upgrade to level two, smashed pies! Ha ha ha. Or, I can actually pay with real money, except the catch is that the recipient has to spend it on booze. For real though, we've thought about dumping a little money into the Civic for a paint job, because it's the major flaw cosmetically now. Curious if you know of somewhere good/cheap around here to get a paint job.

Koditten, thank you for sending your '98's starter and charcoal canister!! Much appreciated. Even if none of these donor parts fix it and we wind up replacing her, at least we'll have the piece of mind that we tried damn near everything reasonable we could try to fix her. Because deep down, that would still be my 1st choice, and not just because of the cost of replacing. Yep, even after all this miserable nonsense caused by this truck, I still love that damn truck more than any other I find out there - every damn little thing about it. Well, except the starting issue . And thanks for posting those pics of your 98. Eric and I have tried to visualize more than once what the whole set up is, as far as where all of these donor parts are coming from, how much of a pain they are to get to, what condition the donor truck is in now, etc. Such a unique situation, what we are doing here. It is very cool to see it and think of how awesome it is that she's giving pieces of herself in her old age so that other like her might have a shot at making it.

OK, seriously, this thread needs to be made into a soap opera. That last sentence of the previous paragraph is just too much drama for a forum - this is total mini series or soap opera material. "The aging, retired Taco had provided a very impressive number of miles/years of excellent service to her owner, then when the evil rust demons claimed her, she become a guardian angel truck, and gave of herself to help other of her same kind who were fighting their own demons try to stay alive" - c'mon you guys, is anyone on the thread a big Hollywood producer? That'd be one way we could afford the Taco of our dreams!!!!!

OK, off to Costco and a billion other errands, then back later to FINALLY finish poly'ing our last few kitchen cabinet doors. FINALLY finishing up a project we started nearly 1.5 years ago of refinishing our kitchen cabinets ourselves. BIG job. The kind that is fun when you start, then sucks about 20 min into it, when you realize you have about 20 days left of non stop labor to complete it. Yay. Hence the 1.5 years later. Anyway, we're going for a refi on our house - been planning that for a looooooooooooooong time but procrastinating all these little house fix it projects while the Taco stuff went on caused us to delay it. So now we are trying our best to get those fix it things done, get the refi done, and hopefully create a little more breathing room in the truck budget that fell apart somewhere around a fuel pressure regulator replacement. Husband finished crown moldings last weekend, still has to put up some closet doors and finish some shelving in laundry area. I gotta finish cabinets and make the call to get that whole fun refi process started. Ugh. That part sucks, they always drag out that damn paperwork forever and ask you the most ridiculous questions ever. Anyway, now you're all updated on what's happening in this neck of the woods.

PS: Ten Beers and you other guys that commented on that Taco I posted yesterday - I agree! You're right, the 125K mileage isn't awful, and the interior does look pretty nice. And I like your thought about the folks who posted some of the ad details incorrectly perhaps being not so sharp and therefore easier to negotiate pricing with! And yeah, Koditten, you are right - we do have ONE advantage over all you guys in the east with lower priced, easier to find Tacos - we have NO SALT ON ROADS!! Woo hoo!! Really though, maybe that's part of why they are priced higher and harder to find out here. People keep them longer because no rust maybe? And therefore they hold value longer? I don't know. I know most of our friends/family back east and some TW folks have thought we were bat shit crazy from the start for even considering an engine swap on a truck with that many miles, but hopefully this helps explain it. They are so damned expensive and difficult to find around here, especially when you want all these specific features, specific year model, etc, that we figured as long as the swap was successful, it made sense to keep this one and replace the engine - no salt, no rust, no $20K price tag. Too bad that bolded part didn't work out. We will survive this though, one way or another.

Have a good one TW!!

PPS: I think we should all try to come up with a soap opera/mini series title for the thread. I remember DP taking a stab at that about a month or so ago. He had one that stuck with me, "as the piston churns" or something like that. And drinking Buffalo Trace (or whatever your drink of choice is) during this critical thinking task is highly encouraged. Maybe we should up the stakes a bit - broken cookies and/or smashed pies shipped to the winner of the "name that soap opera/mini series" contest?

 

how about "as the checkbook burns"

 

C'mon Keakar, you can do better than that! Would YOU watch a mini series called "as the checkbook burns"???????? Sounds depressing. Something more lively and mysterious please, try again I know you've got the creative talent for this one, I expect a good one from you!!

 

Lol, I think that 4Runner might already be sold to another friend of mine. It's hard to find good 4Runners that old up here with that mileage. The moment I posted it on my offroad forum there was 10 hits from guys chomping to see it.

 

Damn! Too bad, my loss. Where do you live? Do they salt roads where you are?

 

its kinda like a funeral, its hard to think of something funny at a funeral and "days of our lives" is already copyrighted I think?

 

They do salt sometimes in the cities but in the country and the city where the truck is from it's sand only.

The frame on this 4Runner is still factory black. I poked along it in the known weak spots with a screwdriver, everything felt and looked solid.

 

Damnit! So we really did miss out then. Hmmm. You said you're in Alberta, right? Whereabouts roughly?

Keakar, I'll give ya that, it is sort of funeral-ish. Hmm. Still, we can do better. Checkbooks burning is more of a daily reality for many of us (on different levels for each of us) so I feel like this should be more of an exciting dramatic title than something that reminds us of the shitty side of daily reality - the almighty dollar. I guess maybe this is a bit premature - until we know the final fate of the whole thing, it's hard to title it, huh? Hmmm.

EDIT: OK, really leaving now. First stop is to go check in on mechanic and Taco, and retrieve COR if it wasn't a fix. And get the update, whatever it may be. Then bunch of errands. But will post the update from mechanic, whether it's good, bad, or nothing. Have a great day TW!

 

ok, you need a smile, I have something for you:

This is the story of Jen and Eric, two normal people who used to have normal lives until that fateful day when a rough running truck engine turned into a monster that terrorized and tortured them with no mercy.

Tune in to see what happens next for Jen and Eric who cant seam to get their truck fixed no matter how hard they try. the whole community has rallied to them in their time of need but still haven't been able to solve this problem. Jen has even resorted to bribing people with her cookies and has started drinking heavily because of all the stress.

tune in to find out:

will Jen start brewing moonshine to pay for a new truck?

will Jen open a roadside stand to sell her cookies to the townspeople?

will Jen get shit faced drunk and set fire to her truck in a fit or frustration?

if you don't tune in, you will never know what happens next, so don't miss it!

 

I vote fire lol

 

I like option three...one bottle Buffalo Trace please...