Builds I happened upon a 100 Series 4 month build (6 Viewers)

[TEXAS 57]

Uh oh... look what I dragged home:

 

[Ouray19]

More info! Mileage? Interior? Deal?

 

[aging fleet]

Building one for yourself?

 

[TEXAS 57]

More info! Mileage? Interior? Deal?

Well, my brother in law was looking for a 4Runner 4WD so I was helping him. Cruising Craigslist, EBay, LetGo, AutoTrader, OfferUp, etc... I was also looking for Tundras, Seqouias and Land Cruisers.
I said to myself, “if I see a cheap LC or LX 80 or 100 I will pick it up.”
This one popped up on OfferUp for $5,000 and I was at a janky little car lot within hours. He said it had an odometer discrepancy (it read 97k miles but looked like 250k). I had my buddy pull a Carfax while I explored it. Crawled underneath and it looked bone dry except two torn outer CV boots. Inside, the carpet looked clean, it had new front and middle seat covers (except headrests... kinda odd) and the third row was very worn. Steering wheel was worn through but it had a nice cover. Shifter leather was decent and all the lighter wood was there and not faded or peeling. Door panels looked rough, especially the tops.

The driver side headlight has a chip and moisture.

Pic of the seats and console:

So I started it up and it ran just fine with some whining (maybe Power Steering Pump or pulleys) but ran pretty smooth. On the test drive the suspension handled fine (although the AHC did not work) brakes had a slight shimmy from a high speed stop and the pedal feels better when I double pump the brakes. Everything works electronically except the AUTO AC button. Rear air is fine, ice cold AC and Hot Heat.
My buddy gets me the CarFax and it was corporately owned from day one to 40k miles and the rest of the time it was owned by the same person in Colorado. Almost every maintenance record was at a Lexus dealership in CO until 296k miles. I am still going through the Toyota Owners site over all the work done. It had a cluster swap at 347k miles but no documentation.
I felt like it may have been a flood car that was not documented so I aimed low at $3000. They said no. I told them to make me buy it today. They said $4500, I said, “I will drive it home with $4000 in cash in your hand right now.” I drove home with paper plates 20 min later.

 

[TEXAS 57]

BTW, I did offer to fix it up up for my brother in law and sell it to him at cost but he wants a 4Runner.

 

[TEXAS 57]

I have spent some time on my beloved 3rd gen (sport hood, ARB Bumper, Snorkel, new grille, 99-02 Headlights, door weatherstrip, and redid my driver seat foam and seat cover) but I sure do like the ride of the LX / LC. I was thinking of baselining and going through the LX and putting a lift on it (or fix the AHC) and sell it but I know the cluster swap / odometer discrepancies will hurt the resale. Decisions, decisions...

 

[knewstance]

Your brother in law wants a 4Runner... You just bought another cruiser... You have an extra 4Runner... I think I'm connecting the dots here!

Congrats on the new LC, looks like it will be a good project. Very different kind of build than your other 100.

 

[TEXAS 57]

Your brother in law wants a 4Runner... You just bought another cruiser... You have an extra 4Runner... I think I'm connecting the dots here!

Congrats on the new LC, looks like it will be a good project. Very different kind of build than your other 100.

Haha... Do you see what I see? You may be right.
He has a nice 2000 Nissan Frontier Crew Cab 4X4 that has been family owned and I have been encouraging him to keep it even though it needs a little work.

 

[TEXAS 57]

Let's start shopping.

Brass Heater Tees (I see some brown but would replace anyways) - EBay $6.50 Ea free shipping.
Radiator looks newer but there is green coolant so I need to flush it all out.

ATP-AT205 Stop Leak for preventative Power Steering
Brake Fluid for flush
Oil
Tranny Fluid - Valvoline MaxLife
80W-90 Gear oil
Upper Center console latch lock tab is broken so I picked one of a Camry / ES300 on EBay. ~$25
Covers from LSeat for the third row will be $300 so I am going to hunt down some lightly used ones.

I need to find a LC/ LX in a junk yard for better door panels / Middle Row Headrests

Toyota items -
Outer CV Boots

Now, I need to learn about the AHC system. The Normal light is on but I get no response from the switches. I have verified all the pieces are there LOL.

 

[Ouray19]

I believe @sorich did a lot of work on his AHC, and might be a good reference on some things. But most of it of course you can find pretty easily on here of course

 

[NHouston]

Congrats on the LX. Will be a fun project to watch. If you do decide to sell, I may be interested in buying for my daughters first car if you do the necessary PM. If so, let me know.

 

[TEXAS 57]

Congrats on the LX. Will be a fun project to watch. If you do decide to sell, I may be interested in buying for my daughters first car if you do the necessary PM. If so, let me know.

Will do.

 

[MattyO]

I would flush the AHC fluid to start with. If it is not responding and lights are not flashing when you try to raise and lower, I would check the fuses and electrical connections which are under the steering column.

 

[TEXAS 57]

I would flush the AHC fluid to start with. If it is not responding and lights are not flashing when you try to raise and lower, I would check the fuses and electrical connections which are under the steering column.

Thanks. I will take that advice.

I pulled the third row to see if there was any saving it without recovering and it just looks bad. There are tears, rips and scratches.

I found many for $300-400 but I could recover it for that price. OfferUp scores for me again. These were listed for $100. They have been in storage since 2002 and just had some scrapes from being moved around. Sold!

After a cleanup they should be fine.

Alternator went out in my 4Runner after 288k miles. I bought a spare a couple months ago from a part out and slipped that in this morning. Ordered a rebuild kit for the OE Unit. My oldest watched the whole hour it took to do it and I explained every piece and process. Good times.

Time to break out the scrubbing tools for those seats.

 

[TEXAS 57]

You would not believe all the dirt that came out of those seats...

I have a headlight issue... They stay on all the time...Even with the key off. I started a separate thread about that here:
Headlight electrical issue

I ordered some parts from Camelback Toyota:

0449360330 Master Cylinder Piston
PT34702030HK Cargo net panel fastener
7321902020 Seat belt stop
0442760120 CV Boot kit
Sillblades Wiper Blades (Can't see anything in the rain)

I have the double pump syndrome in the braking system so I will rebuild the Master Cylinder.

The AHC "LOW" light will sometimes blink when pressing the "LOW" position. Not sure if that means anything.

I also ordered that little Techstream Cable.

My Brother In Law's wife's 2004 Expedition needs a full tune up so I may get tied up in that for a bit doing that.

 

[TEXAS 57]

Diagnosing that headlight issue:

I have switched all the relays (DRL3, HEAD relay, DIMMER relay and the MAIN DRL relay) out with working ones from the LC. Nothing has worked. I still have the same symptoms.
The only other item in the headlight system from the EWD is the Instrument ECU and the switch.

 

[TEXAS 57]

Got some parts coming in. Everything is here from my initial walkthrough of the truck.

 

[TEXAS 57]

Before I put the new wipers on, I noticed the wiper arms were weather beaten so I cleaned them up and painted them. I pulled the plastic cowl trim off as well. They are grey and I need to blacken them.

I also picked up a ARB lift kit from @meatloaf feom the classifieds.
ARB 2860 Old Man Emu Coil Springs ~2" lift, Front/Rear Nitrocharger shocks with recent bushings, and OEM Torsion Bars.
Not sure if it will go on the LC or LX right now. It will be a good replacement if I cannot diagnose the AHC on the LX.

I got the Techstream cable and realized I have a 64 bit OS and I need a 32 bit OS. I followed the online instructions and could not get it to work. I will need to dig further.

 

[meatloaf]

Great job TEX, read through the thread and you are very detail oriented. I should have left my 100 with you for a month or so...

 

[TEXAS 57]

Alright, been busy last couple days.

Wipers were torn up. Bought some Silblades. The plastic cowl pieces looked so faded so I whipped out the heat gun and revitalized the black color.

Couldn’t put faded arms on top of that true black cowl so I shot them with some engine paint.

Halfway done

All reinstalled and looks great.