Hi Everyone. I'm new to LC's but not to Toyota's. I've had a 97 4Runner for 7 years and taken it many thousands of miles and gone wheeling in much of southern California. We've got a 4 year old and a 2 year old and hopefully more on the way and the 4runner is getting a bit cramped. I'd love an 80 series, but rear AC is a deal breaker for my wife. Anyways...
I found a 1999 Maroon 100 series with 165k miles local to me for $6500. It's not pristine but for the price I wouldn't expect it to be. It has a few issues that I've looked for and haven't found much.
The Good:
Cloth Seats
Rear AC
Very clean interior
Rear locker
Drive train appears in good condition
Test drives nice
The minor Bad:
*Paint is starting to oxidize (southern CA desert, it's better than rust. Might get machine polished or repainted later).
*Front climate controls are a little wonky. Only the high fan speed works, so I'd assume the blower resistor is out, but when I moved the fan speed selector it cut out completely and only came back on when I moved the knob back and forth randomly for a few minutes. Maybe bad contacts in the switch and bad resistor? I know there are people that rebuild the electric climate controls for 00+ 4runners, does anyone know of such a service for 100 series?
*Steering wheel falling apart
*Airbag light on and horn doesn't work, most probably spiral cable
*Needs new key, the old key's transponder came off and a separate regular key was cut
*Needs new CV shaft as boot is torn with a healthy amount of gime in the outer joint
*Dash is a little sun damaged, but I can get a dash cover
*Needs new tires (how big of tires can I fit without a lift and what ones look the best? JK
)
*Steering rack is grimey but doesn't seem to be leaking bad enough to drip anywhere. The guys driveway was clean.
*The tailgate power lock doesn't seem to work, but it opens from the inside or with the key just fine.
The possibly major bad:
*There were no Dash lights (except airbag) but when I hooked up my OBD both the Catalyst and Evaporative System tests were incomplete. This might make getting it smogged a PITA. I've had evap codes on my 4runner that aren't fun to chase down. Luckily in my county it only needs to pass smog when you transfer the title.
*Here's the weird one that I can't find much info on. Whenever you press the brake pedal some buzzer sounds. It is almost consistent. It sometimes doesn't do it at higher speeds. I know the ABS and master cylinder are one unit, and it can be hard/expensive to replace. The baffling part is that no lights accompany the noise. It seemed like the fluid level was okay, but I should've looked closer.
Anyways that's about it. I'm not set on it, but I like that it's close, it has a locker, no ahc, and cloth seats with relatively low miles. The price isn't bad, but fixing the above issues might put it more on par with other vehicles in better condition. This is the only local one I've seen in the few months I've been casually looking. The rest are 2+ hours away in San Diego. This would be mainly a family rig that we'd use for mild overlanding. The 4Runner isn't going away and will be used for more difficult trips. Thoughts?
I found a 1999 Maroon 100 series with 165k miles local to me for $6500. It's not pristine but for the price I wouldn't expect it to be. It has a few issues that I've looked for and haven't found much.
The Good:
Cloth Seats
Rear AC
Very clean interior
Rear locker
Drive train appears in good condition
Test drives nice
The minor Bad:
*Paint is starting to oxidize (southern CA desert, it's better than rust. Might get machine polished or repainted later).
*Front climate controls are a little wonky. Only the high fan speed works, so I'd assume the blower resistor is out, but when I moved the fan speed selector it cut out completely and only came back on when I moved the knob back and forth randomly for a few minutes. Maybe bad contacts in the switch and bad resistor? I know there are people that rebuild the electric climate controls for 00+ 4runners, does anyone know of such a service for 100 series?
*Steering wheel falling apart
*Airbag light on and horn doesn't work, most probably spiral cable
*Needs new key, the old key's transponder came off and a separate regular key was cut
*Needs new CV shaft as boot is torn with a healthy amount of gime in the outer joint
*Dash is a little sun damaged, but I can get a dash cover
*Needs new tires (how big of tires can I fit without a lift and what ones look the best? JK
)*Steering rack is grimey but doesn't seem to be leaking bad enough to drip anywhere. The guys driveway was clean.
*The tailgate power lock doesn't seem to work, but it opens from the inside or with the key just fine.
The possibly major bad:
*There were no Dash lights (except airbag) but when I hooked up my OBD both the Catalyst and Evaporative System tests were incomplete. This might make getting it smogged a PITA. I've had evap codes on my 4runner that aren't fun to chase down. Luckily in my county it only needs to pass smog when you transfer the title.
*Here's the weird one that I can't find much info on. Whenever you press the brake pedal some buzzer sounds. It is almost consistent. It sometimes doesn't do it at higher speeds. I know the ABS and master cylinder are one unit, and it can be hard/expensive to replace. The baffling part is that no lights accompany the noise. It seemed like the fluid level was okay, but I should've looked closer.
Anyways that's about it. I'm not set on it, but I like that it's close, it has a locker, no ahc, and cloth seats with relatively low miles. The price isn't bad, but fixing the above issues might put it more on par with other vehicles in better condition. This is the only local one I've seen in the few months I've been casually looking. The rest are 2+ hours away in San Diego. This would be mainly a family rig that we'd use for mild overlanding. The 4Runner isn't going away and will be used for more difficult trips. Thoughts?
) finding one locally is a bit of a luxury and a few hours drive isn't abnormal. You didn't really mention where that fits in your budget. From the description of the issues you found there could be a few thousand more you have to put into it to get it family ready. Those cloth seats look really unique, odd even. Paint in the pictures doesn't look too bad. That license plate has only been smog tested once, back in 1999. Is this the original owner?
