LERN ME: 2003-2009 Toyota 4Runner Edition

My nephew is coming up quick on 16, and bless his little heart, is a bonafide gearhead. He's been absorbing car knowledge from me, his mechanic dad, and Teh Interwebz in preparation for picking up his first ride. He's even been working on friends' cars, doing small jobs like brake replacements, tune-ups, etc. for side money. Smart kid, right? 

He was talking with a friend of his older brother about cars, and the friend mentioned that he needed to get rid of his 2004 4Runner. The "brakes didn't work anymore", so he abandoned it at the end of his driveway and bought something else. My nephew asked if he wanted to sell it, and they agreed on a price, and he's picking it up this weekend. I'm proud of the little bugger; he absolutely STOLE the thing!  It looks similar to this:

He inspected it, and told me it has zero rust anywhere except for some surface rust on a skid plate near the gas tank. Frame and body are in nice shape, and even the paint is nice. It is a "Sport" model with the 4.0L V6, and has leather and 4WD. It runs and drives, but does not stop. Upon a quick inspection, the master cylinder was completely dry. That's not great, but that's why it was so cheap; probably a bad brake line, caliper, or even a caliper hose caused the leak. It has 190k on it. 

So, is there anything to watch out for on one of these, other than the braking system? Common failures, simple improvements, etc? Also, I kinda want one for myself now. 

You don't need the hydraulic brakes. That's what the tiny pedal on the far left is for.

IIRC a Toyota engineer was asked what truck they would choose if they had to do a journey around the world. 

He answered - a 4th Gen 4Runner. 

They're pretty bulletproof trucks. The V6 isn't crazy powerful but will get you anywhere, the chassis has been used globally for years, they're robust, get OK gas mileage, and aren't crazy big. I owned a 2003 (with the V8) and it's still one of the few cars I regret getting rid of. IMO, you're hard pressed to do any better in the non-full size SUV market.

FJ Cruiser springs are a bolt-in affair and will raise the ride height slightly. Toytec makes good quality suspension for not crazy money, both spacer kits and full on spring lifts. 

We have people lining up to buy pre owned 4runners from that gen. Even with 200k miles on them. At dealer prices. They are phenomenal vehicles. 

They have nice supercharger kits available... I put the 84FSP clan in a 5th gen and it's been a great vehicle.

I own a 2007 Sr5 V6 4x4.  I researched these to death and finally found a low mile one back in August.  You can get the 4.0 v6 or 4.7 V8.  The V6 has a chain and the V8 has a belt and is interference.  The V6 has a spin on oil filter in the engine....love that.  Early V6's had some known head gasket issues until they changed them in 2006?  This is per 4runner forums.  The V8 4wd's are fulltime.  The V6s are "multi-mode" and can be "awd" without the center diff on and not worry about binding.  I like that feature.  They did make only Rwd versions as well.  The Sport model has the "xreas" suspension where the shocks are linked by hydraulics to help on-road handling.  They also have bigger brakes on the sport model.  Expensive to replace the xreas suspension. My non xreas seems fine to me.  It rides much better than my old 2004 Tacoma double cab.  Not as stiff, but wallows just a hair.  My biggest complaint is the higher step in and low roof line.  My old 2010 Rav4 was much easier to load my son in his carseat.  The interior passenger room is kinda small.  I love the rear roll down window.  You can haul longer items and let them hang out. You shouldn't worry about frame rot on 4th gens.   Overall I love it and it's just a high quality versatile vehicle tightly screwed together from Japan. They still command big money.  I spent $14.5 on mine.  It was one owner with only 75k and clean history and from the original Toyota dealer.  They DONT last on lots around here if low mileage.  Sometimes you have only a few days to jump on one.  That's my experience.  They are considered about the most reliable vehicle and can go tons of miles with either engine.  Research the million mile Tundra with the 4.7 v8.  

We had a 2008 SportEdition (with the XREAS suspension). Compared to the non-XREAS version, ours handled MUCH better on the street in tight turns and country roads - not even close IMO. It was the 4.0 V6, which had plenty of power for normal driving and we did a few long tows (~5000lbs) to races with it as well, where it was fine but struggled a bit in mountains. We had it for 3-4 years with absolutely zero problems whatsoever. Everything was great about it except the stupid HVAC buttons and the seats were a bit flat for my liking. We bought it for $27k, and sold it to a buddy 3-4 years later for $20k. He put another 80k miles on it and sold it again for $19k...they hold their value for a reason. The XREAS suspension was still fine when he sold it with like 120k miles on it, FWIW.

The only reason we sold was due to 2 kids and a dog....the 4Runner is not very big inside for family weeklong road trips, with the backseats pretty tight for two carseats and not a ton of cargo space in back....we even had a cargo box on the roof. So we got a slightly older Sequoia, which is now my dedicated to rig. The Sequioa is way more fun to drive and looks so much better (and has GREAT stock headlights). The sequoia is a better tow pig and cavernous inside so it does the job for me better now. But every time I see a gen-4 4Runner I miss ours. 

Oh, the SportEdition also has bigger front brake rotors and 4-pot calipers....it stops awesome.

I woudl definitely buy another if I had a reason to have one. They are bulletproof and stylish and great drivers for truck-based SUV that can seriously off-road. 

Downside to getting the V8 version is that it's full-time 4WD (or full-time 2WD if you find that model), whereas the V6 is part-time 4WD, which saves on gas and drivetrain wear. The V6 feels pretty much as quick as the V8 when not towing, IMO.

I saw this today while walking the dog around the neighborhood.

That is all.

My FIL is on his second. First was an 03, this one is an 09. Both have been problem free. Both V6's. 

My my mom has one too. 07, V6. It needed a charcoal canister, and they just had the transmission replaced. But that was a fluke. Great vehicles. 

Well, turns out the kid did really well. It's actually a Limited model, not a Sport. Has leather and there's not a spot of rust I can see. 

Runs and drives, everything works (except brakes are iffy) and he paid $1k. I'm totally jealous.  Plans are to fix the brakes, change the fluids, do a tune-up, clean it, and probably put a modern stereo in it. That's it. 

In reply to Tony Sestito :

That was a steal!  I'd buy them in that condition for that price every day of the week.

My sister has owned three.  The first died a noble death when the person behind her fell asleep at the wheel and drove into the back at around 55 MPH.  The second was sold to get a Sequoia for a growing family.  The third got sold in the divorce of said growing family.

Please make sure that he understands that not every automotive purchase in his lifetime will be comparable to the smoking bargain that he stumbled upon with his first.

"A steal" is an understatement  I didn't know you could still buy much of anything for $1k, especially a non rusted Toyota 4x4.  Good score!  If he get's the brakes fixed and for some reason not like it, he can sell it for a few grand profit.

I'll double his investment. If he wants.

Fletch1 said:

"A steal" is an understatement  I didn't know you could still buy much of anything for $1k, especially a non rusted Toyota 4x4.  Good score!  If he get's the brakes fixed and for some reason not like it, he can sell it for a few grand profit.

He's well aware, and a born wheeler and dealer. He has a knack for this stuff that is uncanny; he's been flipping stuff for profit for a few years now. A couple weeks ago, he bought a go kart off a kid he goes to school with for $45. Sold it last week without touching the thing for $150. He's planning on keeping this one for a while, though. 

And Woody, I'm pretty sure he knows that he blew all of his car karma for a while. 

In reply to Tony Sestito :

He'll have a reality TV show soon that will replace American Pickers  Call it "Wheels & Deals" or "Flippin' Sweet Deals" or something like that.