Some people have all the luck

A co-worker has a 98 4runner with 300k miles on it. A few days ago it started making noises and we listened to it several times. I got progessively worse each time. I sounded like a bad water pump , idler pulley or timing chain. Well it doesn't have a timing chain, so I thougth the idler pully for the timing belt. He got it to a trusted shop today and it turned out to be a bad idler pully on one of the V belts. That's what I had originally thought, but couldn't see an idler pully due to all the shields. He also had a whining, whirring noise from the transmission. His man put in more ATF and snake oil and said it sounded fine. Money is real tight for this guy, so I'm glad it worked out for him (at least for now).

Bad thing is, once your buddy's wallet gets fatter, the truck WILL know this and try to suck it dry. My 9C1 did every-damn-time.

Car law #4532: Oil pumps and idler pulleys never cause trouble except for exploding at high RPM

Car law #5683: Any problem solved with fluid additives will be back with a vengeance

Is he really lucky or is this the tide going out before he's hit with a tsunami of repair costs?

My Yamaha mechanic B-I-Law had a clapped out 1980's 4x4 Toyota truck that ran forever. Once he told me he was having issues to find out the fuel filter was dirty. He never had serious problems.

Maybe the magic of old Toyota pickups is that the car laws are inverted. Low oil pressure? Bad oil pump. Horrible noise from the engine? Just a worn idler pulley bearing. Engine running like crap? Pop in a new fuel filter.

Old Toyota pickups are like old hunting dogs. They will try to limp along on three legs to please you. My buddy had to tie his SR5 to a tree and shoot it to put it out of its misery.

pinchvalve wrote: Old Toyota pickups are like old hunting dogs. They will try to limp along on three legs to please you. My buddy had to tie his SR5 to a tree and shoot it to put it out of its misery.

How very Japanese to put a half-million-mile drivetrain in a biodegradable body.

I have a buddy who can buy a car with what sounds like a rod knock, puts some air in the tires and it goes away! Me, I do a 300 point test on the whole car, buy it, and the rod will come out the side on the drive home.

I swear, with my luck, if it ever started raining beer, I would be inside the bar paying for a round.