in this thread you may post reasons why I don't want a 2000-ish 4runner
01-23-2009, 03:03 PM
#21
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4-runners are the ****. You can't go wrong. It will tow your car. Sure, a big ******* truck will pull a load better, but that 'yota will do fine. If you were pulling a 20 yd^3 dumping trailer to the pit to get red clay, I wouldn't buy that truck. But for a miata, it's fine.
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01-23-2009, 03:09 PM
#23
Seriously, almost all automatic transmission failures are from overheating. Just don't tow in overdrive and put a good size cooler on it. I run the one I posted on a my t-bird I built. It was ~400 whp and I never had transmission problems. Just have to keep that **** cool and it's fine.
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01-23-2009, 03:14 PM
#24
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Aside from being underpowered (~150 crank hp) the 3.slow V6 suffered from all-too-common head gasket failures. But Toyota stopped using them after '95 so you wouldn't be looking at them anyway.
The 3.4 V6 makes enough power and is reliable enough that is has even become a pretty popular swap for earlier 2nd gen and even 1st gen 4runners. I have an '85 myself, with the venerable 22RE. 116 hp pulling 3800 lbs FTL. But it kept me out of speeding tickets when I was younger.
If you're towing several hours in each direction you need something that has the power to climb hills, and good brakes when you come back down. The 4runner will be suboptimal in both areas, has a fairly short wheelbase as previously mentioned, and also a somewhat narrow track width. When towing a big load, that dog will be subject to getting wagged by its tail so to speak. For shorter trips or infrequent towing it will work fine, and the 4runners are still built in Japan so it should be reliable as hell. However if you will be towing frequently I'd seriously consider a V8 truck. Good used ones should be easy to come by in TX, and gas won't get up anywhere near $3/gal in the near future so you won't go broke driving it.
I love my old 4runner and don't consider myself a fan of American SUVs. But I will say that my dad has a '96 Tahoe that he uses frequently (up to 20 weekends in a year) to tow his RX-7 to the track and it has been extremely reliable (the Tahoe, not the RX-7
). He did upgrade the brakes and swaybars so it has better road manners than GM originally gave it, but it tows like a dream on the highway.
The 3.4 V6 makes enough power and is reliable enough that is has even become a pretty popular swap for earlier 2nd gen and even 1st gen 4runners. I have an '85 myself, with the venerable 22RE. 116 hp pulling 3800 lbs FTL. But it kept me out of speeding tickets when I was younger.
If you're towing several hours in each direction you need something that has the power to climb hills, and good brakes when you come back down. The 4runner will be suboptimal in both areas, has a fairly short wheelbase as previously mentioned, and also a somewhat narrow track width. When towing a big load, that dog will be subject to getting wagged by its tail so to speak. For shorter trips or infrequent towing it will work fine, and the 4runners are still built in Japan so it should be reliable as hell. However if you will be towing frequently I'd seriously consider a V8 truck. Good used ones should be easy to come by in TX, and gas won't get up anywhere near $3/gal in the near future so you won't go broke driving it.
I love my old 4runner and don't consider myself a fan of American SUVs. But I will say that my dad has a '96 Tahoe that he uses frequently (up to 20 weekends in a year) to tow his RX-7 to the track and it has been extremely reliable (the Tahoe, not the RX-7
). He did upgrade the brakes and swaybars so it has better road manners than GM originally gave it, but it tows like a dream on the highway.
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01-23-2009, 03:22 PM
#25
I tow my car roughly 8-10K miles a year, I didn't want to chance it with a truck that wasn't up to the task in my opinion. Those of you who say it will work, have you ever towed 3400# with a 4runner? I could never relax towing with that thing. Now I set the cruise on 75 and never worry with the 2500. Sure the 2500 is overkill, but heck with the truck market like it is now, you can pick up nice early 2000 3/4 ton trucks for 6-8K.
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01-23-2009, 03:24 PM
#27
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I tow my car roughly 8-10K miles a year, I didn't want to chance it with a truck that wasn't up to the task in my opinion. Those of you who say it will work, have you ever towed 3400# with a 4runner? I could never relax towing with that thing. Now I set the cruise on 75 and never worry with the 2500. Sure the 2500 is overkill, but heck with the truck market like it is now, you can pick up nice early 2000 3/4 ton trucks for 6-8K.
at midnight on a friday night.
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01-23-2009, 07:10 PM
#34
Undrivable...what's up with it? Last I heard you were looking to put in the EGT and fix the LC1. Something major come up? The fans are an MS issue, no? If so, the MSPNP is under warranty, no? And what makes you so sure your trans is going to blow up? Is it making noises, or just your paranoia? I find it hard to believe you'll be busting transmissions out on the track anytime soon...you'll have to take it fairly easy and relearn the car with so much more power. What's with the current freak-out?
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01-23-2009, 07:35 PM
#35
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lc-1 was reset, free-air, over and over, and the AFR's still read 10.0:1 when the dyno sheet says 12.4:1 post cat (Ituner expected .4 difference)
the turbo glows red for like 10+ minutes after zipping around town. I think I fucked up mechanical timing and I'm going to fix that tomorrow (but everyone who's driven it thinks its fine). Spark table looks normal, so i can't figure this **** out, hence the need for EGT.
MAP signal is spikey and triggering enrichment, no matter what I do. I am going to try the mig-wire restriction next. After that, well...what else is there to try?
The fan will probably should not be warrantied because I had the fans jumped for the "dual fan mod." I can take pin r1 to gnd and the fans work, ms is not switching them on...because I obviously fucked it up.
Just like my last turbo car, I've pretty much ruined a good car...only I loved this car more than people. lol $15k down the *******, again.
the turbo glows red for like 10+ minutes after zipping around town. I think I fucked up mechanical timing and I'm going to fix that tomorrow (but everyone who's driven it thinks its fine). Spark table looks normal, so i can't figure this **** out, hence the need for EGT.
MAP signal is spikey and triggering enrichment, no matter what I do. I am going to try the mig-wire restriction next. After that, well...what else is there to try?
The fan will probably should not be warrantied because I had the fans jumped for the "dual fan mod." I can take pin r1 to gnd and the fans work, ms is not switching them on...because I obviously fucked it up.
Just like my last turbo car, I've pretty much ruined a good car...only I loved this car more than people. lol $15k down the *******, again.
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01-23-2009, 07:48 PM
#36
lc-1 was reset, free-air, over and over, and the AFR's still read full rich when the dyno sheet says 12.4:1 post cat (Ituner expected .4 difference)
the turbo glows red for like 10+ minutes after zipping around town. I think I fucked up mechanical timing and I'm going to fix that tomorrow (but everyone who's driven it thinks its fine). Spark table looks normal, so i can't figure this **** out, hence the need for EGT.
MAP signal is spikey and triggering enrichment, no matter what I do. I am going to try the mig-wire restriction next. After that, well...what else is there to try?
The fan will probably should not be warrantied because I had them fans jumped for the "dual fan mod." I can take pin r1 to gnd and the fans work, ms is not switching them on...because I obviously fucked it up.
Just like my last turbo car, I've pretty much ruined a good car...only I loved this car more than people. lol $15k down the *******, again.
the turbo glows red for like 10+ minutes after zipping around town. I think I fucked up mechanical timing and I'm going to fix that tomorrow (but everyone who's driven it thinks its fine). Spark table looks normal, so i can't figure this **** out, hence the need for EGT.
MAP signal is spikey and triggering enrichment, no matter what I do. I am going to try the mig-wire restriction next. After that, well...what else is there to try?
The fan will probably should not be warrantied because I had them fans jumped for the "dual fan mod." I can take pin r1 to gnd and the fans work, ms is not switching them on...because I obviously fucked it up.
Just like my last turbo car, I've pretty much ruined a good car...only I loved this car more than people. lol $15k down the *******, again.
My MAP signal isn't clean either, and it too is hooked into the FPR vac. line. Have you tried a vac. filter? I haven't yet, because really, it just doesn't matter that much. If your enrichments are kicking on before you like, change the thresholds. It takes some dicking with it to get it right.
If grounding the pin triggers the fan, it certainly sounds like something internal to the ecu. If you've parked the car anyway, send the ECU back to DIYA, and pay them to fix it for you. Their hourly rates are quite reasonable, and they'll fix you right up. I had to have them fix one of my screw-ups (well, misunderstandings, really) while adding a VTPS.
I know where you're coming from about not trusting the car. I don't trust mine really, either. But for no reason. It has never stranded me. And your setup is way less ghetto than mine.
****, I'm out of beer. Good luck.
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01-23-2009, 07:55 PM
#37
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I don't think the lc-1 is wrong. if it were runnin 10.0:1...would it even run? At cruise,the #'s were reasonable after the tune:
after the dyno tune my gauges pegged rich, but cruised at 15.1:1
I can take fuel out (had to with the new fuel pump) and made the boost #'s reasonable, and didn't have to adjust cruise because they #'s were reasonable. Is my cat converter really going to burn up 2 full points of fuel?
so if my tune were spot on from the dyno, then why was the LC-1 inconsistently innacurate?
The fuel filter thingy on the MAP didnt work last time, maybe it will now.
after the dyno tune my gauges pegged rich, but cruised at 15.1:1
I can take fuel out (had to with the new fuel pump) and made the boost #'s reasonable, and didn't have to adjust cruise because they #'s were reasonable. Is my cat converter really going to burn up 2 full points of fuel?
so if my tune were spot on from the dyno, then why was the LC-1 inconsistently innacurate?
The fuel filter thingy on the MAP didnt work last time, maybe it will now.
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01-23-2009, 08:18 PM
#38
I don't think the lc-1 is wrong. if it were runnin 10.0:1...would it even run? At cruise,the #'s were reasonable after the tune:
after the dyno tune my gauges pegged rich, but cruised at 15.1:1
I can take fuel out (had to with the new fuel pump) and made the boost #'s reasonable, and didn't have to adjust cruise because they #'s were reasonable. Is my cat converter really going to burn up 2 full points of fuel?
so if my tune were spot on from the dyno, then why was the LC-1 inconsistently innacurate?
The fuel filter thingy on the MAP didnt work last time, maybe it will now.
after the dyno tune my gauges pegged rich, but cruised at 15.1:1
I can take fuel out (had to with the new fuel pump) and made the boost #'s reasonable, and didn't have to adjust cruise because they #'s were reasonable. Is my cat converter really going to burn up 2 full points of fuel?
so if my tune were spot on from the dyno, then why was the LC-1 inconsistently innacurate?
The fuel filter thingy on the MAP didnt work last time, maybe it will now.
I bought an AEM. Seems we have pretty similar issues (fan, LC-1)
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