Falling In Love – 1st Gen 4Runner

Molli Fire — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 22:28:22 +0000

In Spring 2009, I bought my first truck – a 1988 Toyota 4Runner. I’d wanted a truck since high school, but never found the right one at the right time. I tempered my lust with tour buses, a Mercedes Benz, even 2 boats before finding the *perfect* truck. At long last, my friends introduced me to the 88 4Runner (or Hilux as it’s called in most places outside the U.S.).

I bought it off the former owner sight-unseen for almost nothing over the impound fees and pretty much got what I paid for. The vehicle was trashed inside and out in mysterious ways.

As soon as the title was in my name and keys in my hand for the 1st time, I compiled the list of known issues it had, one of which was a “minor” overheating problem. Just a few days later, I discovered that the problem was being treated with plain tap water (which messed up the cooling system parts) and a coolant leak had caused the timing belt to shred, weaving individual rubber strings into the crankshaft and cam pulleys. This explained the severe timing problem we found after failing the first smog test.

Stay tuned for the continuation of 88 Hilux & the Robot Whisperer…

For more info on 1984-89 Hilux and 4Runner trucks – including funny commercials, 4×4 home videos and simply awe-inspiring experiments – tap over to the mut8 Hilux/4Runner page:

http://www.mut8.org/tag/4runner/

Mutate Now » 1st gen

Falling In Love – 1st Gen 4Runner