The 4Runner project thread

Cookie Monster · August 30, 2014, 05:29:54 PM

Well, I've decided to start tinkering with the 4Runner and thought I'd have a thread with all my pics/progress in it, as well as for me to ask any questions when I mess up (because I will mess up for sure).

Yesterday I decided to tackle the all the oil. The transmission is a bit notchy so I decided to change that and the transfer case oil as well:

Unfortunately, the diff fill plugs were so freaking tight that I just started rounding them off, so I didn't get around to changing those. The transmission is also acting weird now - it makes a soft grinding noise when I try to shift into reverse. If I hold the clutch in while starting the car and go directly into reverse, it's fine, but if I let the clutch out and then push it back in to get into reverse it grinds. It never had this problem before so I'm confused as to what might be causing it. The gears still feel a bit notchy too, so I probably did more harm than good replacing the oil.

Anyways, today I wanted to just vacuum out the interior and clean up some mud I tracked onto the driver's floor mat. While I was there, I decided to take out the wires that were sitting in the trunk, except when I pulled on them, I noticed they went in behind the seats... On top of that, one of the wires was live and was shorting on the other wires. I can't believe I drove the car around like that for the past two weeks, and I knew it had to go immediately. Turns out the PO had done a horrible audio installation. The radio never worked so I decided to yank everything out.

The red one was connected DIRECTLY to the battery.

PO fucked up the harness pretty well:

What turned out as a day of just cleaning my carpets turned into this:

Found this amp in the back:

And this shitty Viper alarm:

All this shit was mangled up in the ignition wires:

Had to cut a couple to get everything free:

Got dat shit all soldered up:

It's like it never happened, right?

Finally got everything back together again, too:

And this was all the horseshit I was carrying around in the car. The speakers are still in there, but hopefully I can actually use those at some point in the future. Just don't know how I'm going to get things connected up with the harness all fucked up.

BTW that horn was also wired under the hood. The idiot owner had also used self tapping sheetmetal screws and just put that shit all throughout the car's body. Now there are a ton of weird looking holes, thankfully where no one can see them, but boy what a hack job.

FoMoJo · August 30, 2014, 05:47:52 PM

Does it still run?

Cookie Monster · August 30, 2014, 05:52:41 PM

Quote from: FoMoJo on August 30, 2014, 05:47:52 PM
Does it still run?

Why wouldn't it?

MrH · August 30, 2014, 06:02:15 PM

Woah. At least you found that mess and fixed it for the most part. I'd just rip out all the speaker wire and redo the whole thing if it's that bad.

good work getting it all pulled apart and back together that fast.

CALL_911 · August 30, 2014, 06:13:52 PM

Hell yeah dude, nice work

CALL_911 · August 30, 2014, 06:14:18 PM

Hack job notwithstanding I'm still jealous of this whip

Cookie Monster · August 30, 2014, 06:14:24 PM

Quote from: MrH on August 30, 2014, 06:02:15 PM
Woah. At least you found that mess and fixed it for the most part. I'd just rip out all the speaker wire and redo the whole thing if it's that bad.

good work getting it all pulled apart and back together that fast.

Thanks! Yeah, it was a long day. I ripped out all the non stock wires in the car. I'm thinking about running new wire to the speakers again, but with the audio harness being so mangled I'm not sure exactly how I would get everything to work with the head unit. I might just swallow my pride and take it to a shop. I hate electrics/wiring.

I mainly wanted that shit out of there because of how badly the main wire was shorting. Plus the Viper alarm was so sloppily wired that my feet were getting tangled in the wiring every time I braked/shifted.

FoMoJo · August 30, 2014, 06:23:29 PM

Quote from: thecarnut on August 30, 2014, 05:52:41 PM
Why wouldn't it?

Just kidding. That nest of wires looked pretty intimidating. Good job in getting it sorted.

MrH · August 30, 2014, 06:27:35 PM

Quote from: thecarnut on August 30, 2014, 06:14:24 PM
Thanks! Yeah, it was a long day. I ripped out all the non stock wires in the car. I'm thinking about running new wire to the speakers again, but with the audio harness being so mangled I'm not sure exactly how I would get everything to work with the head unit. I might just swallow my pride and take it to a shop. I hate electrics/wiring.

I mainly wanted that shit out of there because of how badly the main wire was shorting. Plus the Viper alarm was so sloppily wired that my feet were getting tangled in the wiring every time I braked/shifted.

If you want to keep the head unit, can't you get a harness from Crutchfield or somewhere pretty cheap? Worst case, buy spools of whatever gauge you want to use, and run it all yourself?

hotrodalex · August 30, 2014, 06:29:27 PM

Stereo/speaker wiring is cake.

Cookie Monster · August 30, 2014, 06:34:33 PM

Quote from: MrH on August 30, 2014, 06:27:35 PM
If you want to keep the head unit, can't you get a harness from Crutchfield or somewhere pretty cheap? Worst case, buy spools of whatever gauge you want to use, and run it all yourself?

They sell the harness that goes between your car's harness and the input for the headunit. I'll see if I can do what you're saying though and just run shit everywhere.

GoCougs · August 30, 2014, 09:11:05 PM

That is a ton of work.

As to the M/T issue you should only use the exactly fluid call out in the manual. My '97 Tacoma manual said 75W-90 but the local lube shop put in 80W-90 and in would grind gears at shifting at higher RPM. Had to take it back and get 75W-90 and problem solved.

Cookie Monster · August 30, 2014, 09:14:41 PM

Quote from: GoCougs on August 30, 2014, 09:11:05 PM
That is a ton of work.

As to the M/T issue you should only use the exactly fluid call out in the manual. My '97 Tacoma manual said 75W-90 but the local lube shop put in 80W-90 and in would grind gears at shifting at higher RPM. Had to take it back and get 75W-90 and problem solved.

I did put in 75W-90, GL4 Redline oil.

Rupert · August 31, 2014, 05:42:44 PM

I wonder if that's why it's hard to get my Exploder into first from neutral when stopped...

Cookie Monster · August 31, 2014, 07:00:27 PM

Quote from: CALL_911 on August 30, 2014, 06:13:52 PM
Hell yeah dude, nice work

Quote from: CALL_911 on August 30, 2014, 06:14:18 PM
Hack job notwithstanding I'm still jealous of this whip

Thanks! Don't be jealous though, your car is almost as practical, far more fuel efficient and far more fun to drive (although I really love driving the 4Runner because you have to beat on it to keep up with traffic).

Quote from: hotrodalex on August 30, 2014, 06:29:27 PM
Stereo/speaker wiring is cake.

I looked into it a bit yesterday and it doesn't seem horrible I guess. I just don't know how to deal with the power from the ignition and the always on power (to save radio presets, etc). There's some sort of harness back there so when I get some extra money I'll look into getting it done. Right now I have to pay off other expenses (from moving and setting up the apartment here, etc).

hotrodalex · August 31, 2014, 07:02:03 PM

There should be two power wires for that. Just find a diagram for the stereo.

Cookie Monster · August 31, 2014, 07:10:18 PM

Quote from: hotrodalex on August 31, 2014, 07:02:03 PM
There should be two power wires for that. Just find a diagram for the stereo.

That's not the hard part. The stereo adapter is back there. The hard part is finding out where to tap into the car's wiring to get that power.

Should I reuse the speaker wire I just pulled out, or buy new stuff? I'm inclined to go with new stuff since I have to redo all of it anyways.

CALL_911 · August 31, 2014, 07:17:27 PM

Quote from: thecarnut on August 31, 2014, 07:00:27 PM
Thanks! Don't be jealous though, your car is almost as practical, far more fuel efficient and far more fun to drive (although I really love driving the 4Runner because you have to beat on it to keep up with traffic).

Besides the point, 4Runners are plain cool

Cookie Monster · August 31, 2014, 07:22:11 PM

Quote from: CALL_911 on August 31, 2014, 07:17:27 PM
Besides the point, 4Runners are plain cool

No arguing with that.

hotrodalex · August 31, 2014, 07:27:02 PM

Quote from: thecarnut on August 31, 2014, 07:10:18 PM
That's not the hard part. The stereo adapter is back there. The hard part is finding out where to tap into the car's wiring to get that power.

Should I reuse the speaker wire I just pulled out, or buy new stuff? I'm inclined to go with new stuff since I have to redo all of it anyways.

Oh. On my car I have a junction box under the dash that is connected to the ignition to keep that wiring neat. And the low power wire goes to the battery terminal on the fuse box.

GoCougs · September 01, 2014, 08:40:30 PM

Quote from: thecarnut on August 30, 2014, 09:14:41 PM
I did put in 75W-90, GL4 Redline oil.

But does your manual call for 75W-90? I had a different chassis with a different engine (and probably different tranny).

Cookie Monster · September 01, 2014, 08:46:09 PM

Quote from: GoCougs on September 01, 2014, 08:40:30 PM
But does your manual call for 75W-90? I had a different chassis with a different engine (and probably different tranny).

Yep, I have the factory service manual for my gen 4Runner.

Cookie Monster · September 03, 2014, 10:58:52 PM

Crawled back under the car today and checked the drain plug on the transmission. It was nice and tight and dry (no leaks), so I opened up the fill plug and found the oil level to be substantially lower than the fill hole.

Put in a lot more transmission oil till it started coming out the fill hole again. Hopefully it shifts better tomorrow and doesn't grind in reverse.