My 2004 V8 Limited 4Runner

Hello,

My wife and I have an opportunity to purchase a 2004 white Limited v8 4Runner from my parents for (i'm guessing based on our brief conversations) around $5-8k. They are the original owners and I know have maintained the car properly. Is this a good deal based on the following factors:

- it does have 230k miles
- front leather seats were reupholstered recently
- it's very clean in and out, i've driven it many times myself
- no modifications, they are old people and its bone stock except for the Michelin Defenders on it
- 4x4 (duh its a Limited)

We basically just need a larger vehicle for road trips, a lot to the snow hence the need for 4x4, with our 1 year old and dog and our current vehicles are small or not practical. I'm no stranger to Toyota... i currently drive a 2014 AC v6 4x4 Tacoma and my wife drives a AWD Lexus NX300h.

What are some of the known issues with the 4.7L v8/transmission/etc for the 4th gen 4Runners? How much longer, with proper maintenance, can we somewhat expect the vehicle to last (knowing anything can happen to any vehicle at any time)?

Just looking for some general advice on this potential purchase. Thanks!

Edit: updating post to include photos!

 

Let’s see some pics!

Some of the exterior & interior, and of course the frame

 

4.7 needs timing belt done every 100k

 

Other than timing belt maintenance unless if anyone needs more power newer v8s have (older v8s have less power) I would pick the V6 for less maintenance, less repair cost (lesser parts, more room to work resulting time / hourly rate saving on repairs) , more fuel range (same fuel tank), and better mpg (v6 having part time 4wd so you could use 2wd until 4wd is needed).

When it comes to offroad less engine = less weight in front = less stress on driving components.

 

I’ll try to get some but it’s over at my parents house.

ok so nothing crazy outside of regular maintenance. I’ve been reading about cracking exhaust manifolds. They just had the valve cover gaskets replaced and I think the rear main seal a couple years back. I mean I get what you’re saying about v8 vs v6 but I wouldn’t be looking at this old a 4Runner except this one is my parents so I trust it. But I also realize that it has pretty high mileage. Just wondering if we could expect this thing to go to 400k miles or more without anything ‘major’ or are we looking at like 300k.

 

I missed that critical part. It's your parents 4runner that you know very well about the history and maintenance.

 

Where are you located? If you're in an area that uses road salt, even if your folks have taken care of it, it could still have issues.

Somebody recommended a V6 over V8, I disagree. Other than the added expense of the timing belt, in real world driving the gas mileage difference is probably negligible if you can keep your foot out of the gas on the V8, and the V8 will be much nicer to drive and sound better as well if if that's something that you happen to care about.

Plus, just the fact that it's been in the family. Passing this one up with a known history in favor of one with a different engine and an unknown history doesn't make any sense.

There have been a few Tundra pickups with this same engine that have gone a million miles. So, obviously it's reliable as long as you take care of it and keep up on the maintenance. Same with the transmission, Toyota has been using this transmission for quite a while, and after all the time I've spent in these Toyota groups, I've never heard of anybody having any issues with the transmissions in these.

As long as the body and frame are in good shape, and you can keep them that way, this thing should last for many more years and a few 100k's. I remember a while back, somebody posted a photo of the odo of these with almost 500k.

 

Been a California car its whole life… started in Sacramento and now in San Diego. Definitely no road salt but I’ll check the frame out for rust just to be safe.

 

Oh man, it's probably like brand new. Out here in New England most Toyotas of that age are likely to be rusty POS's and ready for the scrap heap, I'm so jealous of you all out west with your minty fresh older cars. I was out visiting friends in LA and San Diego a few years ago, I was amazed at the amount of older cars that were in such good shape and just being used as daily drivers.

 

Do you need 100% reliability? This is key when driving a high-mileage "clunker". What's your threshold of pain? Mine is in the 150-200k mile range where anything could break (hate to point this out, but, even on an old Toyotas shit breaks all the time). The v8 all-wheel drive (with center locker) is for me what makes the 4runner special. At 240k miles the car could easily require 8-10k work to make it to 300k. Let's say you are all in for $15k and you get 60k miles. This is in the ballpark of driving new. But you might be lucky and not spend a dime on it; then you are in for $6k and you come out good. I think the V8 is fun, it's unique, you can tow 7000 lbs, you can keep it going for a very long time, but it is not cheap to drive (per mile) as it ages. You won't' have the potentially very expensive head-gasket issue like the v6. Instead, you get the cracked exhaust manifold, which you can just ignore if you want.

 

I’m not so worried about anything besides like an engine rebuild or transmission failure. If I need to replace bushings, suspension pieces, cooling system components, sensors, etc I can do most of that work myself. It’s the major things like having to rebuild an engine or replace the transmission or transfer case that I think is outside my wheelhouse. Nothing, as it sits now, would suggest any major failure would occur but I know on high mileage vehicles anything can go wrong… the point of this post was to just get a general feel about how reliable and how long these v8 4Runners generally last when we’ll taken care of.

 

The v8 is extremely reliable. Some will argue that it is the best engine ever made. It is the same engine that appeared in the Land Cruiser and Lexus. There is a timing belt with recommended service every 90k miles. These seem to rarely fail, even under extreme abuse. As far as I can tell its enemy is a leaky water pump that can corrode the timing-belt tensioner and cause failure. The water pump has an unknown lifetime (no service interval). I would go in and replace everything from the radiator to the timing belt if I saw a coolant leak from the pump. The headers are an expensive repair, they fracture and make a ticking noise when the engine is cold. This causes no harm. The xreas suspension is real good, but it is expensive to replace. Many people go to aftermarket when it fails. The 4-lo is an expensive repair if the actuator fails. That's it: the 4 really expensive things that can/will occur on the v8 4runner: timing belt service, xreas, headers, and 4-lo.

 

I might add that I have had my v8 now for 3 years. Its low mileage (82k) and I have not had to do much to it: keep up with the undercoating because of where I live in the NE, exhaust, brakes, 2 brake lines. I am the second owner and I know its history since new. The timing belt should have been changed a couple of times over based on "time" and someday I will get to it but I am not worried about it. Note the driver's side cover can be pulled out an inch (4 10 mm bolts) to inspect the belt. You should also know that the fuel mileage is just awful with the v8. I just don't drive it that much to care.

 

Awesome, this is the exact type of knowledgeable reply I was looking for (all the replies in this thread have been great)! You scared me a little though about the $12-15k all in to get me 60k more miles… looking for more than that, lol.

 

I'm not sure what the 8-10k in maintenance would be for. That sounds like a very extreme, worst case scenario such as replacing a major component (s) the engine, transmission, chassis, etc.

If your parents have never replaced ball joints, wheel bearings, or suspension components, then yeah, that will be coming up soon most likely, but won't cost anywhere near that much. Plus another 1k-ish for timing belt replacement, whenever that's next due.

 

Ya I’ll have to ask specifically what they’ve replaced over the years but I’m fairly certain no front suspension pieces have been replaced.

I know they use it in the snow a lot but I don’t know how often they actually use 4wd. Being awd I think that gets them by for most of their uses. So checking it goes in and out of 4wd is something else I’ll check as I’ve read some stories of the actuator going bad.

I think they plan on upgrading to a GX460 so I do have to wait until they buy that car before I could buy the 4Runner off them… who knows how long till that happens.

I got an “instant offer” from carmax for my Tacoma for $18k so at least I’ll have a buffer of cash for any repairs that come up. Or I could try selling it private party for probably around $22k (maybe?). It’s a 2014 access cab 4x4 with 87k miles… in great shape. I do love the truck and don’t want to get rid of it but with a growing family it’s just not practical anymore.

 

Get it, 4Runners will never be made w a v8 again. Own a piece of history.

 

I picked up 2004 couples months ago and don't regret it one bit... did all the maintenance things previous owner didn't do which was the small stuff... 200k miles SR5 V8 timing belt done twice last done 5 years ago and 50k miles rack and pinion done last year... bout to make a IG account on my build

 

Don't worry about the 4lo, it is literally only needed for rock climbing. The all wheel drive is phenomenal and very torquey, I take mine on the beach, in the snow, and up pole lines during the hunting season. I have never had to use the center actuator which locks the AWD into 4WD. Your Tacoma is worth a small fortune with those miles. As your numbers indicate, it would be a significant downgrade to to sell that and get the older high mileage 4runner. No free lunch.

 

Ya I understand the downgrade part. But, the car seat literally makes the front seat unusable for any passenger. Like the seat has to be all the way forward and the backrest forward as well. Maybe I can convince my wife to just keep it an add the 4Runner haha!

 

Verified the timing belt (and associated parts) has been replaced twice (makes sense as it has over 200k miles). My parents are the type that take it to the same mechanic and just say "do whatever needs to be done" based on the maintenance schedule.

I think my wife and I have come to an agreement we will buy this off my parents. I think i've narrowed the price down from $5-8k to $6-7.5k. I should have taken some photos as they were over at our house today doing some grandparenting with our little one.

Some cosmetic things of concern... they have a dog who has sort of messed up some interior pieces. The center console leather (pleather?) lid would need to be replaced, the passenger rear door interior piece would probably need to be replaced, needs new floor mats and just an overall general deep clean. Again, just cosmetics. The one thing i'm more nervous about is they say the moonroof doesn't work. I didn't test it today so i don't know if that means nothing happens, it clicks, etc. I was doing some searching here and that sounds like it could be kind of a pain in the ass job to get that working again. My mom also said the CD player always sounds like its spinning even without a disk in it. Not sure what that means, lol. I would probably do that Scion radio upgrade i've seen floating around online just to upgrade to some bluetooth capabilities anyways.

 

Please tell me you bought this rig.
It sounds like mostly cosmetic stuff which is easy to fix and in all honesty, if you can turn a wrench like you mentioned, getting dirty and paying a buddy with beer is the best way to tackle rebuilding the engine if need be. The nice thing about ‘06 is it’s sort of around the last time they made a V8 the average man can work on and service himself.
Please buy it, if you don’t I will fly back to California and add another 4th gen to the family! Lol

 

We are going to buy it... just in this waiting period for my parents to find a replacement. They actually just left (in this 4runner) from San Diego, CA to South Lake Tahoe this morning and are going to look at Carson City Toyota for a new Limited 4runner. Apparently they had a lot more selection than anything down here in SoCal. Sounds like they want the exact same vehicle, just new, lol. White with tan leather limited.

 

I was a big fan of White vehicles with light interior. But I stopped buying white vehicles as I've seen news about white paint issues (including 4Runner). And with my kiddo light interior and fabric seats don't work. So black interior with fake/real leather worked well so I could wipe and clean.

 

Ya I mean the white with tan wouldn’t be my first choice. White with black… I could do that. Thankfully I haven’t seen any chipping paint on there’s. Some small scrapes here and there. I will probably buy a paint pen matching the vehicle color and touch up some areas.

last time they were over here I looked inside, I did notice a couple small tears in the dashboard. Any recommendations on dash repair kits? Not looking to make it perfect just don’t want them spreading or getting bigger.

another good thing about this transaction is my wife and I discussed and I’ll be able to keep my truck as well.

 

About the sun roof, as long as it's in the closed position and doesn't work, there's no issue there. Just forget about it.

I have a 15-year-old Volvo with a sunroof, as far as I know it works fine, but a few years ago I decided not to tempt fate and do not use it anymore.

 

Parents put in an order for their 2023 4runner. Pearl white with tan leather. Says it won't be in until sometime in March. Didn't know you could 'order' 4runners... i wonder if its just what they wanted being shipped from somewhere?

 

Carvana pays more that CarMax. I sold my old truck to Carvana. Almost 4K more that Carmax was offering. In addition got a free Uber ride back home after drop-off last year

 

The good news is with this purchase, we won't need to sell my truck. So win/win!

 

coverlay is going to be your best option for the dash. its essentially a skin that goes over the existing dash.