300k miles - Yikes! Possible first 4-Runner, need advice

I’m looking at possibly buying my first 4-runner. It’s a 2004, four-wheel-drive V8 SR5 Premium sport with 312,000 miles. I have been programmed all my life to never buy a vehicle with 300,000 miles, Lol! But I know Toyota’s 4- runners routinely run into the 300s. I know I should be asking about timing chain replacements, rust, maintenance, etc. What other advice would you guys give me? Price seems good, around 4K, and I know the owner. Should be running away from this? This would be a third vehicle for my family and used mainly by my son as his daily driver for school,work, etc. ultimately I still need more info about the past maintenance.

 

Looking thru the forums, I’m seeing a lot of good advice. I’d still like to get any thoughts you guys have. $4k seems like a great price. I’m asking my local Toyota dealer if they’d do an inspection for me.

 

It's a 21yr old vehicle with 312k miles. I bet it got to that age and mileage because the owner(s) took care of it. Get the maintenance records. I'm sure there are lots of them. You don't make it to 312k miles on luck.

But yeah, check the frame for rust, check the timing chain, check the hoses, etc... Get lots of pictures of the frame/engine bay and interior. For $4k it sounds like a really great deal for a first time driver. I'm sure your son will love the hell out of that truck.

 

Get the maintenance records..

I'd stay away.. it's over 300k miles.. you'll be able to register it as historic in like 3 years.

 

Agreed. Get all the service history you can, so you kind of know what's needing done. And keep your expectations low, so if something does fail, you'll be kind of expecting it. And as Borracho said, check the frame thoroughly. Significant rust is a deal breaker. One correction - the V8 has a timing belt. Hope it works out for you!

 

I just talked to the owner, he said he did a ton of stuff to it while he’s had it such as front end stuff, water pump, etc. He said he doesn’t remember doing a timing belt though. i’m gonna get the vin and get a Carfax to check whatever other maintenance records I can find. I also may see if I can get the local Toyota dealership to give it the once over. I asked about rust. He said the frame is good, no rust. Of course I’m gonna check myself. I’m going to go see the truck tomorrow evening. He said I can take it for a couple days if I want.

 

He's never done the timing belt? Ever? The V8 maintenance schedule calls to replace that every 100k miles. He should be on his third by now. The 2003 - 2009's are known for "Excessive frame rust". I think there was a design flaw with drainage or something. You'll see rust on the frame, it's just a question of how much.

 

If the timing belt hasn't been done, do not take it home for a couple of days. Maybe don't drive it at all.

 

Welcome!

 

He’s the second owner. He hasn’t done the timing belt in the 5 years he’s had the truck.

 

I have to wait and get the Carfax. I’m assuming the first owner did the timing belt at some point. The current owner has only had the car for five years.

 

I never imagined myself buying a used vehicle with 96K miles, but my mechanic said, “A 4Runner at 96K is just getting started.” I’ve had mine for 10 years and it’s at 271K miles. Hands down best vehicle I’ve ever owned.

Think about the value of the friendship also b/c if the experience with the truck goes south, it will probably do that too.

 

It’s more of an acquaintance, someone I know but not someone I talk to on a regular basis. Good guy though.

 

Definitely do not assume the timing belt was done! It’s an expensive, tedious job on the V8 4runner, lots has to come apart. The expense makes it very for easy for owners to justify skipping it, especially once you get past the first owner. Also, for your purposes it doesn’t matter if it was done once at 100k, and again at 200k…what matters is if the timing belt is current and if still has reasonable service life remaining. The job is about $1k from I recall reading. But…even if the timing belt (and waterpump, which is usually done together on a lot of toyotas) been recently replaced, there’s still the chance the engine is just plain worn out.

Transmission service history is also important. If one or two fluid changes haven’t been done, it’s probably on borrowed time. If it’s never been replaced at all, changing the fluid now might cause it to fail. It would be nice if the differentials and transfer case have been serviced at least 3 times. The transfer case should be checked for function (I think those might have the multimode full time 4wd, which means checking that the transfer case locker works, and that it still shifts into 4lo). Not the end of the world if the actuators don’t work, you’ll just have regular full time 4wd hi with an open center diff.

It’s true that 4runners may run a long time, but this has already been run a very long time. It might not have much left to give, especially considering 4k is still real money, and you’d probably need a couple grand more to take care of other little things like suspension bushings, brakes, or anything else.

Also, with this much mileage, I’d ask the owner to take you for a test drive. Or at the very least ask him to come with you if you drive. A definite nope on taking it for an overnight lol. Not sure I’d want to be the one driving it when a timing belt or transmission goes. That would be a sticky situation.

 

Yeah, I didn’t mean literally that I was going to assume the timing belt had been done and forget about it lol. I’m going to look at the service records. By this time it should be on its third. I was just saying that the current owner got the truck 5 years ago, so it probably had well over 230k miles by then so it’s likely they timing belt would’ve had to been replaced by then (unless they last 200+ miles which I didn’t think was the case). The current owner drives this truck regularly but yes, I’m going to definitely have it completely checked out. I think if I get to the point that I’m thinking about pulling the trigger, I’ll pay for the local Toyota dealership service department to go thru everything on the truck and give me their thoughts.

 

Also, not to put too fine a point on it, but the “legendary toyota reliability” is most likely to happen with an original owner who has kept up with maintenance. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to be sure of service history through carfax only (was carfax a thing when this car was made? Lol). And even the stuff that has been entered into the system can be super vague. Even if previous owner that did all the maintenance themselves, you’d never know unless you ask for written documentation.

My favorite type of documentation are well-organized individual service entries on a grease-stained “notes” section in the owner’s manual. Doesn’t get any more real than that!

 

So, a little more background…the two owners know each other. The first owner had the truck new up until about 5 years ago, when the current owner bought it. The current owner said he did a ton of stuff to the truck (replacements, service, etc) — I’ll get more details on that tonight. I’m still kinda leaning towards passing on this, but part of me really wants it to work out, as it’s a gorgeous truck - light metallic blue, brand new BFG tires, tan interior. I’m a skeptic at heart though and it’ll be hard for me to trust 312k miles. But, we’ll see.

 

First question - how much do you value you friendship with its owner? Buying a car and loaning or receiving money is always hard on relationships.
Lots of small things will need replaced. Rubber parts especially and get expensive for labor.

 

Good guy but not a close friend. More of an acquaintance. I need to see the truck obviously. I’m not looking to spend a lot of money on this after I buy it, so maybe this is a pass.

 

Bought mine with 193k, had to totally rebuild it myself. It’s got 295k and still purring like a kitten.

 

It’s looking like I’m going to pass on this truck. I’m definitely not looking for a project and I still haven’t been able to see the vehicle…the universe might be trying to tell me something. Lol. Thanks for all the input. I’ll probably still go see the truck , just out of curiosity and to see my friend (haven’t seen him in about a year).

 

Also keep in mind that this vehicle is starting to get to the age that some OEM parts are no longer available. And occasionally they are important ones. My '98 had the OEM MAF meter come up "discontinued" a couple of years ago. (fortunately that turned out to not be my issue but just in the list of things to rule out) My wife's '04 Lexus is starting to have odds and ends come up as unobtainium now as well. So far, nothing critical but it is probably just a matter of time.

 

IMO 2004 is a golden year in that it doesn't have VVTI yet (2005+) so it doesn't have SAIP (SAIP is one of several expensive weak links in the 2UZFE). On the good side, IIRC no VVTI means timing belt jobs are *easier*. If there's no rust, and the engine has good compression etc, then IMO whether it has 150k miles or 300k miles is mostly irrelevant as it will still need the many things a 20 yr old truck will need, and maybe some of these things are going on their 2nd replacement, like LCAs, sway bar bushings/links, alternator, valve cover gaskets, ABS booster, etc. I've owned my 2004 since new, about 134k miles. IMO, a diligent new owner of a 20+ yr old 4Runner should be ready to drop $5k in "immediate" repairs, and should budget $2k annually (<$200/mo) for other repairs/replacements. Use those numbers when penciling out the cost of a new or newer 4Runner at $35k-60k, or $7-8k in annual loan payments + high insurance rates on new/newer 4Runners.

 

Good write up

 

As of today 05/16/2025 my SR5 Toyota 4Runner has 10,514 hard miles Ha! Ha! on her, bought her new in 2008.

 

Oh Snap I think we might be related. I ended up buying two ORPs in 23 after my order for a new 21 J200 LC fell through due to dealer incompetence and bad timing, the one I drive less just broke through 800.

 

I have had a problem with some jerks keying it, you just can't park without these #@**$ egg headed *%#@@ messing with your cars and trucks.

 

Bought my 18 y/o son an 06' Sport with the 4.7L, ~172k miles about 5 months ago. The first timing belt change had been done at about 96K (per the sticker on the airbox) so I opted to do the next belt change about a month ago. I paid nearly $1600 but the shop used the complete kit, which is the belt, belt tensioner bearings, water pump, and several o-rings. They also replaced the serpentine belt and since they had to remove the water pump, they replaced all of the coolant. To me, this service is well worth the cost.