1995 Toyota 4Runner Limited from North America - Comments

Same thing, 124,000 miles, great shape otherwise.. I was driving and it overheated; head gone.. gonna find out if it's covered under recall; doubt it.. Toyota sucks.

I just joined the club, bought 1995 Limited V6, overheated after 25 minutes of driving, paying close attention to what the previous owner says about the overheated problem, but before getting it to run, had to fix a water leak plug and rebuilt the starter, 400.00 more into it for a total of 2300.00.

Bad investment, wished I found this site before I bought it. Toyota sucks now.

I found this site today, So I will put in my 2 cents...

We purchased a 95 4runner V6 from a DR. friend with 112,xxx miles last year. Like NEW mint interior/exterior always serviced at Toyota.

19,000 miles later at 131,528 miles (blown head gasket)

I'm so grateful I have a mechanic friend who fixed it for me after spending $2000 on a complete rebuild.

We had both heads resurfaced at a machine shop and pressure tested. The engine block was also cut at .020" resurfaced both top and bottom of the engine block.

New pistons, rings, engine bearings, Rods, mains and thrust washers, oil pump ext. were put in place.

The crank shaft was also cut at .020".

New head gaskets, new head bolts, all timing components including timing tensioner, idler pulley, water pump, freeze plugs, seals, *all* rubber hoses and many more parts...

My friend recommended that we do this because he found that when the engine overheated it warped the head and the engine block slightly. (checked by simply setting a metal ruler over the engine block)

He tells me that part of the problem is that the engine exhaust 3 cylinders on each side of the engine dump their exhaust into a single exhaust manifold.

The passenger side exhaust is carried around to the drivers side with a crossover pipe, which causes high temperatures on that cylinder where they join and gasket burns up.

Finally connects to the exhaust pipe leading to the rear of truck.

He put in place a heat shield between the crossover pipe and manifold that will help keep the cyl head cool.

He told me we have to replace the exhaust manifolds with ones that will allow for dual exhaust.

1500 miles after rebuild, it drives like a dream!

I just hope I won't have to return to this site with bad news...

I had my 95 4Runner head gasket replaced at 90,000 miles back in 2003. I paid $2300 at a mechanic shop.

I replaced it a second time just last month at 202,000 miles. I paid $900 to a Toyota mechanic who wanted to make extra cash off the clock.

Runs pretty good again. Not sure if I would take it up to the snow anymore. Driving uphill causes the engine to work hard, which leads to overheating, which leads to these problems.

Call me complacent, I will say that $900 is better that new/used car payments.