1995 Toyota 4Runner Limited from North America - Comments

'95 4runner is beginning to run hot and from the sounds of it, a blown gasket isn't too far off. I'm pretty bummed considering I bought it just a couple months ago. Will try for the recall, but I'm not holding my breath. If someone savvy can get a class action together, I think that he/she will have a strong backing and formidable evidence. Good luck to everyone.

leprachaun11@yahoo.com

I have a 1993 4 Runner with a second blown head gasket. It only has 117,000 miles on it. The recall was done on it about 68,000 miles ago. So this is the SECOND Head Gasket that went on this engine V6 3.0l. I drive this truck around town like and old lady, never over 45 mph. I have been fighting with Toyota about this Second Head Gasket going bad. They basically said "Tough Luck" and too bad. I WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER TOYOTA VEHICLE. Good Luck to all of you out there with this same type of problem. What you have to do is Call Toyota's Main office in Torrance California, 800-331-4331 and report the head gasket issues. Insist on talking to the Service Manager there, his name is Shelton. If you don't talk to Shelton you WILL NOT get anywhere. Tell him about the many documented cases of Head Gasket problems you have read about. Until they have enough documented cases they will do nothing about this. Squeaky Wheel gets the oil. amonterotti@netzero.net.

My battle with Toyota over my 1995 4-Runner began in 2002. The original engine had about 120,000 miles on it when the head-gasket blew and resulted in a rod busting a hole in the crank shaft. It was at night in heavy traffic with cars around me traveling in excess of 65 mph. I was lucky - other people in similar situations have died. I (by the grace of God) had a HERO truck behind me who got me out of traffic and well off to the side of the road. I had the vehicle towed to a Toyota dealership and was told (like so many others have been) that it would cost me around $7,500 to put another engine it and, no, Toyota refused to accept any liability. I think I became somewhat of a headache to Toyota because of my tenacious nature. I was and never will be ugly to anyone - I just wouldn't go away. Ultimately, my case (original engine) was compromised when I was told they (Toyota dealership) would no longer store the vehicle. In addition, I had very little money, so I allowed a friend (who works on cars, but not professionally) remove the original motor. Ultimately, I got the vehicle/engine to a certified professional and decided to go ahead with repairing the vehicle. Turns out that the demand and wait time for a "re-manufactured" engine is so high and so long, that I went with a "used" engine that had only 50,000 miles on it. That was about 1 year ago. Last Sunday (7/2/06) I was in my other Toyota while a trusted friend was traveling in front of me in my 1995 4-Runner. Before we even left the parking lot of the storage facility I rent, I noticed the 4-Runner began to blow white smoke from the exhaust. I immediately stopped and had the vehicle left at the storage facility for two days until the shop who had repaired/will repair all my cars was open. It was only two miles from the storage place to the mechanic. The second motor was pampered and never had anyone touch it except these two experts. The news was not good. The "used" engine never had the issue with the gaskets addressed and the second motor has blown. I'm not sure really what to do at this point.

Add another one to the list.

My 95 4runner is having the same problem at 133k miles. Replaced pump, thermostats, radiator, didn't fix the problem.

Thought it was the AC with fan not kicking in, but after that was replaced, still the same problem.

After a run on the highway, car will start spewing out coolant from the res tank. What do you guys do to fix this? Replace head gaskets? Or put a new used engine in?

Add another 95 4runner to the list for a blown head gasket. I bought my car used a year ago, and it has 135,000 miles on it. I was driving home from fishing and it blew out. I got on here to see if any body else has he this problem with this make/model. Looks like it's a pretty big issue.

Please tell me this isn't another case of the head gasket BS.

I just recently bought a 95 Toyota 4runner and because of the dependability and lore of the long life of toyota vehicles (everyone in the house owns a Toyota, we're currently setting at my 95' 4runner, my dads 91' pickup, and my moms 05' Tacoma)

Everything was running smooth and strong when I got it not 400 miles ago (it's at 168K miles as we speak). Just yesterday it started idling really low and rough, and finally this morning the engine light came on. The more I drive it, the rougher it gets (I've stopped now, it goes into the dealer tomorrow).

When I got it home from work today, the engine was noticeably running A LOT worse than when I fired it up and took off for home at work. I shut it off to get a look at it, and everything was fine, till I fired it up again and it blasted out a bunch of white smoke from the tailpipe.

If it's the same problem as all I've read on this webpage (and I'm almost 100% sure it is now), you can count me in on a lawsuit, this is THE FIRST VEHICLE I HAVE EVER FINANCED!, I bought it about a week ago from a dealership, I haven't even put 500 miles on it myself, so as you can imagine, I'm very, very disappointed in this vehicle, and to think Toyota used to look like platinum in my eyes.....

As it stands, I simply cannot afford the repair bill this is most likely going to require. I don't know what I'm going to do, how I'm going to get around paying the 300 a month payment, how I'm going to get to work, and how I'm going to keep this huge problem from ruining my credit against my will. Someone please help me :(

I am waiting to hear if my extended warranty I bought will cover my headgasket in my 95 4 runner.

I too have been lured in by the toyota brand name being so reliable. I will purchase another, not a 4 runner, but a Tacoma. I had too many domestic Lemons to go back that route.

Hello.

I am now part of this growing list of dissatisfied Toyota customers. I did not ever think I would have anything bad to say about Toyota as I worked for a dealership for 5 years and sold my customers on the great Toyota service they would receive for years after they buy one. Well, my 1995 4runner blew its head gasket last week at 104,000 miles. The Toyota "assistance" hot line pretty much told me tough luck, not wanting to help me in the least bit.

BEWARE, Toyota commercials might dupe consumers into thinking that their vehicles last a long time and they stand beside their product and they have a good reputation, but it seems that myself and many other disagree. How many Toyota customers have had same issues, yet haven't found this website to post their frustration? I wonder!

If anyone knows of a lawsuit, please let me know and I will gladly become involved. I know that I would have continued to purchase Toyota had I not had this problem and had to deal with their "great customer service".

robp8@yahoo.com.

Thank you for reading and good luck.

Please make sure that if you are having the head gasket problem that is "not covered" under the recall (1995 4runners) that you call and make sure that it is documented with Toyota Assistance at 1-800-331-4331. Maybe someday they will own up to their responsibility (save your repair receipts).

My son owns a 1995 4runner limited and I'm experiencing the same problem. I saw his car blowing out white smoke while I was watching him leave for work. I can do all the work to replace the head gasket, but how will the dealer know if the replacement gasket is better than the old one? Basically you can change the head gasket if it was the culprit and no guarantee if it will blow up again since Toyota won't keep up their warranty after 4runner owners have complained about the problem.

Well the car overheated and was out of commission yesterday. Thanks to my 1985 Pontiac Fiero, he saved my son. I just can't understand how Toyota built their reputation and ruined it with a bad head gasket that they won't even admit to have a design flaw... keep in touch if we can ever do something.

READ THIS: In order to get anything done about this problem the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) must receive a certain number of complaints to launch an investigation that could lead to a recall of our problem. You can look up our vehicle on their website and notice quite a number of complaints about our issue. We would have even more if people catagorized the problem correctly (you will see what I mean when you look) I called to report the problem at 1-888-327-4236. Please call and report your problem and maybe someday something will be done about this. Thank you.

I have a 93 4Runner and it's head gasket has already been replaced twice and I think it has just blown again as car is idling rough and drinking coolant. From experience, if you are losing coolant and can't find any leaks you probably have a blown head gasket. I wonder if Toyota ever figured out why or if all their new trucks blow head gaskets too. It's a pretty nasty black mark on Toyota's reputation. Looks like they're taking after Ford -- car explodes after 100,000 miles -- go buy a new one.

I have a 1990 4Runner, v6 that has a blown head gasket. Like many of the 95's on this posting, everything was fine until all of a sudden it would start with lots of white smoke coming out the back. Not more than a few days later, BAM! - blown head gasket. I'm joining a class at the local community college and I'm going to see if I can fix it. I see it's no luck chasing after toyota for help. I don't have the 1,800 to pay to have it fixed.

NOTE: a mechanic told me that after the head gasket has blown, not to let the truck sit with the coolant in the engine. It can rust before you have the chance to fix it. Drain the coolant, pull the plugs and spray lots of wd40 into the plug holes. Then make sure you turn the crankshaft over a few times to keep the engine moving and not rusting!

Wow. Remind me NEVER to buy a Toyota. And what baffles my mind is that they get away with charging more for cars then domestic brands do, then have some kind of major defect like this and won't fix the problem!

I too have a 1995 Toyota 4runner that I purchased in Feb. 06 and guess what not even four months later the check engine light came on. Then it started to idle poorly and get terrible gas mileage and then the wonderful white smoke out of the tail pipe!! I had a $400 tune up done to figure out it was either a blown head gasket or a burnt out valve. Guess what it was?? That's right HEAD GASKET, $2500 later and a top end rebuild with machined head, new valves, timing chain, and water pump I feel it might be time to sell. It just eats me up inside that I spent so much money on this vehicle for the Toyota name. I have also owned lots of toyotas in the past and loved everyone of them until now. I think I will sell it and get what I can before it is too late and I spend another $1500 on another blown head gasket.

We all need to CALL THESE NUMBERS AND COMPLAIN toyota needs to take responsibility for this, this is a lot bigger than this web site and is hundreds of thousands of dollars if not millions in repair costs for TOYOTA'S mistake!!! I will post them again.

NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Administration)

1-888-832-74236.

Toyota Assistance: 1-800-331-4331 MAKE SURE CALL IS DOCUMENTED!! Try to speak to the service manager Shelton.

Thanks and good luck to all of us. If there is a lawsuit please email me jca101@hotmail.com

another person posted to email them to help their lawsuit at janeen123@hotmail.com I think I will.