Comments: 1-15, 16-20
Cylinder Head twice, header crack, both mirrors fell off, bad radiator, starter, alternator, water pump, thermostat, clutch and clutch master cylinder, heater fan, heater fan rheostat, ac switch and ac system, tail light wiring, horn, sticky 4x4 gear, squeaks in steering, bad fuel gauge sending unit, sticky throttle body and idle adjustment impossible to get right, many more problems.
A real piece of junk ever since I bought it brand new and the Dealer kept telling me "they all do that".
I guess they all must have defective cylinder heads that leak coolant into the cylinders, have rear view side mirrors that fall off for no reason, timing chains that break when guides wear out, header pipes that crack, 4x4 gear that does not disengage, 2 idle adjustments that don't work, steering that squeaks when turned to one side or the other, defective cooling systems, and are generally difficult to work on and expensive to fix.
Toyota thinks they are too good to have recalls. Don't buy one. They are total junk and their service people are hacks.
If you like Japanese buy Nissan or Ifiniti (I give them an excellent rating). Even the Toyota Indy race car uses an Infiniti engine. What does that tell you?
I'm going back to Chevy and so far I'm loving it :)
Hey I have a 1987 sr5 ext cab 4x4 automatic 22r efi edition and the only thing wrong with it is is theres a small n hole in the rear finder and I have been though tons of mud and that 4 cylinder never let me down. yea it squeaks when I turn but grease up the axles as stated in manual and sounds to me you just don't take care of your truck.
Hey I have a 1987 sr5 ext cab 4x4 automatic 22r efi edition and the only thing wrong with it is is theres a small n hole in the rear finder and I have been though tons of mood and that 4cylinder never let me down yea it squeeks when I turn but grease up the axels as stated in manuel and sounds to me you just don't take care of your truck.
I have an 1987 Toyota EFI 4x4. The only things I have had problems with is a bad fuel gauge, horn, and funny shifting problems from the automatic transmission, but hey it has 200,000mi. on it. Other than that it hold up good off-road.
Glad to see they actually posted my original comment (after a few weeks I didn't think this would happen). I see there are 3 replies. I want to say that my frustration with Toyota has caused me to be a little harsh. My truck was really not so bad, but I really did have all the problems I stated and more (my frustration has had many years to build up). Some recurred several times like the leaky master clutch cylinder. Others were routine, like the alternator which lasted nearly 165K miles. Of course, this was over a period of nearly 18 years and almost 200K miles since I bought the truck new. The one thing this truck NEVER did was leave me stranded on the side of the road like a VW bug would routinely do (#1 vehicle for sitting on side of road). Of course, if I ignored the steam in the exhaust due a defective cylinder head on my 22RE I could have easily ruined the engine *twice* and also been stranded. And the defective starter system WILL leave me stranded right now until I do something about it (instead I decided to buy a new vehicle and retire this one in the yard, it's about time). The final straw was the Toyota DEALER hacks not being able to make a fairly simple A/C repair. The A/C system in that truck was exceptional (only worked on once in 15 years) until the evaporator core blew out and nearly asphixiated me. Nearly $800 later the dealer still could not fix it for more than a couple weeks at a time, then the A/C compressor mysteriously gives out. I think those hacks purposely sabotaged it to get me to go away, which I had little choice (I'm not going to pump $2000 into an old truck like that just to have A/C). Well, the end result, with the combination of Toyota being HIGHLY over-rated as far as dependability/reliability, even with a person who takes excellent care of his vehicles, and the terrible service provided by the dealer, has caused me to purposely NEVER buy one again. If the new Chevy Trailblazer I bought (about $5,000 less than a comparable Toy 4Runner) is HALF as good as the old Chevy Chevette I put 185K on with only a couple of problems it will TWICE as good as any Toyota I've ever owned (2 so far). I'm keeping my fingers crossed because so far I am in love and it's like being in a different world having 8-way powered heated leather seats with memory, power sunroof XM, etc, etc... Toyota has nothing on that vehicle except a higher price tag. If new Toys are anything like my BIL's 2002 it appears they are stuck with a 15 year old design that hasn't been improved upon and can't compete with today's newer cars. They are flying along on some perceived good reputation which I cannot for the life of me understand. All I can say is good luck to them because they have lost one customer permanently. It takes more than a "feeling" to buy a car that you have confidence in and know will be good. All the "excellent" reviews in the world will never beat first-hand experience.
Toyotas are very well know for their quality and lasting a long time. Of course after a number of years anything will fail, but you either got a rare lemon, use it very hard, abuse the vehicle or something along those lines.
Toyota's are the most reliable cars on the market period. no argument, and by the way chevys are always POS's. I've had 2 toyota's one ran to 345,000kms 70,000 of which I had a severe oil leak. and my friend had one that ran to 435,000kms. so obviously they are pieces of crap. ever seen a chevy run that far with little to no repair/maintenance!!!
Hi folks,
I enjoyed reading all of your coments both positive and negitive. I have to agree with the person making the comment about high mileage you get from the Toyota. One thing I can add to that and then I have a question for you guys. First, when I was stationed in Guam I always, (always) saw a lot of Nissan and other oriental types of vehicles setting on the side of the road there. The conditions for any vehicle there were harsh. It was very rare to see any kind of toyota on the side of the road and believe me, I was watching. So right before I got orders to come to the states, I bought a new 87 extended cab 4x4 thru military sales. I picked it up in New Orleans after I got settled in at NAS Meridian Miss. and drove it to my parents home in Georgia every month. To my surprise, after checking my gas mileage on every trip... I was getting 28 mpg. I could not believe it. I had the 22R with a five speed overdrive. It had a carb and not the fuel injection. I've put 223,573 miles on it and its ran great up until now, which leads me into my question. My truck would crank fine and idle normal when the motor was cold, but as it warmed up it would run rough and when you got on the road it seemsd to skip. To make a long story shorter, I decided that I wanted a little more power out of the engine without changing to a V6. I had the engine bored and rebuilt the engine. (There wasn't any wear on the pistons or rings at all!) Anyway, after all that time and labor and new parts... its still doing the same thing. Mind you, I "have" went thru all of the trouble shooting from the originl maintenance manual and still no joy. Any of you friends got any ideas?
I don't understand that much I has 87 toyota 4x4 5peed is 350.675mile is old, but run good right now the power steering gear box leaking I need the manual service book or some one know how to fixd or any Idea please send me email kelly.lam@goodrich.com.
Thank you.
I don't know the answer to your question about it warming up, but http://toyota.off-road.com/toyota/ might be able to help you out. Good luck.
Hey man I've got an 87 Toyota with the 22r and mine was doing that a while back, it turned out that the coil was going bad, you could see blue sparks arcing between the sides of the coil with the center. when I replaced it the problem went away.
I have a 87 Toyota pickup with 526,420 miles on it. Put a timing chain on it at 480,000. Everything else other than normal maintenance items are from the factory; alternator, A/C, exhaust etc. Best truck on the road hands down.
I am so stoked. We just bought an 87 Toyota pickup from a neighbor for $200! It has 133,000 miles. I wonder if we can get it to 500,000 miles! My husband just can't wait to play with it. Needs some work but that is all I have been hearing about for weeks now. Kool!
First off it's okay if your yato leaks a little oil or power steering fluid; mine doesn't really leak, it just kind of accumulates, which keeps the frame and many other parts in good condition, and without rusting through. A nice layer of dirt and grease has my frame looking as good as the day it left the factory floor, and it still has original paint on frame with no rust or rot. And trust me, this truck is not garaged kept, nor is it driven by an old lady, and the only maintenance I do to it is change the oil once or twice a year.
A head gasket and timing chain must be changed together, and should be changed at the first 100000, though some have gone as far as 200000.
Must keep these engines cool, do not let them over heat and you should always always use straight 30W pennsoil motor oil in it, and always make sure its full of oil. If that oil light has to come on, you've just screwed your engine and I mean that literally. If you wanna know if you're low on oil, listen to the lifters rattle while its idling. If they don't rattle you're good, and if they do rattle you need oil.
Personally I don't use a thermostat in my truck and it stays a lot cooler in the summer.
The poster is THE only person I have EVER heard complain about the reliability of a Toyota. Parts are made by machines, and after a while they go out of tolerance and have to be adjusted. He probably just got a lot of parts that were toward the end of that calibration cycle. Just unlucky. American cars are crap that are made in Mexico. I drive cars for a living, and will never ever buy another American car, unless it's a classic.
The 22re engine in a 20 year old Toyota truck is by FAR a more reliable engine than anything anyone at GM has yet slapped together.