Hey guys, first timer here. Around two years ago a local lot sent a 92 4runner 4x4 6cylinder to my shop to check over so they could decide what to do with it, they had taken it on trade. The former owner was an old friend I hadn't seen for a couple of months; work, marriage you know. I knew the guy to treat his vehicles good and the outside and interior were pristine. I knew it was his hunting rig and was impressed with how good a shape it was in. I drove it and dropped the trans pans and checked for metal and changed the oil and even though it was running rough until it warmed up, I called the lot and bought it for $2500 over the phone, I told him it was in good shape but since I do a lot of business with this lot he let me steal it. I parked it behind the shop and cleaned it up the next day. I had our motor man check the timing and tune it up and he said the timing was "funny". When I asked him what he meant he said "I dunno, just funny." He had told me the day before not to worry about having to warm up that it could be dirty fuel rails or a weak pump. I was like oh **** dude you just told me that it was alright yesterday and only needed a tune up. Anyway it got tuned up. When I first had looked under the hood I saw that someone had wired an electric fan up because at some point the bearing had failed on the factory fan. After calling Toyota and pricing the new fan mount and fan the electric fan looked just fine, except it was wired to the coil, gotta fix that.

So when I would first crank the vehicle I would have no control over the gas pedal for a few minutes but then it would get ok. I would also be cruising at highway speeds sometimes and it would suddenly start dying out when I would give it gas to pass etc. So anyway I changed the fuel filter and took off to the beach for the weekend, (three hour trip one way). It did ok all weekend, the next monday it wouldn't crank to go to work so I got a lift and drove my other car home. I took the 4runner to the shop about three months later and parked it out back. I was intending to save up a little dough and fix it all back stock under the hood and take the fuel rails off and clean them and put in new injectors and a fuel pump and go through the transmission and do a complete rebuild, (cause that's what I do) and start driving it as my truck. So that was like September or so in 2004.

I got sidetracked from that project with the birth of my daughter. So a couple of months ago I pulled it in the shop and pulled the gas tank down, the pump was strong and fine and no debris in tank or on screens. Cleaned the fuel rails and checked the entire fuel line system for blockage. Changed the filter again. And still cranks no start. Check distributor by replacing with known good unit and same. Check coil etc. Good fire everywhere. Scratch head. I remember the former owner telling me when I went by to pick up the skid plates that the fan bearing had locked up a week before he traded it and he really hadn't driven it anywhere but home and to the lot after getting the electric fan put on just so he could trade it. He said it was running great until the fan bearing flew apart and the timing belt had just been replaced it had 198 thousand miles at that point with no major previous repairs or damage. Anyway when transmission was done I tore down front to check and replace timing belt and front seals, just to be safe. While doing timing belt job I found a couple of ball bearings from the fan under the timing cover so I think aha, the ***** were bouncing around in here screwing with the belt. One had also gotten lodged against the timing gear and stripped it on the shaft where the woodruff key holds it in position. That was what was causing the starter to seem as if it was going bad, the ball wedging against the gear then getting knocked loose by back lash and then falling back down when the engine was switched off. So basically the timing gear on the crank shaft had gotten stripped out on the inside where it "locks" to the crank. It was sort of floating there and would get off time when under a lot of load. Quick fix since the key only rides halfway in, turn gear around, get a new woodruff key and rock on.

Question, now that that is taken care of, and she is running great, where can I wire my electric fan too besides the coil where it will be on anytime the truck is running? I am sure someone else is running an electric fan on here. If I remember correctly the stock fan stuff is going to cost me around $600 and that is wholesale from the local dealer to my shop. Ouch. Diapers and gas are a bigger priority. I live in South Carolina so the fan always running is not a problem in what you might could call our "winter", it still warms up plenty fast. I also have some 16 inch rims from a 2001 model Tacoma but I haven't wrapped them and put them on yet, I am going to run street tires on 16s and muds on my 15s and swap em out at the shop when I need to feel dirty.

And that is just about all I have to say about that. (aren't ya glad?)