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With regard to the sulfur smell posts, do you notice it right a way, or must one drive it a while? Bottom line, can you detect it on a test drive.
XREAS is available only on the SE and Limited, and air suspension is available only on the Limited. Third row seat on SR5 and Limited.
What other specs were you looking for? The engine and transmission are the same as '03, as is most of the rest of the SUV. Not many changes at all.
Build starts first of August with shipment from Japan starting first of September. (Gotta sell the rest of the '03s) Should be in the dealerships in the middle of September. Middle of my driveway in mid November ;-)
How would that help when parking into ones garage every night? It would actually make it worse in that situation.
I thought I read it in the new Tundra specs.
Would the same increase apply to the 4-Runner ?
Also, a socal dealer submitted a build order for me about two weeks ago (Ltd, w/ Nav & X-REAS). They seem unsure as to when my vehicle will arrive. Should I expect my order will be with the first shipment of '04s?
Having the tailpipe out the side will prevent alot of the exhaust being sucked under the truck by turbulence or in the rear door window by normal driving airflow or a following wind.
My point was that I wouldn't be surprised if Toyota puts the pipe out the side next year to help prevent some of this problem. If I had this problem with one of my vehicles, I would take it to a muffler shop and route the tailpipe out the side, if possible.
I don't have any information on the 3rd row seat, but since the GX470 and the 4Runner share the same basic design I would say look to that vehicle's seat layout and the new 4Runner will most likely look like that. The Lexus GX470 3rd seat comes with rear air conditioning and is $2,030. Judging from the Lexus pictures the rear seat backs fold down like a van, and they are removeable.
I have zero information on costs, and I'm told I won't have access to it until the 3rd week of August at the earliest. Dealerships will have it before I do, and they may have it already.
I'm told there is a slight increase over '03 cost.
We did two trails, the first rated on the more difficult side of 'Easy'
by the guide book. It had some steep parts, but wasn't too rocky. The
second was rated about the middle of 'Moderate'. I wouldn't want to do
anything too much more difficult than this one, mainly because of my own reluctance and fear of damage. Very rocky in some
spots, managed to hit the skid plates or frame once or twice. No
damage, though. Needed a spotter a couple times, but again
the guide book suggested this might be necessary. High centered it a
bit coming down off a little drop off, but locking the center diff,
backing up, and going back slightly further to the one side got through
it just fine. There were some somewhat steep or rutted places that were
muddy, too, and some stream crossings.
Pics:
http://www.lethean.net/trails/
The pictures don't do some of the rocky spots justice. You don't get the 3D perspective.
The two trails were 'Old Flowers Road' and 'Sevenmile Road'.
taking it in for TSB service for cold start 'squeaking' will post TSB detail and info when I get it. I have seen the TSB# on this board, but it doesn't match with what I saw at the dealer.
anyone have any recommendations on protecting/cleaning the grey cladding? mostly trying to prevent bugs from sticking/embedding.
vodgut: Thanks for sharing! There are"other" 4Runner forums out there to learn from. Many 03 4Runner owners are doing some crazy off-roading and even though the truck just came out, already talking about lifts, bigger tires, etc. Keep it up!
Grey cladding: Wax is not good for the grey and I hear, believe it or not, gritty peanut butter is good to "polish" out any dings. I believe a good spray of ArmorAll is all that's needed for daily care.
http://www.4x4africa.com/article.php?sid=11
Whenever it's really hot (like mid 90's or greater) the engine is not quite as powerful. When it is behaving this way, it also had a distinctly different sound. The sound is almost like a choke valve is partially closed. It's kind of a lower tone sound than normal. I realize that it may not even have anything like a choke plate, but that's the only way I can describe it. It's got about 11,000 miles on it.
It was painfully obvious when climbing up Rabbit Ears Pass yesterday at about 60 mph and have it downshifting to 3rd gear. I normally leave it in 4th for this, in order to not have to have it keep going between 4th and 5th. But here it was going between 3rd and 4th!
To top it all off, I can't find anyone else on the web who's seen this problem. I'm worried that it will be a chore even getting a dealer to admit that there's a problem. If others had the problem I could just point to that problem and say I've got it.
Has anyone seen or heard anything about this type of problem on '03 4Runners?
Thanks,
Eric
Also I'm not talking about slightly less power. It was much less power.
Rabbit Ears Pass is only around 9,500 feet. I've been over it many times with this truck. I was pointing out that I normally put it in 4th to avoid having it shift between 4th and 5th ON THIS PASS WITH THIS TRUCK.
When in this funny "high outside air temp" mode, it was shifting down to 3rd gear at times with all other facctors the same other than temperature. I've been over this pass many times with this truck at similar speeds and never had it downshift to 3rd (unless I was really punching it to pass). Note that before I got home, as the tempeature dropped, it switched back to "normal mode" with full power.
I have also seen it behave this way down here in Fort Collins (~5,000 feet) during the day while it's hot. Then it goes back to normal, full-power mode as temperatures drop later in the evening.
Also note that I've had the truck through Eisenhouer tunnel on I-70 (~11,000 feet) multiple times durring the late winter and was always very happy with the power. I had healthy acceleration on the uphill while travelling between 85-90 mph at altitude.
There's definitley somnething funny going on.
Hope that clears up what I'm trying to point out.
Thanks,
Eric
the mileage numbers ? are they for a v8 0r v6.thanks
mileage numbers are for a V6-currently with 1400miles on it-
cheers
I too have noticed that in temps near to 100 fan roar appears to increase noticably and the truck moves slower. I assume this is the engine or possibly transmission being force cooled because of the heat, although the temp gauge looks fine. Once on the fan seems reluctant to switch off, even when on the highway, but an evening restart sees a return to normal. Maybe Toyota are being overcautious in their temperature settings.
Which fan are you referring to?
I ask this since unlike many cars today that have a motor powered cooling fan, the V8 Toyota's fan is right off of the crankshaft (like it's been done for a long time). I don't think this fan is controlled by anything. It just turns at the crankshaft speed.
I haven't looked into any details yet and I think your "forced cooling" idea is worth further consideration. The service manager of our local Toyota dealer is checking with the factory rep. tomorrow if he's heard anything about this problem. I'll post what I find out here.
As far as the bad gas theory, that's a good point. When I first noticed the problem I switched from the 87 octane that I had been exclusively using, over to the 91 octane. It didn't make any difference for 2 tanks so far.
I haven't paid alot of attention to exactly which gas station company I was using. I know that there has been talk of gas stations with bad gas and that could be an issue.
All ideas/comments appreciated and welcome.
Thanks,
Eric
Been on the phone with a dealer who just "happens" to have gotten in the truck we want - Black SR5 V6 with the minimal options (like runing boards, rear spoiler, JBL stereo, etc). He is giving the speach that they really need to sell cars by the end of the month and I told him I won't pay any higher than $500 under their invoice. At first he said that no dealer would touch that price and then I said "well, thanks anyway for trying" and then all of a sudden he can probably do the deal if we come in this week.
Anyway, the dilema....we have 2 cars right now and don't have the immediate need for a truck, although I would like one sooner rather than later. The wife wants to wait another month or two and put some more $$ in savings (other cars are paid off) and I'm hoping that Toyota comes out with a 0% financing deal in August. You think that's possible?
The salesman also seems to think that he can get us a better deal with us buying this month, rather than waiting until the end of next month. I don't know how that could be possible. It's really gambling, cause they have pretty much the exact truck we want. Wish I knew how much longer they'll have the 2003's and what the August Incentives will be......
Just rambling,
Aaron
P.S. By paying $500 under invoice, is the dealer still making $500 because of the $1000 that Toyota is giving to the dealers? Is that how that works?
On a side note, has anyone ever put the tan leather in the black truck? If so, how does it look? Are the insides different (carpet, trim, etc) based on the color of the seats? i.e. if I want the tan leather seats do I need to look for a truck with the tan cloth seats first?
Thanks group - you guys are great!
Aaron
Now I realize that it always happens when the outside temp is up near 100. I guess it is some sort of fan/cooling mechanism.
I have also noticed that our 2001 Tundra makes the same noise on a more regular basis.
Yeah, it's perfect because the dog can stick his head out the back. When he's sitting down on his belly, he rests his chin on the edge of the hatch/open window-so you don't need to fold down the rear seats for him to get at an open window. There is plenty of room in the cargo area. I love the power rear window. You can open it from your remote too. A very nice feature is the auto-lock rear hatch so you just gently close the hatch and the latch automatically grabs and locks it! Very gentle and you don't need to slam the hatch down on your dog.
Unless you do it aftermarket, you can only get leather in the Limited. It would be much easier to keep hair off leather than fabric, definite no-brainer. But for me that was like $3500-4000.00 upgrade just for leather. No thanks.
The fabric is ok. The same as the Highlander fabric I suppose. I haven't had rampant dog hair issues, maybe because of the short hair.
If you have problems with that, there are high quality seat covers you can buy for only a couple hundred dollars-front and back. I might do that just to save the seats from sweat/ use/sun.
Also you can get great rubber, color matched cargo area protectors from Husky or Nifty (OEM spec-Toyota dealers carry Nifty)
98-100 degrees seems like a pretty low temperature to have to suffer reduced power output in my opinion. It would seem that in some areas of the south-west you would have this every day for a substantial part of the year.
So first I'd like to get Toyota's opinion.
As I said earlier, I'll post a followup on this when I hear what the Toyota factory rep tells our local dealer.
Cheers,
Eric
I would like to know what causes it. Fan or air intake?
Vodgut, nice pictures. I live in Denver and want to take the 4Runner on some trails as well. However, like you, I don't want to damage a new vehicle. I have a guidebook for 4X4 trails and will try one in the next few weeks. I'm willing to takle some trails that are moderatatly rated. Last year I took a nice ride over Hagerman Pass (between Leadville and Basalt). Some large boulders, steep inclines, and a great stream crossing (good photo op) yet still easily passable with a good 4WD - and the views were great. Even had to drive through snow in July. Keep us informed on your adventures. It's great to see others use these vehicles off-road.
I don't think there is a whole lot of difference with hair in the air between the HL and Runner, though. Frankly, I thought our Sienna with the flip out rear windows was better in this regard, but we still had hair flying around.
The Runner, though, with the sunroof and the roll down rear window, is much easier to keep cool in the cargo area when parked than the HL was--if there is a breeze (we are VERY careful about this, since it can still get dangerously hot quickly). The Runner also has AC vents right behind the front seats that can be aimed to blow into the rear--I don't think the HL had that.
One major caution about the roll down rear window--make darn sure the dogs don't have their heads out when you roll it up. The window wants to roll all the way up with one push and could trap a dog's head. It takes a very light touch to roll it up a bit at a time instead of all the way up without stopping. If you push too hard and the window heads up automatically you can stop it with a down push, but it is tricky. I haven't checked to see how much it takes for the window to reverse automatically when hitting an obstacle, but I am leery of it. For that matter, the window goes all the way down the same way, which could invite a dog to jump out the back if it opens all the way. Personally, I would much rather the window move up and down only when the button is held down, rather than with one push.
When we had the HL one of the Tervs was a puppy. She chewed up the carpet in the back. We bought a Husky cargo liner to go over the folded rear shelf system in the Runner and that seems to work well (on long trips I wrap it in an old blanket to make it softer for them). I also find that ArmorAll wipes work well for getting slobbers off the vinyl and Invisible Glass works better for me than Windex in getting noseprints off the windows. As mentioned in a previous post, the self-closing hatch on the Runner is very nice--my dogs didn't much like having the hatch slammed on the HL--noisy and the air pressure probaby hurt their ears. You don't have to do that with the Runner. Just gently push the hatch down and it will secure itself without slamming.
The dogs have probably been back there for at least 15,000 of the 23,000 miles we have on the Runner and so far no visible damage. The HL wasn't so fortunate. I would have to say the runner is more "dog friendly" in the back than the HL was, but not by a huge margin.
I've never tested it but it is in the manual.
This will keep your doggie's nose happy and keep you idiot-proofed from closing the glass with something (like a tent pole or anything) that could break the glass.
edit- I see you already wrote that auto feature, sorry I missed that in your writeup. However, like a garage door opener, I don't think it takes much to make it go back down. Stick a sneaker or piece of packing foam in there to test it out.
I agree 100%. No substitute for diligence with the dogs. It is nice to know that the safety is there for a "worse case scenario" or for other less valuable things (like a 2x4 or whatever) to keep you from doing something stupid.
Yes, it is nice that you can have the window exactly where you want it- to keep the doggie on the right side of the glass.
For those of you considering the 4Runner, the rear window can be opened by remote, dash switch or key in the hatch keyhole (next to the license plate). It is closed with either the dash switch or keyhole, not remote (a safety feature I guess).
i can by the aftermarket parts, but i wanna save some money...let me know if anyone has any advice.
Here's what's from the Edmund's comment's section re: the $1500 rebate.
"Incentives may vary and are subject to change at any time by the manufacturer; contact your local dealer for details. Not available on vehicles equipped with the Appearance Package or Color-Keyed Overfenders."