Hi all,
I've read on here extensively in the past when considering the purchase of a T100 and now I'm asking for advice. I've found a 97 4WD SR5 X-cab here for sale. It has everything I want in a stock truck except a manual transmission. The truck is dark green with a tan cloth interior. It has bucket seats <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" /> which I'm pretty happy about.

The truck looks to be in excellent shape. The body is very straight and the paint even looks pretty good. Everything underneath looks dry, no leaks and the truck seems to run well. It was a little hard to start when I first fired it up but the lady said her son had parked it there a week or so ago and it hadn't been driven much even before that because he got a new truck. I was a little concerned with this at first but once it started it ran great, very smooth with no hesitation.

The guy says he has most of the service records and can probably fill in most of the gaps by getting the dealer to print them out. The shocks were replaced by the dealer about four years ago and the fuel pump has been replaced. Other than that he says there's been no big repairs, just maintenance.

The truck has 178000 miles and everything looks pretty nice. Even the interior is clean although it doesn't look like he had it professionally cleaned or anything. Two things concern me though:
1 - he spray painted under the fenders black "to make it look nicer"
2 - there's a slightly odd intake noise at full throttle. I don't know how to explain it. The truck seems to make good power and there's no hesitation at full throttle. It doesn't knock or rattle, it just sounds somewhat odd. Almost like there's a little piece of cloth flapping around in there or something. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> I know that's not very helpful but maybe you guys have heard something like this before, I haven't but I'm not that familiar with these Toyota V6s. He said the head gaskets were never repaired and have given no problem. He indicated that the head gasket problem had been fixed by the '97 model year.

The guy's asking $8200. I think this is a pretty fair price but I'd like to pay a little less. I've been looking for one of these trucks for a while and I see them around here all the time but I never see them for sale. A lot of the T100s around here seem to be work trucks now and are not in the best of shape but this one definitely does not fit into that category. I'm in a position financially to buy this thing without too much discomfort.

I know this is painfully long <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/sleeping.gif" alt="" /> but if you've made it this far, I'd appreciate any advice on whether this sounds like a fair deal and also possible pointers as to what may be causing the noise at WOT.

Thanks
Don Tibbetts

Sounds about like the truck I bought (only mine was maroon and only had 113k miles) for $10k. I spent $100 and had a PrePurchase Inspection done because I'm not a profesional auto mechanic and it gives me piece of mind to have a shop check it over. I strongly suggest you do the same (I've heard of to many people walking into raw deals that could have been avoided with a PPI).

Past that, if you think it's a fair deal for your area and the car checks out, there's no reason not to buy it. I love mine, it's performed flawlessly in the last 10k miles/4 months and I towed over 5k lbs from GA to AZ just a few weeks ago without a hiccup.

Thanks Brian, both for the advice and the quick reply. I'll probably have my friend look at it with me before I buy. He's not a professional auto mechanic but pretty close. I do most of my own work but he's got a lot more experience and actually did work on vehicles professionally at one time.
Thanks again.
Don

Sounds a little expensive to me. No worries about the clutch pedal bracket with an auto and he's right about the 3.4 liter. The head gasket problem was with the 3.0.

As close to GA as you are, you should seriously consider this T100 for sale. Lots of cool extras, less expensive, certainly well maintained by a knowledgable owner and I hear the guy is a highly motivated seller.... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />

Give him a call before you jump on the other truck - <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

the 3.4 l also had head gasket problems , jsut not sure how late the problems existed. there is a recall notice onthem also , i would imagine by now most people have theres taken care of , i have not , but hope to get around to it befroe nov when the recall exires .

airrikk17

Call a stealership with the vin... They should be able to tell you if the hg was done (or if the recall even applies to the vehicle).

Get both a compression & vacuum test done on whatever vehicle you intend on buying... They can tell you loads about what's going on inside. If your friend can do it, great... If not, get a ppi.

<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> It's true - I am highly motivated to sell one of my two Toyota trucks.
1996 T100 or 2002 Tundra <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

I didn't realize that you were selling your truck. I sent you an email.

i checked my paperwork on the headgasket recall , its saying 95 to early 97 's with 3.4 l

airrikk17

Thanks for the heads up on this. How do I tell if this truck is covered by that recall? I guess I could just call the dealer. I'll probably be talking to them about service records anyway.