Petros wrote: Wed Oct 23, 2019 9:52 pm
welcome to the forum!
sounds like you made a great buy! hopefully nothing seriously wrong with the mechanical parts and you can drive it home without any issues. I have bought cars in other states and drove them across the country about 9 or 10 times, two times I had to leave it and return with the parts to fix it before I could get it home. other times I fixed it along the way, as needed. Usually it will make it home with minor fixes along the way.
this is what I would do before a road trip with an unknown car:
try to find a place that will allow you to dink around with it, perhaps the far end of a wal-mart parking lot, or along side a Autozone parts store.
Replace the thermostat with a new, quality one, and install new antifreeze (when a car sits the t-stat tends to go bad and can get stuck shut to cause engine damage). At worst you can just remove the t-stat and fill it with water for the drive home. Replace the radiator cap with a new one while you are at it (cheap and they do wear out). carefully check the upper and lower radiator hoses while you are there, if there is any question about them replace them (a sudden rad hose failure could also cause severe engine damage in the middle of nowhere).
Replace the windshield wiper blads, you will need good ones this time of year and it is worth just replacing them.
top up the gear oil in the trans, if you want you can fully change it, but to get it home topping it up is all you will need. Same with engine oil, unless it looks really thick and black, than just replace motor oil and a filter. You can take it to a quick lube place and have them do both for you if you want, but that adds some costs. It is not worth the risk to the engine or trans to go without this important check.
Check the engine over for vacuum leaks in the many hoses, and verify correct routing (print out the vac diagram to be found elsewhere on this forum). with the air cleaner off (you have to cap off the large vac line from the bottom of the air cleaner housing that goes to the base of the carb), and with it running you can spray some carb cleaner down the carb that may help it run better and clean out the goop. check the throttle adjustment and watch to see the autochoke opens as it warms up. set the idle speed and I would also check the spark timing if you have a timing light (vac lines off and capped from the vac advance on the distributor).
check to make sure the battery terminals are clean and tight, if not clean with steel wool, metal foil or a wire brush and reattach. Usually even with a weak battery you can get it home. one time I drove from LA to Seattle with a battery that would only hold 9 volt charge, so I picked the gas station based on if I can roll the car out of the filling station to bump start it. so I did not have to push start it each time I got gas (it was the only time I needed to use the rest room too).
I like to set the spark timing at about 10 or 12 deg BTDC (not the factory 5 deg). with the timing light you can also check to see if the vac advance is working by plugging them back in and see if the timing advanced. if not, just cap off the lines because a bad vac advance would just act like a vac leak.
if the brakes work okay, I would just check the fluid level and forget about it until after you get home. even if they are mushy you can usually deal with that when you get home.
Jack the front end up, and put it on jack stands if possible. Grab each of the front wheels and try to wiggle them in and out from the bottom of the tire, and the front/back of the tire. if there is play in the lower ball joint it might be worth replacing if bad. a small amount of movement there will get you home okay, but if it moves a lot (like 1/4"+) it would be dangerous to drive it that way (usually these last a long time so it is rarely bad enough to be a hazard, but it is good to check it out).
also check for play in the tie-rod ends, again a little is okay, but if very bad you should know about it. Turn the steering wheel from lock to lock while the front end is in the air, it should go smoothly. if it is sloppy, binding, or jerky, could be a bad steering rack that could be a hazard. again the steering racks are very reliable, but it is good to know it is good before you get on a road trip. check the small u-joints on the steering shaft, a little play will get you home okay, but if very sloppy it could be dangerous to drive it (there is a thread in the repair guides on how to replace these, toyota does not carry the parts anymore so you have to get "creative" to get a replacement). Spray lots of lubricant on the steering shaft u-joint, that should get you home in most cases. Check all of the suspension bolts and nuts are tight, particularly the two 14mm ones that hold in the ball joint under the struts.
with the car still in the air I like to take a large pry bar to the lower control arm, the steering rack mounts, and sway bar mounts as well the lower ball joints. a bad bushing is not necessarily a reason not to drive it, I have driven over 1000 miles with bad bushings, it is just good to know what is wrong with it before you get on the road, and you hear clunks and feel jerks as you drive and wonder if the front suspension is about to fall out. for example, even with the lower arm inner bushing completely gone, the arm can not fall out, it will be be loose and sloppy. you can drive it home and fix it there, just be careful that the sloppy suspension does not take you by surprise when you hit a water puddle or a bump in the road and it jerks to the side a bit.
I also like to check the CV joints on the front hub, you simply grab it with one hand on each side and twist it in opposite directions. ideally there should be no play, with the boots good. but again, a small amount of rotational play will get you home. if bad, it will clunk, clunk, clunk when you drive it, but usually will make it home okay. Unless the boot is torn and it is dry of grease. if possible replace it if that is the case, if not, flush the boot out with spray cleaner, and hand pack it with grease, than put about 15 wraps of duck tape around it and several tie-wraps (cable ties). it will not hold up for long, but may get you home okay. I drove a T4wd from New Mexico to Seattle with a torn boot, usually that would make it home without issue. But half way home it dried out and was squeaking badly, when I took a look at it it had no grease left, the metal in the joint was getting hot and was turning blue. it would be dangerous to continue (a CV joint that blows apart under load can cause a lot of damage, if not be very dangerous at fwy speeds). fortunately there was a T4wd forum member in Northern California at the time who I contacted, he had some spar parts (including a used but good axle) and I was able to swap it out there before I continued. if in doubt it might be worth bring a new set of axles with you (you will need them sooner or later anyway, good as spares if you do not need them now). Rockauto.com usually has them for about $60 a side.
Tires: check the age by looking at the code on the side of the tires, or if they are very worn and or have a cracked/brittle surface, or if older than about 12 years, consider replacing them. Usually even old tires will get you home, but several times on recovery trips I have had what looked like good tires (but were old) disintegrate on the fwy half way across the country. if there is any doubt I would go to Wal mart car care center, Costco or Les Swab tire center and buy a new set of tires (that way if you have a warranty issue you can go to the local one at home). These stores have large inventories and usually will replace them for you right away. if you plan on replacing the wheels and tires, you might just buy and replace with the used tires they sometimes sell, or just get the cheapest ones until you get home. check that the spare is good and holds air as well. having a blow out can be dangerous and not worth the hassle, so if there is any question about the tires drive to a national chain of tire stores and replace them. After several blow outs on the hwy, that is what I do now unless the tires look fairly new.
it is very rare you will have trouble with the rear diff, rear brakes or wheel bearings. but it is not too much trouble to top up the gear oil in the diff, and to jack up each rear wheel and spin the tire to listen to the wheel bearing. Even if bad, the wheel bearings usually hold up long enough to get home. However, I once had a rear wheel bearing get noisy, so I figured I needed to replace it when I get home, but I still had about 60-80 miles to go before I can get home because of work related driving (again, usually that would not be an issue to go that far). but before I made it home the rear left wheel bearing disintegrated and that caused the half axle shaft (with the wheel, tire and brake drum) to slide out of the axle while on the 405 freeway in afternoon traffic. The rear bearing holds the whole axle, tire and wheel in the axle housing. fortunately I made it to the shoulder in a shower of sparks from the axle end dragging on the hwy (with no brakes!) without hitting anything. The tire with the axle came bouncing to a stop on the shoulder right in front of me without hitting anyone either. So, it can go bad in a hurry, usually not. A wheel bearing can make a grinding noise for perhaps 300-400 miles before it will be a hazard, I just would not count on it after that happened to me.
Clean the windows good, and perhaps vacuum the car out and spray it with Fabreez or similar disinfectant spray will make the drive home a lot nicer. Also you should spray silicone lubricant down the window tracks so they roll up and down easier.
I will carry tools and parts that if they fail, could leave me stranded, that is actually not very much: a timing belt, a fan belt, spare rad hoses (the upper one fails more often because that one is under pressure and hotter than the lower one), spare fuel line, and spare fuel pump if you have one handy (though the fuel pump is reliable and seldom fails). A head gasket, and the tools I need to replace it (see my repair guide on head gasket replacement). Get a new fuel filter to replace as well, cheap and easy to do.
3 or 4 times I had to replace the head gasket on a cross country trip in a parking lot somewhere on cars I bought site unseen and i had no history on the engine. Even if the seller says the car was never overheated, it may have been and the head gaskets are always suspect on an unknown car. so by having the head gasket and correct tools, I just need to find a suitable place to work on it. Fortunately the head gasket is cheap, but it is best to have one with you since few stores will have them in stock. You can put on the new timing belt and radiator hose in when you replace the head gasket too.
Good luck! and have fun. it is always an adventure driving an unknown car long distances, plan a few extra days just in case you have to make repairs along the way. Roll with it, expect it to happen, and plan for it, so you have nothing to get upset about. Accordingly, I usually bring an air mattress and cheap sleeping bag I can use to sleep in the back of it if I have to. Or you can find a cheap hotel or airbnb, but again that adds cost.
BTW, most of the routine things you may need, like motor oil, spray lube and cleaner, wiper blades, carb cleaner spray, fuel line, even air, oil and fuel filters they will have in stock at any Auto parts store or at WalMart auto department. so you do not have to bring everything with you, just the parts they will not have in stock.
This interior looks like it's in great condition.
There seems to be a bit of rust near the glass but I like it.It adds character.
Might just lock in the rust and Patina the whole car.
The engine looks like it's in decent condition.
Despite the mileage.
).