Posted 3 hours ago by kingroon Specialist Work

Croeso i Dibynadwy

Welcome to Dependable..

It’s a very powerful agent, knowing that you can depend on someone or something. With a RoadTrip to Wales on the Calendar and the knowledge that there were a few outstanding issues with the 4Runner, I had been trying to get the Beast in with a well known Garage in Sussex that specialises in 4X4, moreover Toyotas, without any joy. For Months. Months. It became increasingly frustrating waiting on the call back, and when a date was finally set, that frustration boiled over as postponement and delays moved the date without it being fixed again.

It was a chance meeting with an old friend in a London Train Station waiting on a Delayed Train home that led me to MK Autos on the A21, and I can honestly say that it was worth it all to have the 4Runner go to Matthew and have his perfectionist touch on it.

There was a List [of course] of the Work that I wanted done, top of which was a Full Service, but next was The Fuel Economy, Mix and Idle. It sat at 1200RPM whether Cold or Hot which you’ll know is too high, and the Exhaust smelled very rich, too rich, meaning I was getting 15-17MPG [the latter on a good day] and no more than 200 Miles out of a Full Tank. Add that I only fill the 4Runner with Premium E5 Petrol and you can understand how [increasingly] expensive it was to use the 4Runner.

Bon Idle

The Idle issue was directly related to the Mix issue, which relates back to that Cooling Problem we had when reassembling the Head back in 2024. Sorting the Cooling Issue was done with replacing a defective Thermostat allowing the Engine to run the Coolant through both the Cold and the Hot Loop dictated by the Engine temperature. The Thermostat was stuck open meaning that the Sensor was not told when the Engine was Cold or Hot thus running the Air / Fuel Mix rich as it thought it was [always] running the Cold Loop. Installing a Thermostat sorted this problem, so the Engine actually ran in the Cold Loop when Cold and the Hot Loop when Hot; this is the Electronic bit of the Electronic Fuel Injection, it needs to be told what to do by Sensors.

Once the Cooling System was corrected, the Idle could be brought down by the Idle Screw mounted on the EFI Module. Simple and elegant, very Japanese.

With both of those Jobs done, the Idle now sat at 1100 Cold / 750 when Hot, a perfect V6 burble running through the Twin Exit Pipes.

The Cherry on the Top..? Man Maths tells me that I’ll make back the cost of the work in Fuel Economy before the Year is out.

Decongestant

I love a K&N Filter, can’t help it, and there’s no use in telling me that it makes no difference to Intake, Economy or Performance, because I simply won’t listen. I love the way they look. Perhaps it’s the placebo effect, but I reckon the Beast sounds better with it fitted.

The K&N had been sat in the Parts Bin for a while [looking at the Email Receipt, I bought it in July 2023] so the Filter itself needed re-oiling, something that MK Auto was proactive in doing as I was unaware this would be required.

In the centre of the three photos above, you might also spot a hose adaptor, 3D Printed by MK. This is the kind of lateral thinking I love to see; why waste time hunting and waiting for a part to arrive when you can fabricate one yourself using technology. Awesome.

Snapping that Photo of the Engine Bay with the K&N fitted, I realised that it could do with a bit of a tidy, and a clean. That Black Intake Manifold looks ugly too.

FMKSH

This was the First Full Service I had given the 4Runner since I bought it, which might sound shameful were it not for the fact that it had spent a great deal of time under the knife during my ownership. Nevertheless the Oil and Spark Plugs needed changing after the Miles I had put in since the Top End Rebuild, and not a moment too soon either. The issues corrected above had taken its toll on both, the Oil looking like Brent Crude. The Valve Stems could also have suffered a bit, and MK thinks that another few months of driving as was would have meant redoing a lot of the work done before, something I am keen to avoid for another few years yet.

MK recommended changing the Oil every 6 Months in the 4Runner since it is a Semi Synthetic 10W 40; Fully Synthetic would be okay every 12 Months. And since most of the Journeys I take the 4Runner on a short ones, 10W rather than a thinner 5W is ideal.