Thinking about geting an old Toyota truck, and thoughts?

[theholycow]

The 1994 S10 I bought for $250 (transmission donor) had brakes that didn't work and a variety of less important problems. It looked like it has never been washed; and of course it had plenty of exposure to road salt, being in New England. It had plenty of surface rust but everything was solid.

I hear that the 2.2 is prone to head gasket failure, although it looks like an easy head gasket replacement. Other than that, what I've read elsewhere agrees with "the 4 banger 5 or 4 speed option is diehard".

Aging Rangers are also dirt cheap. The 4 banger 5 or 4 speed Ford is bulletproof and known to last forever. Common failures are the clutch slave cylinder and the rear leaf spring hangers. The hangers rust out, cost $30, and are easy to replace. The slave cylinder requires you to drop the transmission but that ought to be an easy one.

[VetteOwner]

yea the 94 s10 is like my 95, the 4 banger CAN be prone to HG failure IF you hotrod it around and dont watch the gauges and dont do routine maint. usually the 98+ 2.2L are more prone to that. but yes if it happens its easy to fix, just gotta make sure the head didnt warp.

yea the s10's love to rust out the cab cornners and rear wheel wells but nothing structurally is affected.


the deisel possibility is a possibility but really rare, i think they made less than 2000 of em...usually when i see them pop up on craigslist or ebay the owner knows what they have and want a pretty penny for a beat uprusted out truck JUST because its deisel.

fyi i think in the late 90's GM made some propane powered s10's for like grounds keeping crews at ballparks etc:P