New Member, 94 Montero SR

JBThompson

Adventurer
Hello everyone! I just picked up a 94 Montero SR with 150K miles on the clock and joined the site to hopefully gain some knowledge and share my experiences as I go. I bought this truck to use as a daily driver after my car was totalled and for what I paid I think I got a pretty solid rig with lots of potential. There are a few things to sort out, namely the wipers don't currently work and it needs a full brake service ASAP as the pedal is pretty soft. The previous owner said at one point the guy before him wired in a toggle switch for the wipers after the switch stopped working, but now the toggle quit working as well. I'll replace combo switch and put in a new relay, hopefully that does the trick. Also needs a sending unit for the fuel level so I have that to look forward to. Other than some rust inside the door jambs she's solid and all the driveline is all in good shape. I'll probably do the timing belt just because the previous owner was not sure if it had ever been done. The interior is ok, the rear half of the center console is missing so I gotta find a replacement, and some bulbs need replaced but the leather is decent. She just jeeds some love and I think it'll clean up pretty good.

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Not sure what the future holds for mods but I can't wait to test her out and see what she's capable of.
 

JBThompson

Adventurer
It's a 3.5 DOHC. The locker seems to work like it's supposed to, haven't gotten to test it out though. Friday I'm taking the day off to sort out the wiper issue and the brakes. I literally bought this thing at 11pm last night so today was spent finding all the little things I need to fix. Master window switch, slow sunroof operation, dash lights, missing rear half of the console, no stereo...
 

jeep-N-montero

Expedition Leader
Tan or gray interior? Make a list of everything you need and let me know, I am pretty good at getting parts for people.
 

plh

Explorer
It's a 3.5 DOHC.

If you have no history on the PM of the timing belt, put that VERY high on your to/do list. It is a 60,000 mile PM item and if it (or a tensioner or water pump) goes your engine will be toast. 150K and no records, its 2.5x over due.
 
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JBThompson

Adventurer
Yeah, the timing belt is going to get done ASAP. Top priority right now is making her safe so tomorrow I'm sorting out the brakes and wipers. The timing belt will get done soon, hopefully before summer but for sure before I do anything else under the hood.

The interior is tan. Or brown? I don't know if they came in a lighter tan but this is a darker color. There are some things through the interior I will want to replace but mostly I need to find the rest of the console.

I might end up putting some different gauges in that center cluster as well. I really have no use for the stuff they put in there from the factory but oil pressure and voltage, maybe trans temp, those would be much more useful.
 

JBThompson

Adventurer
Yeah, I'm not a fan. The compass at least has the temp gave which is ok but the backlight doesn't work so you can't read it easily anyway. The inclinometer and altimeter are utterly useless.
 

JBThompson

Adventurer
Ok good news and bad news, I guess. Good news is I replaced some brake lines and a rear caliper, now I actually have decent brakes. Twenty years of Iowa winters have not been kind to this old girl but brake line is cheap so I can't *****. Oh, and I fixed the wipers. Now I tend to find amusement in the stupidity in others, and this truck's prior owner does not disappoint. When the wipers quit working, instead of checking the fuse under the dash like any sane person would do, this numbskull ran a power wire from the battery into the cabin, drilled a hole for a toggle switch, and ran that back to the power wire under the hood at the wiper motor.

The bad news is I can't even enjoy the now functional brakes because the starter took a dive. Doesn't look too tough to swap out but I'm done for the night. I'll get that done tomorrow or maybe Monday.
 

JBThompson

Adventurer
Got the new starter in, fired right up. Drove to the parts store to return the old one and get the core charge back, went back out to the truck, no start. I'm back to square one, thinking it has to be a connection issue. I'm entirely too angry to be anywhere near the truck at the moment but I'm going to make up some new cables after I blow off some steam. I'll run new cable from the battery to the starter and a couple new chassis grounds for the battery and engine, hopefully that does the trick.
 

JBThompson

Adventurer
The battery is new, didn't test the starter because all signs pointed to it at the time. Tight connections, good battery, plenty of voltage, switch was working, process of elimination said starter. Obviously it's a different and less obvious issue; I'm pretty sure one of the wires either has a break in it or it's internally corroded so badly there's too much resistance. I have a bunch of cable ranging from 12ga all the way up to 0ga so I'll just make some cables and see if that's the issue.
 

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