Two Steps Forward, One Step Back…

This job was supposed to be straightforward. I did my research, picked up the special service tools, and even watched a few YouTube videos. Everything looked simple enough—right up until it wasn’t.

It all started fine. I had my kit, laid out every shiny new part like I was about to perform surgery, and started tearing into the 4Runner. The first few bolts came out easy, confidence was high… and then I hit the harmonic balancer. My puller wouldn’t fit because the radiator was in the way. No big deal, just a small step back. Off came the grille, out came the radiator, and suddenly my “simple job” had evolved into a full-blown front-end teardown.

With the balancer finally off, I swapped out the rollers. The idler seemed okay, but the tensioner roller had a little play, so replacing both felt like a smart move. That’s when I hit the real nightmare: the tensioner itself.

According to every video and Reddit post, you can sneak a wrench in beside the oil pan to reach the rear bolt. Lies. All lies. I spent half an hour trying to snake a wrench to loosen the bolts before finally admitting defeat and pulling the A/C compressor just to get access.

Another step back.

And when I did get to the bolts, they refused to budge. The manual says 20 ft-lbs of torque. Mine felt like they were cranked to 200. I threw every tool I owned at them, rounded one off, swore loudly enough to scare the dog, and finally caved—off to the parts store for a very specific 12mm extractor. It eventually worked, though the bolts looked like they’d been through a blender. Thankfully, the local Toyota dealer had replacements.

At that point, I figured I’d knock out the cam and crank seals while I was in there. Crank seal was easy. Cam seal? Nope. Those bolts didn’t move a millimeter. After a good look, I decided they weren’t leaking anyway, so I called that a win and moved on.

Water pump and thermostat went on without drama, though I did find out the old thermostat was installed upside down. After putting the new one in correctly—with the jiggle valve at 6 o’clock—it warms up faster and (maybe it’s in my head) the heater works better too.

By the end of the day, I was covered in grime, high on brake cleaner fumes, and decided to call it quits before I started making stupid mistakes.

The next morning, it was time for the timing belt. And of course, it was way tighter than expected. There was no chance I was getting it on by hand, so I grabbed a panel removal tool and used it as a pry bar. It worked, but every time I got the belt halfway on, one of the cams would shift.

Three times. I had to realign everything three separate times before it finally lined up perfectly. Two full rotations later, everything was dead-on—hallelujah.

From there, it was full speed ahead. Cleaned what I could, torqued everything to spec, and started reassembling. Once the radiator was back in, I topped off the coolant, took a deep breath, and turned the key.

She fired right up. Smooth, quiet, no weird noises. I burped the cooling system, double-checked for leaks, and stood back in disbelief—it was finally done.

Would I do it again? Honestly… probably not. But if labor prices keep climbing, I might just forget how miserable it was and talk myself into it.

After all, I am cheap.