2022 Toyota 4Runner Pre Purchase Inspection

2022 Toyota 4Runner Pre Purchase Inspection Pawlik Automotive Podcast · Jul 6, 2026

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Car

Toyota 4Runner

This is a Toyota 4Runner, a tough SUV built to handle rough roads. Since it’s a 2022 with about 70,000 km, the inspection helps you find out if it’s been cared for and if anything expensive is starting to show up.

Concept

pre-purchase inspection

A pre-purchase inspection is a mechanic’s check of a used car before you buy it. It helps you spot problems you might not notice and helps you judge whether the price is fair.

Term

70,000 kilometers

Kilometers are just how far the car has been driven. Higher mileage usually means more wear, so it’s an important clue for what maintenance or repairs might be coming next.

Term

timing belts

A timing belt helps keep the engine’s moving parts in sync so everything opens and closes at the right time. If it hasn’t been replaced when it should be, it can turn into an expensive repair.

Term

mileage

Mileage is how many miles the vehicle has been driven. Mechanics use it to estimate when certain maintenance—like replacing a timing belt—should be done.

Concept

body on frame

“Body on frame” means the car’s body sits on a separate, truck-like frame. That can make the vehicle tougher for towing and rough driving, though it may be heavier than some other SUV designs.

Car

Chevrolet Suburban

The Chevrolet Suburban is a large SUV made for carrying people and gear. It’s been around for many decades, so it’s often mentioned when people talk about how SUVs started. It’s designed to be practical for families and everyday use.

Car

Ford Bronco

The Ford Bronco is an SUV made to handle rough roads and off-road driving. It’s one of the older models that helped define what people think of as an SUV today. That’s why it’s often mentioned in conversations about early SUV history.

Car

Gmc Jimmy

The GMC Jimmy (3-door) is an older-style SUV made for carrying people with a more rugged, higher-riding setup. It’s a smaller SUV compared with full-size models, and the 3-door design is part of what makes it feel “classic.” It’s mentioned as an early example of the SUV type.

Car

Toyota Highlander

The Toyota Grand Highlander is a big family SUV with three rows. The hosts are basically saying it’s getting almost as large as older, full-size SUVs.

Car

Honda Odyssey

The Honda Odyssey is a minivan designed mainly for families. It’s built to be roomy and easy to live with, especially for passengers and daily errands. People sometimes compare it to SUVs because it can feel similar in how it’s used, even though it’s a minivan.

Term

Hi, it's Mark.

I'm here with Bernie Pawlik, Pawlik Automotive in Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Vancouver's best auto service experience.

We're talking cars.

How are you doing, Bernie?

Doing very well.

So today's guest is a 2022 4Runner.

What was this vehicle in for?

This vehicle came to us for pre-purchase inspection.

So a four-year-old vehicle being sold.

What's the background?

You know, I actually don't know whether it's from a dealer or whether it's a private

sale.

The vehicle has about 70,000 kilometers on it.

I can say that much.

Visually looks really nice from the outside.

And I thought we'd talk about what you get in a pre-purchase inspection when you bring

it to our shop.

And if you're not coming to our shop, what you should get out of our pre-purchase inspection.

So what is the idea behind a pre-purchase inspection?

You don't buy a lemon?

Exactly.

Yeah.

It's good to know what you're buying, the condition of the vehicle, whether the price

is fair.

If there's some problems, it's good to know that before you buy it because once you choose

to buy it, you're the one who's going to own the problem.

So that's the important thing.

Our inspection is quite thorough too.

So we look at what kind of maintenance items are up and what do you do for them?

Timing belts are not very common anymore.

But you know, in a day when a vehicle had a timing belt, you might be at the mileage

where that's due.

And if it hasn't been done, then that's an expense you're going to have to incur.

So these are the things we look at as well.

And not insignificant expense as well, right?

Exactly.

That's right.

All right.

Let's go to some images here.

There's our 4Runner.

Here's our 4Runner.

These vehicles have been around for a long time.

They have and they keep changing shape and look and believe it or not, they were good

right from the beginning, but they just keep improving and get pretty fancy, some of them.

It's a beautiful vehicle.

This is basically a body on frame.

So similar to a truck.

Is that correct?

Exactly.

That's correct.

Yeah.

So this is a vehicle SUV.

Yeah.

That's right.

In a way, we could say this almost started SUVing really.

Yeah.

It's hard to say which vehicle was the actual start of an SUV.

I sometimes think a suburban was the, we go way back because those things have been around

since the 60s.

I don't know if that's the original, but you're Tahoe, not Tahoe, the GMC, Jimmy or the Bronco.

Those are like early SUVs.

And then these were smaller.

The suburban was the Foghorn required vehicle and then they got a little smaller.

Yeah.

That's right.

Exactly.

But it's funny.

A lot of them, I noticed the other day I was out driving somewhere, Toyota has a Grand

Highlander and it's not quite as big as a suburban, but it's almost the size.

It's funny.

Even Honda Odyssey, like the minivans are like, this thing's almost the size of a suburban.

It's crazy.

Anyway, I just thought I'd just show a few photos of some interesting features.

This vehicle still has hydraulic power steering, which you can see the reservoir of the fluid

there.

A lot of cars these days have electric power steering, but this one still has hydraulic

and to the left of that's a vacuum pump buried under a cover.

That's an exhausting mission piece to keep the pollutants down just when you start the

car cold.

Only normally works for a minute or so and then it's function is over, but helps keep

the air cleaner.

Here we have the brake master cylinder assembly.

What's interesting about this is pretty common on modern vehicles.

It doesn't have that big round vacuum booster that you're familiar with on a lot of vehicles.

If you look under hoods, basically it's a hydraulic unit, but it's integrated with only electronics

of the braking system.

So you can have cruise control where it'll actually slow the vehicle down.

If the car in front of you stops and emergency braking features and those kind of things.

So it's pretty neat.

A view of the engine.

Interestingly enough, this cover, if you take a minute to look at it, you'll see it sits

next to the brake master cylinder, which is unusual.

This is a V6 engine.

That cover would normally sit over top of the middle of the engine, but for some reason

they've kept the design, but it actually sits over top of the left valve cover.

A little plumbing inducting for the intake system required having it sit over there.

So they just moved the cover over, but it's a strange little design piece.

Oh, Toyota.

Yeah.

And what do we have here?

So here's our inspection.

This is a copy that the client would review.

So we have a multi point inspection that we do and we mark things off and reds, oranges

and greens.

There's no reds on this vehicle because it's in pretty good shape.

There's just a couple of notations of things that were worth noting or could be issues like

the cabin air filter.

There's just a note that says check maintenance records.

It's hard to look at a cabin air filter, but it might be due to be replaced.

And there was some body damage underneath and that we'll look at a picture in a minute.

And then wheel lock location is really just more of an internal note for ourselves that

we know where it is because we often fight to find those things.

So having a note, if the customer comes back, then at least we know, hey, you keep the wheel

lock in the glove box.

Right.

And this looks like it's a client is not in town.

So they've seen this on the internet or something or had someone look at it and then now they

want to just confirm that it's in good shape.

Basically.

Yeah, this is what we do with all our inspections.

They're all digital.

So we send them out that you get a link and you just click on it and it looks like this

and you can scroll down through it.

All the 102 items that are okay are you can look at all the details of those two, which

we will in a sec.

When you click on that little paper clip to the left of where it says body damage, these

pictures show up here.

And so the body damage is really some scrapes from underneath.

So this vehicle's either been off road or someone's been driving over parking barriers,

one of the two.

So there's a couple of little dents and a couple of things and some scrapes, but nothing major

or problematic really, but it's just worth noting.

And here we come to the good stuff.

And I know the print is kind of fine, but things like lights, belts, hoses, bulbs, these

are things we look at.

We test the battery and there's some notes down near the bottom there that actually has

actual figures of what the battery should be and what the battery tests out at.

Going to the next page, you can see the battery condition.

So there's measurements for the brake pads and rotors, front and rear.

So we inspect all the brake components.

There's notes about the spark plugs.

Generally, we don't remove spark plugs because it's difficult, but if there was an issue

with the spark plugs, it might just be that they're due by mileage.

So those notes would show up in the orange or red section.

And then here we have more items and mostly steering suspension items here, exhaust system,

and then near the bottom, we have tire measurements too.

So that kind of goes over it.

And of course, we have a discussion with the client, let them know.

And if there's some work needed on the vehicle, we can at least give an approximate price

on what that might be so you can negotiate your purchase price if necessary.

So all in all, another good pre-purchase inspection so the person can buy if they choose with

confidence.

Exactly.

You can buy with confidence or walk away from it because we often see vehicles that you

wouldn't want to touch even if it was free.

Haven't seen one of those in a little bit.

It happens.

If you're looking for a pre-purchase inspection, you're looking to buy in a car and you want

to make sure that you're not buying a lemon.

The people to see in Vancouver, BC are Pawlik Automotive.

You can reach them online at pawlikautomotive.com.

You can book your appointment right there.

Or you can call them to book at 604-327-7112.

Pawlik Automotive in Vancouver, BC, Canada.

You have to book ahead.

They're always busy.

Thanks so much for watching and listening.

Thanks Bernie.

Thank you Mark.

Thanks for watching.

0:00

7:22

Toyota 4Runner

pre-purchase inspection

70,000 kilometers

timing belts

mileage

body on frame

Chevrolet Suburban

Ford Bronco

Gmc Jimmy

Toyota Highlander

Honda Odyssey

hydraulic power steering

electric power steering

vacuum pump

brake master cylinder assembly

vacuum booster

hydraulic unit

cruise control

emergency braking features

V6 engine

multi point inspection

reds, oranges and greens

cabin air filter

wheel lock location

digital inspections

body damage

battery condition

brake pads

rotors

spark plugs

steering suspension items

exhaust system

tire measurements

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