In 1985, Toyota created a compact SUV in the most basic manner possible. It slapped a cap on the bed of its compact pickup, added upholstery, some seating and voila, the 4Runner was born. The original 4Runners were basic and more tuned to handle off-road adventures than hauling the family to and from soccer games comfortably, but as it progressed, the 4Runner became a formidable player in the sub-luxury SUV realm. The 1994 4Runner came standard with a manual transmission and had optional four-wheel drive in place of its standard two-wheel-drive configuration. Changing the oil in the manual transmission on a 4X4 4Runner is a straightforward task, but it requires a pump to refill the transmission with oil.
Drive the 4Runner until it reaches operating temperature, roughly halfway up the temperature gauge, then park it on a level surface.
Raise the front of the 4Runner with a floor jack and slide jack stands under its frame rails. Lower the SUV onto the jack stands.
Crawl under the truck until you are near the center of the transmission and find the drain plug on the bottom of the transmission.
Set a drain pan under the drain plug. Loosen the drain plug with a ratchet and socket, then remove the drain plug by hand.
Allow the fluid to drain from the transmission until fluid only slowly drips from the drain hole. Remove the old gasket from the drain plug, clean the drain plug with a clean, lint-free cloth, then place a new gasket on the drain plug. Hand-thread the drain plug into the transmission and snug it with a ratchet and socket.
Pour the specified amount of GL-4 or GL-5, 75W-90 gear oil into a gear oil pump. If your 4Runner has a V-6 engine, it requires 3 1/5 quarts of oil, and the four-cylinder 4Runner requires 4 1/10 quarts.
Find the check-and-fill hole on the passenger’s side of the transmission, about halfway up the side of the transmission case.
Remove the check-and-fill plug from the transmission, using a ratchet and socket, and insert the tube of the gear oil pump into the check-and-fill hole. Pump the gear oil pump to flow oil into the transmission until oil starts dripping from the check-and-fill hole.
Pull the gear oil pump’s hose from the check-and-fill hole. Remove the old washer from the check-and-fill plug and clean the plug’s threads with a clean, lint-free cloth. Guide a new gasket onto the check-and-fill plug and hand-thread it into the transmission. Snug the plug with a ratchet and socket. Wipe the gear oil off the side of the transmission with a clean, lint-free cloth.
Raise the 4Runner off the jack stands with a floor jack and remove the jack stands. Lower the SUV to the ground.
Take the old gear oil to a used automotive fluid recycling center for disposal. Most auto parts stores will take old gear oil for free.
