CoedNaked

I was at a dealership today where a famiy member of mine works at up here in "CANADA." I got to discussing with one of the technicians there, who interestingly enough, is one of the top Toyota technicians in all of CAnada year in and year out (they have these tests/competitions, etc.). I thanked him for the excellent work on my clutch & CV boots from the week before (dam smooth!) and talked to him about the exhaust manifold on the 3vze. Now these guys know me as the family member of mine has worked there for over 10 years, so I don't think they would BS me. They also work on hundreds of different engines per week and I would think a 20+ year Toyota mechanic would know a thing or two. I asked him to sum up his thoughts on the 3vze exhaust manifold and he didn't really have much to say. In his opinion, he thinks the engine stock, as is, is a hell of a reliable engine and if you don't toy with it, will go forever. And once you start modifying it, you start compromising things like reliablity & durability. Plus, considering cost of mods to actually do them and do them properly, it might not be worth it for the HP gained (keep in mind I have been leaning/itching to do headers/exhaust for a long time now). In his opinion, he thinks you should just accept the 3vze for what it is, which is a kind of gutless (relative to now) engine. I mentioned to him things like the burnt out #6 exhaust valve that people seem to mention on here as a problem that occurs due to the exhaust restrictive manifold, but he didn't think it was that it was really an issue as much as people push it as one. In theory, it sounds like it could be one though.

I have an extra leaf spring on my truck (along with new leaf springs as well). The previous owner put it on there to replace the cracked stock springs that the owner before him had on there. Thus, the truck rides a little higher (an inch or two of extra lift). So the torsion bars in the front were cranked, but cranked a little far. I had an alignment, as well as the torsion bars cranked down about 3/4" to more closely match the rear fenders. And the truck looks great, and man, what a difference that 3/4" makes in ride quality! The truck actually absorbs some bumps now as opposed to the hole front end hopping over speed bumps and the like. The alignment was $70 plus an extra $10 to "de"-crank the torsion bars. The tech at the suspension shop recommended always getting an alignment anytime you decide to play with the torsion bars. I told him about the harsh ride, and one of the things he thought was that it does have something to do with the control arms changing angles as many people on here know and have iterated, but he also thinks that the shocks potentially bottoming out could be a factor as well? What are your thoughts? I have stock OEM shocks (near new essentially - the previous owner put them on).

Which leads to a question. Since I basically have something equivocal to a small lift on the truck due to the leaf springs and slightly cranked torsion bars, would it be wiser to get Bilsten 5100's or would I be fine with striaght Bilsten HD OEM replacement shocks? Do I need more of a lift? could the HD shocks cope with a slight lift in that sense? It says on the bilstein site that you need something like a 2-4" lift to run 5100's for my truck, I think, could be wrong.

Interestingly enough, my uncle came down to my place from Northern Alberta. He has the exact same truck as mine except it's a 95. But otherwise down to a tee, it's the exact truck (even same colour). So he encounters a pretty harsh winter up there. For winter tires, he runs something you don't see often around these parts, and a tire you don't hear much about. He runs the BF Goodrich Commercial All Terrains (or wahtever they're called - the commercial versoin of the All Terrains). He has 215/85/16 (he runs 16" rims). So these are a narrow tire for obvious (snow/ice) reasons. I recall seeing them last year and they still have exceptional tread on them, and he says the perform very very well in the snow and ice. He's really impressed overall. He says they've saved his butt a few times. Anyways, he brought his stock "summer" tires down with him in the back of his truck (on the stock 15" rims). They are Hanook Dynamic, I think a mud terrain looking tire. They are near bald. But he says he really likes them. The one thing that irks him about most all terrain (or summer tires offroad tires as he calls them) is that they seem to pick up rocks. That's the one reason he likes these hankooks (supposedly they are discontinued though). I notice with my Michelin LTX A/T's exactly what he is saying - that they pick up rocks and them seem to chuck them and you hear loud ticks once you get up to highway speed. Could you guys recommend an all terrain tire that doesn't pick up rocks that would suit his needs? Preferably in the 31x10.5 x 15 size.

Speaking of his truck again - he has 423,000 km's (264,000 miles) and it runs great, mind you he had an engine rebuild @ 300,000 km's (188,000 miles) due to him wanting to keep it. But it speaks volumes about the quality of rebuilt engines in these trucks as well.

Speaking of longevity, the dealership today had a car in today in the service bay that I couldn't believe with my own eyes. It was a 1990 toyota Camry wagon with the 2.0 liter inline 4 cylinder engine. Person was from California with Cali plates. Body was in pretty descent shape. The service manager there said this car has the most amount of Kilometres (or miles) he has ever seen on any Toyota vehicle they have had in for servicing in his 10 years of expierience. The car has 508,000 miles (812,000 kilometres). The next most he said was a landcruiser with 600,000 kilometres (375,000 miles). Simply insane mileage! But really speaks volume about the quality of product.

I got to talking with this tech later on again about gas mileage. He has a 3rd gen 4runner. I mentioned to him about the poor gas mileage posts I seem to be hearing about on this discussion board, and him even being a Toyota tech, agrees. And even him and a few other mechanics seem to think the 3.4 isn't that much more "special" in the power/torque category than the 3.0 (yes I know you can feel the difference - but they still regard both of these engines as slugs). Gets me towards wondering about gas mileage. I always hear 3.4 this, 3.4 that, and how the 3.4 is superior in every way to the 3.0. But is it really in the gas mileage department?

CoedNaked

Another thing worth mentioning was a discussion I had with another tech there about fuel filters for the 3vze. He said that the overcrank them at the factory so when you decide to take the fuel filters out, 9 times out of 10 you'll strip the nuts on the fuel filter lines. Also, supposedly the things rust out anyways, so he basically plans on replacing the fuel filter lines anytime you do a fuel filter. He also said in his opinion, that the fuel filters are almost designed to not need replacing. He recalls at school that toyota fuel filters, even with high K, have better filtration qualities than other domestic or other brand filters. So they're made to last I guess, or so I hear.

YotaJunky

Great post! It's good to read about the longevity of the 3.0L VZE. I just got mine about 3 months ago, and I look forward to enjoying it for many, many years to come.

Troy

YotaJunky

CoedNaked, if you don't mind my asking, which dealership does this "top tech" work at? I live in Richmond, BC.

Troy

Blair

Hey COED, thanks for the insight from the guys who actually work on these rigs daily. You're sure to hear from the 3.4 crowd.
Hope it's not too rainy on the left coast! I used to live in Surrey (1969) LONG before it became Surreydesh

Morphine

I suffered from the 3vze #6 burnt valve issue. A friend I made at my local Toy stealership really didn't have much to say on the crossover pipe/exhaust setup of the 3vze. The machine shop I went to said the same thing, "Toyota tested it, and it worked". Now I have replaced the stock setup with headers and a new exhaust to "hopefully" eliminate this problem of a burnt valve. From a layman's stand point, when you pull the system apart it "loooks" like a bad idea....The exhaust is routed away from the engine, however on the stock setup the passanger side exhaust is routed right back to the #6 valve before escaping. Something fishy. I'm no mechanic but it doesn't make sense. Toyota personel seem to feel it was fine, and they all have said that the 3vze engine is solid if under rated compared to todays models. I love my Yota and my 3vze. It served it's first owner for 251,000 miles bone stock. With some tender love and a new lease on life I'll see it atleast another 250,000miles.

-=Morphine=-

Bumpin' Yota

As far as burnt #6 valves I saw an arguement for it that made sense to me - valve lash. When valve lash decreases it also decreases the total amount of time the valve seat is in contact with the head. The time period over which this contact takes place is evidentally important as the valve is releasing a lot of heat into the head....thus cooling it. Eventually if left uncheck valve lash will drop to zero or close to and poof poor running, no compression, burnt valve.

Now when I measured my valve lash after 258,000, my #6 was down to 0.003" when spec is 0.009" - 0.013" and the rest of the exhaust lashes were in the 0.007 catagory. Why #6 valve decided to stretch faster? I dont know, maybe heat from the crossover?

Perhaps both theories are correct? hehehe

CoedNaked

Troy - Langley

CoedNaked

Err topic should have been 3rd gen pickups - for some reason I'm used to the 4runner gen's/years of listing things. Whoops.

jimbo74

yeah the pickup gens are way wierd.. some say that the 84088 pickups are really like gen 5 pickups, but are commonly refered to as the gen 2 pickups but 1st gen runner.... 84-88 is the second gen pickups that were available with 4x4.... before that there is a long line of pickups dating into the 60s i beleive

Rick F.

I had a 1990 SR5 4Runner w/the 3.slow and sold it with over 205,000 miles in 2002. Despite the typical comments about being underpowered, it IS an extremely reliable engine. I towed a fiberglass bass boat and a 3000 lb. pop-up camper for years and never had a problem (other than being passed by steel haulers, car carriers and Winnebagos on long hills!). I did the usual timing belt replacements (at about 60-90k mile intervals) and had to replace torn CV boots and the exhaust system ONCE (big deal) but never had any major mechanical problem. Recently, the guy I sold it to told me he has about 250,000 miles on it and he loves it. He only replaced another damaged CV boot in the 2 years he's had it.

Which is why there are nothing but 'Yotas in my family (but I'm guilty of buying a Saturn for my boy in college...). My 3rd gen 4Runner has been just as good to me. Fuel mileage wise, I get about the sameas my 2nd gen did, perhaps a hair less, but the 3rd gen definately has the jump in pep and towing power over my old 2nd gen.