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First of all, you YotaTech’rs are awesome. I have been reading and learning so much over the past weeks.
After a year and half of sitting in my garage I am finally going to have a running truck again. I bought a 1994, 3.0, 5 speed extra cab with 172,200 miles in March of 2012. It had a rod knock and I knew the engine would need to be rebuilt. Wanting to support local businesses from my hometown, I paid a local mechanic to rebuild it for $2,500. It ran terribly, smoked and leaked oil after just a few hundred miles. Long story short I drove it for a year and a half before it was toast. I had to take the mechanic to court because he refused to warrantee his work. I won most of the money back, but getting him to pay me is a completely different story.
I finally have the funds to resurrect the beast and decided to order an engine through AutoZone (rebuilt by Sure Fire). They offer a 3 year warrantee and I feel they are more likely to stand behind it. I have read a lot of posts here on YotaTech and the general consensus is to swap in a 3.4 instead of rebuilding the 3.0, but I feel more comfortable getting a shiny new engine rather than one with 65,000 – 115,000 miles without any history of how it was ran or maintained. This is just my opinion and I may be wrong so please let’s not debate this now.
I read that the poorly designed exhaust manifold could be the reason for the head gasket and overheating issues of the 3.0, so I thought no better time than now for some Thorley headers and Flowmaster cat and muffler. The engine has arrived and I plan to start installation after Christmas, but I have a few questions I am hoping you all can help me with:
1. Oil Cooler – I was told (and it makes sense to me) that these cannot be cleaned 100% and should not be reinstalled on a new engine. The cause of failure to my previous engine was that the thrust bearing was not installed correctly and it allowed the crank to walk back and forth. This scraped up cylinder #1 pretty bad, so I can imagine there are lots of metal shavings in the oil cooler. I purchased one of these aftermarket coolers because they are much more affordable than the original. Do any of you have experience with this cooler or one like it? http://www.autozone.com/external-eng...artNumber=true
2. Valve covers – I can’t find installation instructions anywhere that covers the bolt tightening order or torque requirements. I searched YotaTech and my Haynes manual without luck. I purchased the Toyota FIPG to use with the gaskets to seal the valve covers and the water pump because it seemed to have the best reviews in preventing leaks. Are there any write ups that show where the FIPG is needed?
3. Break-in – When I broke-in the last engine, the mechanic gave me 4 quarts of diesel oil and another quart of some sort of oil additive to run for 500 miles in order to get the rings to seat. I am not sure if this the proper way to break in the 3.0 because the Haynes manual doesn’t mention anything about diesel oil. Any suggestions for break-in?
I am very excited to get this baby back on the road and especially off-road.
Nice to hear from someone else who thinks sticking with the 3VZE is worth it!
I can't help with all of your questions but here's what I got...
I checked for the valve cover torque value in the FSM but it is not given (says to torque 'em but doesn't give a value). However, elsewhere in this forum I found 4 ft-lb (48 in-lb).
I have the Doug Thorley headers with the Magnaflow cat and muffler on my '91 and love the setup. It might be a bit noisy for some but... ; )
The headers solve the heat problem from the stock crossover on the exhaust but they do sit pretty close to the fuel line on the passenger side. I put mine on in 2006 and so far no problems.
EG2-80 has the valve cover install info...sequence and torque....48 in-lbs is given.
So what do you think of the engine so far? Appearance outta the box? Look good, nice and clean, paint look good? I'm kinda tossing the idea around of going that way myself. Looks like autozone, oreilly and rockauto all sell the same one rebuilt by surefire. It came with the timing belt and all the goodies? Gaskets for the intake, exhaust, all that stuff?
The 3yr unlimited mileage warranty sounds good to me! If something's gonna go wrong (head gasket!) that's plenty of time for it to happen.
I cleaned the oil cooler on my 3VZE when I put a rebuilt in it back in Aug of 2006.
I bought mine with a rod bearing failure and a cracked oil pan when the rod let loose to the point where the rod cap was totally flattened out and laying in the pan.
Toyota wanted like 350.00 for a new oil cooler and I didn't see why it couldn't be cleaned.
First I soaked it in the solvent tank to break down any oil in it. Then washed it out, and air cleaned it.
Mine shot out what looked like a piece of broken taillight lens from the cooling side. Weird.
Next I soaked it for a day in a bucket of carburetor body cleaner. Then flushed it out with hot water and air pressure.
Held the unit in my hand and used a wood hammer handle to tap around the outside to dislodge any debris.
Then I used a can of brake cleaner to fill it and let it set for a day before pouring it out and then air cleaning it from both directions.
I did that 2 more times with the brake cleaner, and each time I could see there was less discoloration.
Did a final wash out with hot soapy water and air pressure.
Then I warmed it up on my propane grill to be sure there was no water remaining in it.
Finally I did a vacuum leak down test on the cooling side to make sure there was no internal leaks.
It worked fine and I have had no issues with it since.
Just my experience.
4 ft-lbs...I guess it's just a estimate because I can't find a torque wrench that adjusts lower than 10 ft-lbs. I will plan to use a small 1/4" wrench and just work slowly I suppose.
Dr1553, thank you for the FSM. This is going to come in very handy. I haven't picked up the engine from AutoZone yet (although I did pay it a visit). Its in a wooden frame crate and wrapped in plastic. I plan to pick it up on the 12/27 and hopefully have it running by the end of the year. It should come with all required gaskets and the timing belt, however if it is missing any I will update.
Scrid, thank you for the instructions for cleaning the original oil cooler. Since I've already purchased the new cooler I think I will use it. If for some reason it doesn't bolt up correctly, it's good to know I can always clean the original.
Do not waste money on the oil cooler you have listed from auto zone. The oem uses coolant to cool (or warm) the oil. Do a thorough job cleaning the one on the engine and you will be fine. On the rebuilt engine, after brake in, use full synthetic oil. It has a lot of detergents in it that prevent the build up of sludge and this will keep the oil cooler from getting clogged.
Here are some pics of the long block from Surefire. Dr1553 It came with all required gaskets though I didn't use some of them (Oil Pan, exhaust manifolds and and assortment of O rings because I couldn't find any use for them.
Here are two pics with the Thorley Headers.
It was all back together yesterday morning and I tried firing it up without any luck. Then an overwhelming smell of fuel filled the garage so I figured something was wrong. I found this when I took off the air intake chamber I realized I broke the cold start injector tube. Does anyone know if this can be repaired or am I stuck buying this from the dealer? I can't find a part number search for it online. Thanks for any help you can offer.
I would try car-parts.com or a pull a part before I paid dealer prices for it. Or just look in the buy/sell section on here people are always selling parts for the 3vz when they do the engine swap to a 5vz.
12-14-2015, 01:17 PM
