4RunnerN00B

amen to that ! lol i agree with wrench.. as long as u take care of ur motor and keep it nice and cooool then it will be stong for you.
By the way......how much more cooler would a hood scoop give the motor..i figure it would be blowing air on top of the motor and getting it cool instead of just the front end?
somthing simple like a 20'' x 8'' scoop

motoracer47

lol, sorry, but the most ridiculas statement about this engine ive ever seen. a 1uzfe(made by toyota) will destroy a 3vze when it comes to reliablility. i have personally seen in person a LS400 with 650K miles(thats correct 650 thousand miles) the only things done to it: oil changes, coolant change every now and then, 3 timing belts, one each new oil pump and waterpump, all verified and serviced by a toyota/lexus dealership. can ANYONE make that claim about a 3vze? i highly doubt it. sounds like you are in denial about your engine. personnally, i dont understand this whole pride bs with peoples engines. dont get me wrong, i love toyotas, but neither me or i highly doubt anyone else on this forum had a single thing to do with the design and manufacture of any of these engines, but i see people get upset like someone was talking about their kid!! but seriously, i hope that statement was a joke, because im almost positive that it falls under the sticky: MISINFORMATION

AgRunner06

Exactly what I mean. Most people don't have the time/knowlegde/ability to replace the headgaskets themselves. And yes, it's at least $2K.

You are wrong regarding the 22re. That engine is way better than the the 3VZE will ever be. The headgasket blowing does not happen all the time on the 22re's. Even IF it did happen (and yes I know it does), it is much easier and less expensive to replace the headgasket on the 22re than the 3vze.

So you are saying that if you maintain your engine, it won't blow the headgasket. I call BS. It can blow even if it doesn't overheat and is maintained.

The bottom line is that there are much better engines out there. The 3.0 is weak, inefficient, and has headgasket issues that can be very expensive.

The one thing that I did like about mine was the low end torque. But that coupled with the mid-range hp curve made it crappy to drive on the highway. I just prefer more from my engines regarding performance and reliability.

curly_c

you cant drive around all scared that somehting might happen. if you are scared dont drive i guess. if you get a motorcycle then you could die. if you walk outside you might get shot. if you eat you might choke and die. dont think negative all the time. just enjoy your runner. my dads 86 22re has had the heads replaced twice i think. once was right after he got it. (DEC 85) check to see if its in the recall. if not dont sit there and worry about it. and if you are going to save up, save up for a 3.4 swap...

absolutezero

Be afraid, be very afraid.... Well, actually don't, but definitely be prepared to fork out $1500+ WHEN the HG blows. Yes, I said "WHEN" because it will blow. Not because the 3VZFE is perhaps one of the WORST engines ever conceived by Toyota, but because it's running with an asbestos-absent HG that was never designed to go with that engine. It would be an interesting test to see how often these 3VZs blow with their orginal asbestos HG....

Anyway, I don't usually post to these forums (this is my first post on here actually), but I felt compelled to share my opinion on this subject. You see, it was only last year that my 1995 4runner, which was supposed to be immune to the HG problem, blew the HG. Now, mine didn't blow spontaneously. Over the coarse of about 2 weeks the 4runner would get harder to start in the morning due to water leaking out of the water jacket and into one of the cylinders. Amazingly, the toyota would still start up and run. Just took a few seconds to blow all the water out and then it would warm right up. Eventually the engine would get so waterlogged that I had to breakdown and rebuild it. Again, this was about 2 weeks after the symptoms started. I spent about $800 in parts rebuilding the engine myself. My friend, who had a 1994 4runner, also blew his HG about a year before mine. He spent over $1800 having a shadetree mechanic fix it for him. I believe his milege was around 120K. The vehicle was sold immidiately after he had it fixed.

Let's see, you're at 131K so I'm willing to bet you're due for your first HG failure. My 1995 blew at around 125K. Unless you want to deal with rebuilding a lemon of an engine, I recommend you sell the vehicle and save yourself a huge headache. Let me also ad that I took immaculate care of my 4runner - changing the oil every 3K miles, never racing/off-roading it, etc. In the end it didn't matter. So be warned and keep checking the bottom of the oil cap for your milky oil surprise!

wrenchmonster

Enough already! This thread is getting quite ridiculous. And yes, Motoracer47, I was kidding. I certainly don't think the 3.0 is the best engine ever. In fact, I don't even think any light wheeled engine can hold a match to a lot of engines used in heavy equipment. If you want to talk about durability under extreme stress there are far better examples than a whimpy 650K.

Let me just finish by saying that if you don't like your rig or your engine then get something else.

4mydogs

Noob, see what a can of worms you opened?
Sorry if this has been said already (I didn't see it), but check with the stealership to see if yours was subject to the HG recall. My '95 wasn't. Somewhere during the year they changed.

Aside from that, take care of your ride and it'll take care of you. I bought mine in '97 with 32K on it. It's now up to 146K and I've done nothing extraordinary besides keeping to the maintenance schedule and replacing the valve cover gaskets -- they leaked. The 3.0 is okay, just a bit slow . . .

1985 4Runner

x2 for my 1989 4runner.

ctcost

Mine had 203k with the original head gasket when it went. Right after the new motor was installed, called Toyota and had them do the head gasket service bulletin and it runs like a dream...30k and climbing...The new motor is still a baby

motoracer47

sry wrenchmonster, i somehow didnt read the part were you said its not the best engine. my bad. have no experience with heavy duty diesels(although i would "think" they maybe get more regular service done to them being industrial work vehicles) i like my rig, just not the engine in it, but thats about to change i think ill be much happier with 180-200 hp and the same torque, while getting about a 20-25% decrease in fuel consumption.

AcidicDreams

if you want alot for you 4runner bring it to oregon... I dealer would sell that for ~8000

AcidicDreams

he's lying... the 3.0 is VERY slow... but it's still a good truck if your not towing.... or trying to do 60 uphill...

Red3.slow

Overall you should be expecting a lot of life out of the 3.0

Racer944

Yeah, you'll get a lot out of the 3.slow. It's like any other kinda car/truck/van/SUV/wagon or whatever, if you take care of it, it should last. Change the oil, flush the fluids, and treat it nice, it won't die. Now me, I want to do the 2UZFE swap, so I push my engine. It blew the HG once, and I redline it once it's warmed up, most days, and it doesn't complain. I've driven other cars that just about explode if you do that a few times. This one is strong, don't worry.

AgRunner06

So you redline it on most days? I guess if you are looking to blow it up that's a good way to do it. I still wouldn't want to get stuck with the bill to put a new one in. But since you are doing a swap I guess it doesn't really matter.

celica

I drive the crap out of mine. I used to plow snow with it, pull bobcats, etc. Mine sees redline everytime I drive it. I has 235,000 miles on it & has never broken down. The 3.0 are tough motors as long as you treat them right - ie- do the regular maintenance.

Racer944

regular maintenance is the key. Unless the engineers screw with the redline so you can go up to some higher RPMs, it should be safe to go all the way up, at least that's the way i've always thought of it.

I'm not a spoiled kid trying to destroy my stuff, but I do like to push it every now and then, and ONE DAY I'd like to do the 2UZ swap (God knows I'm poor now and can't afford it now)

neilacj

I have a 92 3zve that i have just done the head gaskets on is their anyone
out there that can draw of send me a diagram on the vacum hose on this vechicle as i did not mark mine when removing them thanks email neilacj@hotmail.com

roundhouse

Too late now , you should have asked about it before you bought it,
anyway theres nothing you can do to prevent it except dont overheat the engine.


I just bought a 95 limited with a bad HG for $700.

theres 2 more 94's in my local "pennysaver" with blown HGs for $1400

The guy had owned it for 18 months , paid $6K for it.

When I pulled the heads the gaskets are NOT the factory ones, they have english writing on them, RockAuto or something like that,

I called Toyota dealer, its not been repaired ever at any dealer.

So the HG on this truck has blown twice in Id say about 3 years, the 2nd owner back before me probably sold it right after he had the HG done.,and I will sell the engine or the whole truck when I get it back together,

How do you spend $800 doing the HG yourself?
the gaskets and bolts are $100.

kpaxfaq

my 95' has 153,000 on it and had recall done in 98'

i redline mine all the time and drive 85-90 mph (constant 4,000+rpm) for 2+ hours on the freeway all the time. the engine loves to be revved. i take good care of it though. i dont know some people have problems....some people like me are very happy with the toughness of this motor...