Chip N Sawbones

I've got a 1989 2wd pickup with the 22RE. Most of the truck is in great shape, but the engine is dying. There's no power for acceleration, the truck only gets 17mpg despite conservative driving, the engine runs so rough it practically shakes itself off the motor mounts, and it drinks oil like it owns Kuwait. The #4 spark plug gets totally fouled with carbon every 1000 miles. The previous owner claimed the engine was rebuilt about 60k ago. Either he lied, he did an awful job or he used very bad parts. I tried seafoam soaks, replacing spark plugs, wires and the O2 sensor. Nothing seemed to help. I suspect I have a dead cylinder or little to no compression in at least one cylinder.

I don't have the time or knowledge to do a rebuild. This is my only vehicle, so I want to do a quick engine swap to minimize downtime. One of my friends is a mechanic, and he said he'd help me do the swap. There aren't any rebuilt engines available where I live, and shipping is expensive. Therefore, I'm probably going to put in a junkyard engine. What do I need to look for to know that I'm getting a good engine? There's a salvage yard advertising a few 22RE engines from $750-950. I'm guessing that I won't get to see them running before I buy. Is there any way I can test the engine to know that I'm not getting ripped off?

Dave the welder

The only real way not to get ripped off is to hear it run. Any other way is 50/50. I worked for a junkyard years ago and 9 times out of 10 even the jy has no idea what condition a motor is in. I would get a core and rebuild it if your friend can help. For $950 it better have some type of warnanty because a crate motor is like $1500.

BamaYota1

At least do a compression and leak down on the motor you have. You could have a bad valve guide on #4 that is causing your problems. A new heads cheaper than a new engine.

HighLux

Get it from a wreck. You know it was moving when it wrecked.
Never buy a motor from a car in a junkyard that has an intact body.

Co_94_PU

iTrader: (-1)

Test what you have, like others have said it might be as cheap as some head work or a new head.

Inspect the storage area and method at the salvage yard, relativly clean and indoors. No plant or animal products in the engine crevises, indicating it wasn't left in the open long term. Ask when it was pulled, how it was stored, and how long it's been stored. Ask to see inside the valve cover, look for water and check the timing chain guides. Perform a cylinder leakdown test.
Take your mechanic to look it over, to give the impression it's not a "back yard swap", and have him ask for an exchange warranty.

For the price I expect they have atleast an exchange warranty for it. Down here the unknown motors are only 225$, the 750-950 ranges gets you a known running engine. And another 3-600 gets you rebuilt or remanufactured.

Check with the local "big box" parts stores, maybe they can get a reman' engine with thier regular shipments and it won't cost you an arm and leg to have one special shipped.

timothy47129

Don't do an autozone reman they are junk. But yeah it's kinda 50/50 from a junk yard they won't let you pull the oil pan to check the bearings and won't let you pull the head to check the cylinders.now if you could find one at a pullapart you could pull the pan and head to check it out first.i wish you lived close to ky there is a celica with a 22re in it that had 180,000 miles on it at pullapart you could snag for 125 I believe with out warranty or core price added

timothy47129

Like everyone else stated I would start with what you have.go get a compression tester from your local auto parts loan a tool program and then pull all the spark plug and thread in the compression tester and hold the throttle open and give the engine a few cranks until the gauge needle won't move any higher write down the number on the gauge and check the other cylinders doing the same.them pour or squirt about a teaspoon of oil into the cylinder and check the compression again. Adding oil to each cylinder you are checking before threading the tester in.what this tells you is if the compression is higher wet with oil your rings are leaky and if the compression is the same wet as dry your valves are leaky.the oil helps temporarily seal the rings for your test.you might be surprised at what you find.if I remember right factory spec is 170psi a cylinder but that's new.so your lowest cylinder shouldn't be lower than 15% so for example if you were to get 170psi on one there shouldn't be a cylinder lower than 145psi good luck!

Chip N Sawbones

Thank you for the helpful responses. I've got a compression tester in the mail. When it gets here I'll test my truck and any engines I look at. I'm still in the planning stage of this project. It will probably be a week or so before I go get a new engine, unless a good deal pops up on Craigs.

Toyota~Boy

iTrader: (2)

Well said ole buddy

timothy47129

I forgot to ask how many miles is on yours?

Chip N Sawbones

It just turned 250,000 yesterday. That's brand new as far as I'm concerned; I used to have an '88 Camry with 286,000 and an '84 Tercel with 298,000.

toyota4x4907

Which JY has them for that? I am guessing Action Auto?

If it is either Action or MSI, I would recommend you requesting permission to see it in person still in the vehicle (if it is). I am not certain Interior Auto Salvage would let you until after they pull it. Look for rust on the rear (flywheel, back of block and head). Shine a light into each of the spark plug holes to look for cylinder rust.

I wouldnt trust Craigslist for Toyota parts. They are usually gone faster than Gonzalas. And they usually want an arm and a leg for a barely running/usable engine/part. Stupid Fairbanks

85gijunk4x4

This is what I always tell people, this is just my theory, I'm sure others will think otherwise.

The most IMPORTANT piece of an engine: The block/internals.

Sure, it may have a bad intake manifold, tps, exhaust leak, bad valve guides etc. But that stuff can be replaced fairly easily/cheap.

Your main concern is that all 4,6,8 maybe 10 cylinders move freely.

Pop off the valve cover/s, pull out the plugs, pour some oil on the head/s and down the spark plug holes. Put a ratchet on the crank pulley and rotate and rotate and rotate and rotate. Do it all day if you want too Have a friend put his/her thumb of the spark plug holes and make sure every cylinder has compression when it should. Theres no saying if it has good compression, but some is better then none

Check make sure the cam rotates good and is not worn, and all the valves, rockers lifters etc move freely and smoothly. Check the timing chain or belt, make sure that's all good, not broken, stretched, anything catastrophic

That's the main stuff right there. Depending on how good of an engine you want, check the exhaust pipes/manifold for soot or other conditions that it was running crappy before parked. Obviously, check the plugs too, that's a good indicator.

You're going to want to look down the throat of the intake, maybe even remove it completely to get a good look at the valves and inside of that intake, make sure that isn't too sooty, oily, cracked, burned all that good stuff.

Then check the dizzy, plug, wires etc. That, also could point out a problem as to why the vehicle was junked...

second to lastly, rotate the trans. If its seized of having issues, you can almost bet (but I wouldn't just to be safe) somebody junked it because of a trans problem, bot an engine problem.

My best advice? BUY AN ENGINE YOU CAN HEAR RUNNING!!

where i'm at I see plenty of Cl ads advertising a running engine still in a vehicle where the buyer is responsible for removal.

Chip N Sawbones

It's great to meet someone else from Fairbanks here. The prices I got were from Interior Auto's website. I haven't gone to any yards yet.

toyota4x4907

Hm, I wouldnt rely on their website. A few years ago their website said they had a few parts I wanted, but when I actually went in there, they didnt even have any Toyotas those parts would have been on :\. Or, their website will say they dont have them, but they actually do. They also can and do get parts from a yard down in Anchorage. Same with MSI. I bought a front diff for my Tundra from MSI but they had to ship it up from a partner yard in Washington.

Swimmerboy2112

iTrader: (2)

I say do the compression test first and go from there, as previously posted it may be something stupid that's wrong instead of the whole engine being condemned.

Chip N Sawbones

Once I get my compression tester I'll test my engine and go from there. As it's burning a quart of oil every 250 miles or so, I'm pretty sure I've got bad compression in at least one cylinder.

toyota4x4907, do you have a favorite scrapyard in Fairbanks? I've never needed to go to one here before. I miss Pick-n-Pull and their half price days.

toyota4x4907

I prefer Action Auto just because they are more lenient about scrounging through their yard yourself. Their prices are usually cheaper, too. They dont have a ton of Yotas, though. One summer 2-3 years ago I went WAAAY far to the back of their yard and found a cherry 1st gen 4Runner body, missing the engine, but was a 22R-TE at one point, and had a tree growing up through the engine bay. I dont even know if they knew it was back there. I literally had to climb OVER cars and through a hedge to get to it.
After that, its either Interior Auto Salvage or MSI, which ever is cheaper or can get the part quicker (if they have to order it). Both are okay, prices are usually similar. For prices, MSI wanted $150 for just the rear door window of my Tundra, $400-500 for the door if I wanted to replace it. And they would have had to order it from Anch or Washington state. Interior wanted $75 and had it pulled for me in an hour. Interior wanted $500 for a front diff for my Tundra but didnt have the gear ratio I needed so they would have had to order from Anch, so another $150. MSI got me one from Washington state for $500, including the shipping. So its just who ever is cheaper.