nekchris

The owners manual says to do it every 60K miles, but I have had other owners plus Toyota Dealerships say it doesn't need to be done. And then sometimes there are qualifiers like if the engine is too quiet (the clickity noise goes away??) or if it fails a leak down test or a compression test or loss of power. I have the motor home version of this truck and the previous owner had it done at 52K (when they did the head gasket recall) back in 2005. I bought it in 2013 and have 94K on it.

Charchee

If you had 200,000 miles on it I'd say to leave it alone but yours is pretty fresh. I sure wouldn't do it just because I was bored. It's a fairly in-depth project that needs to be done exactly right or you'll just make things worse. Periodic inspection of the valve adjustment is a good thing but I'd say, do your research and make sure you are up to it before you try it.

nekchris

I would have to pay someone. I have many talents, but car mechanic isn't one of them. And how do I even find someone who knows how to do this correctly? On my previous truck the Toyota Dealership did such a bad job that I didn't get it off the lot before the cam shaft blew (or something to do with the cam....horrific noise and took them a week to repair). Plus I have had Dealerships just tell me that it doesn't need to be done at all....I think because these young kids don't know how.

Charchee

You see, that's just the thing. I had a very good mechanic who worked for me at a Caterpillar dealership leave and go to work at a Toyota dealership. He worked there for years and became one of their top mechanics. He ended up coming back to work for me after several years. I would ask him questions about my 3.0L engine and he would just say that they never work on them because there aren't enough of them out there and Toyota doesn't train their people on them anymore. I would bet my paycheck that, using the information on Yotatech and my Craftsman wrenches, I'm a better technician on this engine than anyone at the local dealership. That being said, I still don't adjust the valves in mine.

MudHippy

Aren't enough of them out there? Or just not enough of them in need of work? Because all they really need is the oil changed every 3-5K, and they'll run for well over 200k easily with no major issues?

Answer to the first question, BS. There's probably more out there than there are 22R-Es. Or any R series engine. Buy far one of Toyota's most popular engines.

Answers to second and third questions, unequivocally yes.

Anyways...you check them and adjust if required. If it doesn't need done it doesn't need done. You can't tell by looking at it without the valve covers off.

You don't really know much about a 3VZ-E until you've adjusted the valves on one...minimally.

Charchee

Oh, I agree completely that the 3VZ-E was one of the best engines ever built and way ahead of it's time. I've probably been through a hundred engines and this one has always impressed me in too many ways to mention. Mine has 212,000 on it and runs better than the 3.4 in my 3rd gen runner. Other than the design of the crossover pipe in the back of it, it's one of my favorites. What the guy said about there not being any left to work on just made me sick and I lost all faith in the dealership for taking that stand on it. I've done valve adjustments on mine before but never found them to be far out of spec if at all. The only reason I don't do them anymore is because I have leaking valve seals that I plan to address at some point and I'm not going back into it until I get ready to do those.
If you're going to keep it forever, go on and take a look at them. Download the procedure from the FSM and you're looking at about a half day project if you've never done it before. You only have 42K on the engine since the last adjustment. I'd at least run it to the 60K interval before I did it though.

dromomaniac

Without looking I think the timing is due at 90k miles (isn't it?), so there you go. That's a great time to check valves.

I *strongly* recommend that you 'cowboy/cowgirl up' and do this work on your own and/or with a friend. I hadn't done more than oil changes and spark plugs when I got my 3.0 and now, years later I've repaired just about every component of Toyotas, Jeeps, etc.. It's not necessarily about talent (though that helps) and more about knowledge. And knowledge is something you can acquire.

Having such low miles on that truck is a blessing. Take care of her or sell her to someone that will.

scope103

60,000 miles or every 6 years. http://web.archive.org/web/201210210.../1maintena.pdf

Unfortunately, checking the clearances isn't trivial (you have to remove the plenum), and adjusting them is harder yet (you have to replace shims; it's not just a matter of turning a nut). But just because it's hard doesn't mean you don't have to do it.

dromomaniac

Wow, it is 60k for timing, too!

Sunnuva...now I have to take a peak at the 3rz. Thanks for the guilt.