Chuki

90' Runner, 3.0... Suffers from low oil pressure. Problem is that it runs like a frigging dream! Does not burn a drop of oil, doesn't leak it anywhere, great gasmileage, I get about 22 on the highway, and about 17 in town. Has good power (for the 3.0 anyway).

It just has low oil pressure, and low enough that when the oil gets up to operating temp, the rotating assembely is audible. I don't have hardly any cash whatsoever. And I've been talking to a few people down at the dealer, and they seem to think that its headgasket damage. When they punched up my VIN they couldn't find whether the gaskets had been done or not. They assumbed they had been done, since I have 156k miles. A buddy is gonna get me a number to call someone at toyota motor co. to see if maybe I can get something out of it, if it indeed is damage from headgasket failure.

Anyone have any advice on maybe I can plead my case, or maybe why I have low oil pressure? I don't understand how it could just be normal engine wear, it runs excellent.

And when I say low oil pressure, at an idle after getting warmed my guage reads about 1/2 way to the 1st mark. So about an 1/8th way up on the gauge, going down the freeway it reads a shade under the 1st mark. So not quite a 1/4 up on the guage. Unless its something else? Bad oil pump? Blocked oil ports?

rimpainter.com

Well no matter what, if they cant prove whether or not the HG's have been done - and you are eligible, then they need to do the service. They get about 80% of the labor charges from Toyota, so what's their problem?

Are you sure the oil gauge is working correctly? That would be my first test.

Chuki

I'm not positive the guage is working correctly. The guage wire was ripped when I got it, I thought it was a bad sender. Got under there found the problem, I didn't have enough room to work the wire that was given, so to make it easier I extended the wire about 3"s, and use one of them screw terminals (place the twires inside and twist it) and thats when I changed my oil, and started hearing a little engine noise. That wasn't there before.

I'm not looking for a new engine, I'm just looking to bandaid this one for a little while longer. The whole reason I bought this was so I could park my 82' and start working on it.

rimpainter.com

Get the HG's done and have the oil press gauge tested. My .02

Chuki

Toyota dealer can't tell me if they have been done or not. Thats why I'm trying to find out who I can call at Toyota to see if I can get anymore info.

AbramHart

My 4 runner has low oil pressure at idle speed. It has a brand new engine in it. One thing you could do is change your oil and add one bottle of Lucas Oil Stablizer in place 1 quart of oil. This should help.

mt_goat

Here is the Toyota case line #(800) 331-4331. One little tip when reading the letters in your vin# over the phone say Victor instead of "V", David instead of "D" etc. They will tell you if your truck is part of the recall or if it has already been done by a PO they will tell you that too.

dogdenii

Toyota Motor Corp.

800-331-4331
800-443-4999 for TDD
6:00 AM - 6:00 PM Pacific Time, Monday - Friday


Mailing Address:
19001 S. Western Ave.
Dept. WC 11
Torrance, CA 90509-2991

Chuki

Thanks I'm getting on the phone now.

Well I'm not eligable for the compaign.

All they could tell is that I can get some A/C components fixed that are in re-call. Thats about it. They did say they'll inform me if a compaign does come out.

Babypig

At idle these engines can have as little as 4 pounds of oil pressure. I was worried when i first got mine as well, but after having the head gaskets done, the oil pressure was still low. Try going to 20-50 oil. Mine has done cross country trips and I've had no problems yet. You should have pressure over the first white line on the gauge when driving though.

Chuki

See above post about my call


I might try that. I was thinking of going to a 15w40. is that what you run???

Whats your guage read at idle?

amusement

Oil pressure gets low on idle but, I truly enjoy the high volume oil pumps.

20-50w synthetic for long trips works very very well.

4Paws

I'm running 15W40 synthetic and at idle its over 1/2 way to the first mark.
With dino oil 10W30 I was having the same oil pressures as you're seeing.

Chuki

You guys reccomend going to maybe a 15w40 or 20w50 amsoil in it? When I had amsoil in it, I didn't notice any leaking really. Just the noise and low oil pressure. I dumped 30W in it, and it's pretty much just the same.

Thanks for anyhelp. Maybe before I go back to a synthetic, I'll run dyno oil and see how that goes.

AverysDad

the only way to be sure is to get an aftermarket oil pressure guage that you can thread into the stock oil pressure hole and take some readings. the stock oil guage is not all that accurate.

then youll be sure.

btw............mine has been reading low for years and ive got no premature wear problems.........i wouldnt be all that worried if i was you.

Chuki

Oh and thanks! I'm not feeling so ripped off about my purchase now. I was originally intending on buying a 4-Runner with the 22RE, since I've torn apart many of those enignes, know where the powers at. Plus I have alotta parts for them lying around the house. But I hopped into a V6 auto, and hated the power, then into this one with a 5speed, and fell in love with it, has decent power, decent mileage. And it rides very nice and for having A/T style tires actually goes fairly decent offroad.

I'm not looking at getting another 100K miles oughta this at all. I bought it so I could work on my 82' finish getting it lifted, geared, and locked. Do a little more engine work, and thats all the time I want oughta my Runner. But it seems like I may have plenty of life left in it.

Bumpin' Yota

My 3.0 has 246,000 miles on it right now, so I think that you will get another 100k out of it if you try. Mine has good power and EXCELLENT gas milage. All pending the new 2.25" exhuast and turbo muffler that I had put on last week...

I use 10w40 dino, and the oil pressure seems normal. Also no headgasket swap here. I think it was one of the first 2nd gens in this area when they came off of the production line.

Mike Ricotta

I was working on a Tacoma and the complaint was the oil pressure gauge would read almost 0 psi. Off idle or cold pressure was fine on gauge. I tapped into the filter housing with my pressure gauge and sure enough it read almost 4 psi. Sounded low to me so I did research and at idle with no load and at operating temp oil pressure should be between 2-6psi. It’s only at idle when it reads this low.
also be careful when using 20w-50 or 15w-40 oil. If you have variable valve timing it would be too thick to flow through servo quick enough.
lastly the 2.7 is a decent motor as long as you use 91 octane.....which it recommends. The previous owner used 87 for almost 160k and it caused it to run rough and set random misfire codes. The lower octane fuel caused lower compression in 3 cylinders due to intake valves/valve seat to burn up so is 91