justanother4x4

New guy here, just bought a 88 toyota 4x4 with v6 and 5 speed. Cool truck but I have some questions. The truck is pretty well maintained and I bought it from the orginal owner who used it to transport her dogs everywhere. (thats why there is a home made cage in the back) Truck has 200k on it and runs perfect and has recent clutch, t belt, and brakes done. But its got a nice size oil leak. the valve cover gasket is leaking, the left side looks easy but the right one looks like it might give me some problems. Does the intake manifold split in 2 pieces? Upper and lower? ANy tips on replacing that gasket? How much life can i expect from this motor on average for the 3.0 v6?

wimpywade94

i dont have any first hand experience with the 3.0 so ill just tell you a few things i do know, its a dog motor, lots of people are unhappy with power output, but i tell them to take my runner and try to break 50 up any kind of hill and laugh, i wish i had it right now, and another thing, that engine is clean as can be. very nice.

good job on getting the yoter, now lock your wallet away or the bug will bite ya and youll lose all forms of extra money.

wade

Ilovemountains

Man Im jealeous.. mines an automatic :cry: My valve cover gaskets started to leak a while back too. I didnt have the time to do the work myself since the 3.0's intake has to come off to change them so I took it to the stealership and had them done along with the H20 pump and the timing belt. Nice truck though, its the same color as mine only Ive got the extra cab.. I really wish I had the 5 speed though! Let me know if you have any questions I may be able to help, Ive had my 88 3.0 for many years now and have done 95% of all of the work to it myself!

Ilovemountains

Im a little burned out right now Yours is an extra cab.. I didnt thing Toyota offered the 3.0 extra cab with a 5 speed in 88.. huh thats sweet!

Ilovemountains

I’ve seen the 3.0 "properly maintained" and not beat last over 300,000. If you run the crap out of it you may have problems, but you just bought a 1988 with 200,000 miles so I’m sure you’re not going to be running 5,000 rpms and snagging 2nd gear with it so you shouldn’t have any problems. I run full synthetic oils and keep my ignition tuned up and clean “cap, rotor, wires and plugs”. I also have a full K&N intake.. I want to eventually install a set of headers but cant hack it now after buying the new fiberglass bed. Keep the fluids flushed and clean and don't pound it and you shouldn’t have any problems. A friend of the family bought hers in 1989. It was an extra cab V6 auto 2wd. She used it to commute to and from school for YEARS, like 100 miles each way daily, how she was able to afford to put gas in it is beyond me. Anyway her son totaled it at 267,000 miles but it was still running strong. They only followed the maintenance schedule in the book, nothing more.. they didn’t even keep it clean, it was actually quite nasty but always ran. So to answer your other question you should be fine with a little preventive maintenance and common sense! There were a lot of head gasket failures on the 3.0 but our early ones were not part of the problem years...

mtnfreak

Nice ride! If it runs as good as it looks, you'll be happy with it for a long time. I don't think my engine bay has looked that clean since the truck rolled off the boat!
As for the valve cover gaskets - figure at least half a day. The intake chamber is only a few inches thick, so that's not a problem. All of the crap attached to it is a pain. Label both sides of everything that has to come off. Do a thorough inspection of what you can see before you start the project - order any parts that look like they'll crack or tear so you don't get stuck with any unexpected problems. Change out the PCV valve, grommet and hose while you're under there. Be very carefull with any wiring - don't make any sharp bends - wires can get brittle from sitting on top of a hot engine for 17 years. You should also consider replacing all of the fuel injector seals while you're under there (they're cheap - max $50 for all 6) since they are probably hard and brittle and likely to leak with any jostling. Heck, if you can deal with the downtime, pull the injectors and send them out for a professional cleaning. Follow the directions to the letter when it comes to installing the valve cover gaskets and applying sealant. Clean the cam seals on the front and back so you can tell where any future leaks are coming from.
Good luck &, again, nice score.

justanother4x4

thanks for the compliments, i paid 2400 for it this afternoon in austin tx. I also have a little rust on the bed above the tires, any soulitions to that besides cutting anf welding a new piece. Also, is a 2wd truck tail gate the same as a 4x4?

YotaJunky

Welcome to the board,

Here's a write up on how you can do your own valve cover gasket repair:

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/show...e+cover+gasket

Troy

xSLICKx

That truck is sweet. The cage is awsome, I hope that you leave it on. It will come in handy when you need a place to throw all the girls you'll be gettin' now that you drive a yota'.

xSLICKx

The guy who created chain link fence is simply a genious.