njaimmusic

Hi. New here. Lurked awhile as I've been trying to learn things, but never posted due to supreme lack of knowledge.

My 2000 4Runner 2.7l 4-cylinder has been throwing the code P0301 for a misfiring cylinder 1. I figured it was nothing too major (hoped), but because we were in a hurry, I took it into a shop instead of trying to diagnose and replace plugs and everything myself. We've worked with this shop before and they seem genuine, have given us price breaks when they took longer than they should have, etc.

They're telling me that there is a 45% exhaust leak, and when they checked the gaskets, these didn't seem to be the serious problem (old and worn but able to be tightened?). Plugs were old and needed replaced, but nothing suggested this was the original cause.

At first they suggested it may be best to change the cylinder heads, but they could inspect it fully until they'd gotten it apart enough to check the gaskets. Then they've suggested that it may not be worth the trouble due to difference in pressure between the top of the engine and new cylinders on top with the bottom of the engine (how he put it). That ultimately, the difference in pressure would likely make the rest of the engine die sooner, and that the best route to go is drop a new engine in (at the tune of $4500), which they also suggested against just because of the price compared to the value of the 4Runner. It didn't seem to be an up sell or anything of that nature, and they said they very well would still be willing to replace the cylinder heads but advised that it would likely become a problem again soon because the rest of the engine has 200k miles on it. The exhaust leak apparently is getting into the second cylinder as well, though I've had no codes pop for this misfiring or anything. They said these motor were notorious for these problems later in their mileage life, and a replacement motor would probably do the same thing sooner or later.

I'm sure I'm missing some important detail.

The better half thinks it wise to get a second opinion before calling it a lost cause. I wanted to do some research to determine if it was a common problem and what others thought, but I can't seem to find anything specifically about this motor or my year 4Runner. I'm sure it's there, I just haven't been able to find it.

So does anyone know anything about this type of problem, if it's worth fixing it at all, or if fixing the cylinder head would indeed cause pressure issues? Any resources or personal experience would be greatly appreciated. I'm really hoping not to drop another few hundred bucks just on diagnostics, which seems to be the normal around the Sacramento downtown area.

dropzone

iTrader: (6)

my next door neighbor's 98 Tacoma with the 3RZ (2.7) has 410,000 miles on it. it has only had normal maintenance done to it.

Did they do a compression check and give you the results on the 4 cylinders?

Twice you have mentioned cylinder heads as plural as in more than 1...typo or? the 2.7 only has the one so I hold they weren't trying to sell you two heads..

A replacement motor if built correctly had better not have problems for a long time. Do you plan on keeping this thing for another 200K? throwing codes also kills resale. All depends on what you want to do..new engine could make that issue go away but everything else- transmission, axle bearings etc all have high miles and will eventually require work

wyoming9

iTrader: (1)

This is one of those things If you can do the work yourself with no pressure and if it takes a few weekends

200,000 like Dropzone said the rest of the vehicle is going to need some major work .

The new head on a old bottom end is pretty valid I have had Quite a few Old School Toyota Techs tell me the same thing on the 22R series engines

It comes down to put the money in this vehicle if your doing the engine may as well bring the rest up to speed.

Sell this as is put that money into something else.

Comes down to what makes the most sense to your budget and cash flow

75w90mantraN

IMHO, spend the 4500 on another vehicle (used), so you can have less pressure to fix it yourself. It all comes down to everything above and how bad do you really want to keep the Toy going. 2nd opinions a waste money in my book, especially if you trust the shop you've been with.
But tell the other half that you consulted with 2nd opinions here and the cost was free!
Otherwise, time to start looking for that dream car/truck! Good luck!

Keeping stuff running costs money in the long run, but spreads it out over time....is the way I like to think. Or just buy newer and spend more upfront but less mechanical worry for now.