I hate to beat a dead horse here, but I want you guys' advice on a rig I am looking at. It is a 1990 4Runner with the 3.0 engine. The timing belt, water pump, and head/head gasket have been replaced and the truck has an impeccable maintenance history. It has 186,000 miles.

I can get a really good deal on it, but I am leary about this 3.0. Are people still loyal to this engine or do they all have to be swapped eventually? I don't care about gas mileage or power; I want reliability.

I've done some searches, and found a lot of different opinions. I guess I just need to hear a few more...

 

heard that the 2.4 4 banger is a much better engine than the 3.0
by buddy has a 3.0 and has swapped 2 engines in the last 4 years, and im still on my stock...

 

I've never worked on the V6 model but I know it's not fun, there's hardly any room in the engine bay. It's more powerful than the 22RE but it's still underpowered and the 22RE is worse. No one can deny the reliability of the 22RE and I'm sure the V6 is good too. What ever makes you more happy.

 

Who has been doing the work?
Do you know if the HG failed, and then was replaced?
What machine work was done when the HG was replaced?

I had the 3.0 and only problem I had was with the power and MPG. So should be perfect for you.

For me, it was very reliable... never let me down, just underpowered and hard on gas. But I was pushing a SAS with 35" tires all over AZ and UT. I swapped to a 3.4 because it is relatively easy and cheap thing to do. If you start with a 22RE, a 3.4 or other swap will be much more involved.

If the 3.0 has been well maintained and had the HG replaced with a quality job, I think you'll be in good shape for a long while.

 

Hey Elvolta, whats up?

I saw your 4runner driving on the freeway towards scottsdale a couple weeks ago. Looking good!


And on the 3.0L i have one, 250,000 miles and just did a compression test and it still has 150 psi on all cylinders. Runs good. For some reason though, and im not complaning, my mpg's went up a little after i put my lift on!!

I average 17-20 city, and don't do much highway. Now i live in the mountains so i do a bit of coasting downhill, but anyhow been a good engine, except for a minor fire and still has original head gaskets and what not.

 

Hey Elvota.

Did you ever sell your front chrome bumper?? I think I bought it from you. You live in Scottsdale?

 

I'll take it that you are referring to my truck... although I did get a new haircut recently.

I did sell my chrome bumper a while back. Memory probably fails, but there is a good chance we met if you bought one from some guy in Scottsdale with a gold 4Runner.

 

Hey whats funny about it, is you were going the opposite way, and the thing that caught my eye was that green anti-axle wrap bar you put on there, then i saw the goldness of the runner and then the wrinkled sheet metal, and i went, ah i've seen that truck before!

 

Yes... the 3.4 powered Golden Meteorite does tend to stick out in the Scottsdale crowd.

 

I remember you, I got your bumper on my 91'. You gave me a tour of your gold 4Runner. I wish I have a 3.4 like you, that was cool.

 

Haha, yea ill bet.

We don't live up there, too bad right? (don't we all wish we had money like the people in scottsdale??)



/threadjack:



Back to the OP, yes the 3.0 is okay, but the 3.4 is much better and is always an option for a swap.

 

I have 238,xxx and still going but it is a gas hog 70 miles to a 1/4 tank rolling on 35x12.5's with 5.29 and a 5 speed. I will be doing a super charged 3.4 very soon(with in the month hopefully) because the price of the swap is almost the same as a rebuild of the 3.0 that said I will have to say it has been very reliable and never let me down just do the tune ups and oil changes regularily and you should have no problem getting another 50-70,000 out of that motor and save up for the 3.4 swap I don't think you can go wrong.

 

i have a 1990 Toyota Surf with the 3.0 in it and i havent had any problems with it yet, its only got 110,000 kilometers on it so far and the only thing i have had to replace is the powersteering pump, but it was my fault it broke. It seems fairly easy to work on and gas mileage isnt that bad, but then again my other vehicle back home is a gas guzzling Nissan Titan...When the ECT button is engaged its got enough get up and go to keep me satisfied, i think its a overall good truck/engine....

 

The rest is true though. I will give you that. Aside from the headgasket the 3.0 is a reliable motor. If you want more than that Like gas mileage and performance you better look into a 3rd gen. Pulling my 3.0 out was actually more of a pain in the ass than putting in the 3.4.

 

Luckily i havent had the Headgasket problem yet(Knocks on Wood) so i guess you are absolutely right about that, i am sure that once it goes i will have a totally different attitude on working on the 3.0....

 

So, it seems that as long as you maintain the 3.0 and don't drive it like a race car, it lasts.

 

Yeah, that seems to be the general consensus, but I am a wrencher and I keep hearing what a bitch these are to work on. I love the body style of these 4runners, but I just don't know if I want to wheel with my family in the mountains if I don't trust the engine 100%. Damn...I don't know what to do!

Thank you guys for the input.

 

I'm pretty sure you'll know when the 3.0 is going to go. The PO of my truck ran it with 5 cylinders, and I heard the horrendous noise it made 2 days before it died. The PO didn't seem to care enough any more about keeping it alive. It seems to me, if you are aware of how your vehicle runs, you'll have no problems detecting something when it starts to go wrong. And, working on the 3.0 isn't that bad. I've pulled and installed the engine twice, and did it 2 different ways both times. If you start learning about how it all fits together, it's not difficult. I've worked on worse.

 

It depends how well you look after the motor. I get 125rwhp and it is capable of 25 highway MPG. I can launch at 2200RPM perfectly. So as long as you take care of the motor, baby it, and dont mash the pedal every time.