Daniellelauren4

So a little background: I am a female who loves trucks and crawling. I bought my 95 runner from a chick for 2900. I tested it and everything seemed great. Interior and exterior are perfect. Came from a huge Yota loving family, was sick of Fords.. So I trusted it would be pristine. Well I was told by my mechnic that the 3.0 v6s were awful engines. I just shook it off and was like whatever it's fine.. It smogged, passed with flying colors, THEN it started burning oil.. horrible plumes of white smoke when i sat and idled in construction which is everywhere in Lake Tahoe. On a side note the manual transmission lost 5th gear, reverse and went crazy. Fixed that with a dealership whole stick assembly.

Moved to the city in central California and I am ready to ditch the 3.0. I was just wondering if the 22r would just fit right where the 3.0 was, meaning fit the transmission and all of that good stuff. Choosing that because 20 mpg would be awesome. I'd happily accept any comments on the 22r or the 3.4 t100 V6 of the same year.

I tried to find a forum with similar info but I didn't see it so forgive me if there was. First time.

RJR

The white smoke sounds like you might have lost the headgasket. Both the 3.0 and the 22re had issues with that in the early 90's, primarily due to Toyota removing the asbestos from the head-gasket and taking a few tries to get the new formula right. In reading this and other forums, it's not clear if the actual incidence of HG failure is higher in the 3.0 vs. the 22re, but people like to claim it is.

The 3.0 is harder to work on, but has more power than the 22re. The 22re will likely get better mileage. Decide what's important to you there. As far as basic mechanical reliability (oil consumption, valves, etc.), I don't think there's much difference. Both routinely run well over 200K miles without issues. The valves are harder to adjust on the 3vze.

Any engine swap gets considerably harder when you change engine types in the process. I'm pretty sure you can put a 22re in place of a 3.0, but I don't think the transmission is a simple bolt-on. I think you'll need an adaptor or two. You'll also need a different ECU and engine wiring harness.

I notice you mentioned the 22r, not the 22re. The 22r is a carbureted engine last manufactured in the '80's, and unless you really like carburetors for some reason, I would stay with something more modern.

There are a couple of forums on Yotatech devoted purely to engine swaps - do some reading there. The 3.4 swap is popular, but is a fairly significant undertaking. Check the subforums here https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f89/

JasonYota

iTrader: (1)

I'd go toward a 3.4 for the best engine to swap in with ease. All depends if you can do work your self, if not it may be cheaper to just buy another vehicle

Daniellelauren4

My fiancé is a certified mechanic. But he's a ford guy so doesn't know much at all about toyotas. I really like the idea of a 3.4

Dingotech

The 3.0 isn't such a bad engine so long as it's properly maintained (having a manual tranny is a huge plus!). If all you need is a head gasket, I say go for it and give the engine a chance to grow on you before dumping the scratch needed to replace it with a different engine. Where in the Central Valley are you? I was in Merced until recently. Good luck!

Gevo

look into crate engines, keep the 3.0 unless you are ready to do a lot of work yourself (or fiance).

JasonYota

iTrader: (1)

Think long and hard about keeping the 3.0 there are so many post on here about people asking "rebuild or replace?" Going against most and rebuilding it then to have it sling a rod or a head gasket let go and wishing they would have listened to everyone and swapped when they had the chance.

Gevo

Although my rebuild has been good to me. If i did it again I would go a different engine route as well. 3.4 or the 1uzve (did i get that right?) .

donomite49

do the 3.4 swap, easy with an ORS or toy only swaps harness.

nothing against the 3.0, but the 3.4 is the only v6 compared to the 22r imo.

bswarm

If you're in California and have to get a biennial smog check then you're pretty much limited to whatever engine was available in your year and make of Toyota. That also means you can't rip all the smog controls out of it. It sucks, I had to get rid of a perfectly good van that couldn't be smogged because of a high performance engine I put in it.

Swim

California air resource board will limit what you can put in there. There are a few companies that will swap a 3.4 in there and somehow get it to pass.
I would look up Denny's auto machine and buy a crate motor from them. That is the closest I have found to what I had in my last 4Runner.
Honestly the 3.0 isn't a terrible motor if it is well maintained.

JasonYota

iTrader: (1)

Good points. There are plenty of guys on here from Cali that have swapped different engines, just more work than the rest of us.

donomite49

i used to live in CA, you had to use the same year or newer engine as the vehicle and keep all the smog stuff from the engine you swap. then you can get an exemption or certification from a smog referee.
worth the trouble over the 3.slow...

offroad solutions (ORS) or toy only swaps do this coversion and/or sell kits to do it yourself.

bswarm

A ford tech brought in a Ford Ranger to our shop to show us his dealer installed V8 conversion. Even though it wasn't an option, it had all smog compliance and even an underhood California emissions label. Never saw anything like it before or after. So, I guess there's a way. I was always under the impression that it had to be an option, I guess if the dealer does it it's an option.

Robert m

iTrader: (2)

Rangers are a pretty easy swap because explorers used somewhat of the same chassis and they had a v8 option.

Doing a legal 3.4 swap in california isn't impossible. I have 2 friends that have done it and had them both inspected to pass smog legally. But like previously said, you have to have ALL the emissions equipment from the engine donor vehicle and it all has to be working and the engine has to be the same year or newer to be legal.
So doing a 22R swap would be kind of a step backwards and not road legal you will also not see 20mpg from it.
With your 4runner being a 95, you might run into issues doing a 22RE swap because that was the cutoff year for when the pickup was ended and the tacoma with the 2rz/3rz came out.
If it was mine, I would have the 3.0 fixed or replaced with another 3.0 and save up for doing the 3.4 swap if more power was desired.

Daniellelauren4

Well the cool thing is my vehicles are registered in the north Lake Tahoe area where it's smog once and done. My dodge will never smog anywhere lol. So we decided to rebuild it.. Kit showed up today. I appreciate all of the advice from you guys. I mean I've been driving with the 3.0 when its been ˟˟˟˟ty. I'm excited to see how it does all sealed properly!