Long story short. I tried crossing a river, and almost made it. My engine is dead, which really isn't much of a surprise. I'm planning on swapping it for a 3.4, but I first want to check some things. My truck sat in the water for close to an hour before we were able to tow it out. Once I towed it home, I blew all the water out of the engine, ran the truck for 30 miles, then the piston froze and the arm knocked a decent sized hole into the block. Before it completely died, the truck seemed to run completely fine. It ran so well, that I thought my brother was screwing with me when he called to say that it broke down. Yet, just to show that it's still a Yota, the thing still starts up every time. . . it just POURS out oil. Just to make things worse, this happened sometime in late August. Then I moved away to school, so I have barely had a chance to work on it. With Spring Break coming up next week, I'd really like to get some work done on it.

What would be the biggest problem areas that the water could've damaged? I've already changed the differential fluid, which I'll probably change again anyway. I'm not too worried about anything in the engine bay, as I can just swap anything out along with the engine. With the front of the truck being far enough out of the water, I'm hoping that the front axle is still in good condition. I've searched for a while on here, but haven't heard of many people that have had their truck sitting around this long.

 

nice job, my wife did about the same thing with mine but not as bad as u did, other then pulling the wire connections and maybe the carpet to make sure ur not rusting anything out, i would check fluids in trans and transfer case and pull rear drums to make sure nothing is rusted or binding since it has sat this long. keep us posted on ur progress....

 

Alright, thanks, that was pretty much my plan as well. I'm sure I'm going to end up ripping out the carpet and just lining the entire thing. We took a video of the water running out of it, but I've lost it somewhere on this computer. I'll try getting a hold of my friend, and see if she still has the original. I'll try to keep taking pictures, as this could end up turning into an interesting build thread

 

- Change all fluids (diffs, transfer case, transmission...)
- Remove and dry carpets.
- Rear door panel, I'm sure after sitting, there's water in your door panels.


I foresee a snorkel in your future...

 

I'd suggest getting a boat.

You won't know if anything got too wet until you swap motors.

I also removed your inappropriate picture. Please keep it clean

:wabbit2:

 

Alright, guess it's really just going to be about tearing everything apart and looking closely. I do definitely need to remember to check out the doors and tailgate, I hadn't really thought of them getting filled.


Sorry Wabbit, I didn't realize that counted as inappropriate.

 

Finally out of school and at home for the summer. I started pulling everything apart, surprisingly the rear axle looks and sounds perfect. The real problem is, living in Southwestern PA, the rust has not been too kind to the vehicle. There is a 3.4 engine from a T100 with 102,000 miles for $800. I'm still going to school next year, so I'm worried about this costing too much and the SUV just rusting out in a year or two. So I crawled under it, and took some pictures. I figured I might as well ask you guys what a swap will usually cost, or anybody's thoughts on the rusting frame. I know the pictures aren't great, but it's surprisingly tough for me to get pictures from under the vehicle.

Frame above exhaust


Above where gas tank would be.


Another above the driver's side rear coil.


Not entirely sure here, I think driver side, because I can see the tire in the back.





Frame going back the driver's side.


I'm guessing this thread should be moved to the 3.4 Swap section soon.

 

Looks just fine to me.
Steel gets rusty.
Wire wheel and primer/paint any rust.

I don't see anything that's structurally un-sound. But that's me.

 

Thanks. That's what I was thinking too, my dad's just been on me about the rust is too bad, and it was starting to get to me too. So this was mostly just some reassurance to keep working on the swap.