I built up this little 86 4runner 22re (description in sig) around the end of December, and so far I've put about 7000 miles on it. Mainly cruising around town and driving back and forth to work. Everything went great, except exhaust issues with the old head and a tiny coolant hose that wasn't sealing good enough. New head, gasket, and cam replaced about 2000 miles ago (I know so soon?!) with no issues so far.

My concern is that the engine uses oil..about a quart every week. The truck leaves absolutely no oil spots other than the power steering but that's another problem for another day. I've changed the oil 4 times since the build so I'm keeping a good watch on the oil. My only other guess is the blow-by from the rings not being fully seated...

So to the question..how long does it take for the rings to seat properly, or are there ways to "make" the rings seat properly?

 

19 views? someone has to know how

 

How do your plugs look? Do they have oil all over them?

I put a new engine in around November and have not had to add any oil yet. I have changed it 3 times so far, but I have only about 2500 miles on the engine so far. Once I broke in the cam, I drove it like I stole it to break in the rings. I would bring it up to tempature and drive it for about 5 minutes at temp and then I would let it cool down completely. Did that 5 or 6 times and have not had a problem.

 

If your not burning the oil its probably your rear main seal. I had the same issue with my 4runner. The rear main seal was bad and was leaking oil into my transmission bell housing and getting oil all over my clutch. Changed it out and havent had an issue since.

 

I was thinking about the rear main seal but the clutch doesn't slip..there was a small groove on the back of the crank where the original seal was but I polished it down as best as I could and I haven't seen a drop on the ground..

I replaced the plugs with e3 plugs when I put the head on. The old ones were bone dry but had a lot of carbon build up on one of them. I'm hoping that was just from the bad exhaust leak I had before.

 

Here's a pic of the plugs. The top ones were new when I put it all together...maybe 5000 miles on them?
Order from left to right. 1-2-3-4.


This puzzled me..at 5000 miles this is how much carbon build up I had on the pistons. Is this normal for that many miles?


Sorry for the cell phone pics..all I had with me at the time.

 

The plugs do indicate that you're burning some oil. (they're white, plugs covered in oil are found in engines that are DONE, but maybe its amateur hour in this thread) What rings did you go with?

Even with chrome rings, they should be fully seated in less than 2,000 miles. I see that you got the Street RV head, so the head has been replaced. This should mean that the valve stem seals aren't leaking.

I would start with basics, leak down and compression test, then work your way out.

BTW, why are you running E3's? Denso or NGk should be in there, not some crap plugs

 

My clutch didnt slip at all... That's why I was so surprised. So when I put in the new motor I had the rear seal replaced and the clutch as well cause it was soaked in oil.

 

Not sure of the rings right now, it's on the paperwork at home from the engine shop. I had them order the pistons and rings when it was bored.

I was talking to my girlfriends dad about plugs and he was getting almost a full day driving after he put them in his Z71. Figured I would atleast give them a shot. I usually run only AC, which is what the old ones were.

 

E3s aren't crap plugs but I seem to recall reading that they're meant more for engines where the plugs point at the pistons and not the cylinder walls like 22Rs.

 

nice keep going

 

Toyota's and those E3's do not go together. I tried them in my Tacoma and it ran really bad like it had some kind of miss or something.....that was one of the biggest wast of money i have spent. Switched to regular NGK's and it ran perfect.

 

That is a lot of carbon on those pistons IMHO for that many miles. Also same with those plugs. But that isn't enough carbon build up for a quart a week (depending on how many miles you drive)

If you failed to properly seat the rings early on by getting hard on the engine a few times you might have a issue there but I only have experience on v8's not 22re rings. With that much oil leaking it could be more than one source of leakage.