ajk11235

Hello everyone,

I recently acquired a 95 v6 4 runner with 150,000 miles from a family member. After driving it and performing a compression check I am fairly certain it has a blown exhaust valve on cylinder number 6. The symptoms are: check engine light, rough running, low power, low MPG and low compression on that cylinder. I have not experienced and over heating, steam from tail pipe or milkshake oil so I believe the head gasket is fine. I had a shop in town check valve clearances in hopes of an out of spec valve, but they told me I would need a complete head rebuild.

After tailing with this family member about the problem, he informed me that it had been this way for quite some time, so it may have been driven for 30,000 to 40,000 miles with only 5 cylinders working.

My first question is how much damage could have been done to the internal components of the engine (ie. crank shaft, pistons, ect.) durring that 40,000 miles?

Secondly, what are my next options? The way I see it I have 3;

1. Tear down the engine and have the heads rebuilt, order new gaskets from engbuilder.com and have a pretty decent car for the next few years. I spoke with a machine shop in town and he quoted me $800-$1000 to rebuild the heads. This seems very high to me, but he assured me this is what was necessary to properly rebuild them.

2. 3.4 swap. I would love to do this, I think it would be a great project and worth my time. The only issue is that my truck is a automatic and I think that severely limits my options and I do not have access to a good donor vehicle. I am also worried about cost, I am a student and do not have a ton of spare cash at the moment.

3. Sell the car and buy a better platform for future projects. This option is very enticing to me at the moment, but the car was a gift and I am hesitant to sell it unless I absolutely have to.

Am I missing an option?

My current plan was to rebuild but the $800 price tag has me rethinking my options. What do you guys think I should do?

FYI. I have never done an engine rebuild, but I am mechanically inclined and have the time/space to learn.

oldblue

i would do a leak down test to see where the low compression is coming from. no since in rebuilding the heads if the problem is in the bottom end. which i doubt it is. i would also find another machine shop, that price is too high.

scope103

What is the Code? http://personal.utulsa.edu/~nathan-b...26diagnosi.pdf Code 26 would be consistent with a bad exhaust valve (and other codes would not).

As much as I hate to admit it, Philbert determined https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...l#post52046891 he could buy a new (?) engnbldr head for less than I paid the machine shop (and at the time I thought I got a good deal).

Cyberman

My truck was run on 5 cylinders by the PO, until he blew a second cylinder.
If you're inclined, I think your first course of action would be to pull the motor and tear it down, to see what is actually going on. in my case, the bottom end was so far trashed, that I found a replacement 3.0 and started from there. I would have opted for a 3.4 swap, but the 3.0 I found was a better deal, and I ran out of patience for the 3.4 to be delivered.

You can check out my rebuild thread to see what I was up against.

ajk11235

Thank you everyone for your responses. I have a quick update:

Leak down test is scheduled for Aug 28th, I would say I am 99% sure it is a burnt valve but it will be nice to know for sure.

After calling around a bit more I think I will be able to get the heads rebuild for around $400 instead of $1000.

Right now my plan is to start tearing into the engine after thanksgiving to see how bad the damage is. If possible I will just fix the heads and possibly reroute the exhaust because it is my cheapest option. I will be keeping my eye on craigslist for a good 3.4 donor vehicle and grab one when/if it comes up. Once I have the 3.4 I will slowly rebuild it on a stand then drop it in when its ready. If the 3.0 is shot then I may be forced to do a 3.4 swap earlier then I would like.

Scope - Yes, it is a code 26. Engblilder does not make heads for the v6, I called and asked. They are able to rebuild by heads fro around $450 plus shipping. If I cant find someone I trust around me, I will be sending the heads off to them for the rebuild.

Cyberman - Thank you for the info. I have began reading through your thread, I think it will be very helpful. Now I really want to do a frame up rebuild (although I don't really need it).

JasonYota

iTrader: (1)

[QUOTE.

Right now my plan is to start tearing into the engine after thanksgiving to see how bad the damage is. If possible I will just fix the heads and possibly reroute the exhaust because it is my cheapest option. I will be keeping my eye on craigslist for a good 3.4 donor vehicle and grab one when/if it comes up. Once I have the 3.4 I will slowly rebuild it on a stand then drop it in when its ready. If the 3.0 is shot then I may be forced to do a 3.4 swap earlier then I would like..[/QUOTE]

I would like to add that you do not have to rebuild a 3.4 when you swap it. There are many of us that have just swapped but there are some that have rebuilt their 3.4 when they swapped.

ajk11235

Fair point, I suppose I would only rebuild the 3.4 if it was needed. I know this may be the wrong place to ask this, but where is the best place to find 3.4 donor vehicles? Wait for one to pop up on CL? Call local junk/salvage yard? Online auction sites? All of the above?

JasonYota

iTrader: (1)

I think I got lucky with mine. When I bought my truck I was already looking for a 3.4 I found a whole 4runner wrecked. Both were found on CL. That was back in march, I check every now and then and have yet to see another one come up for sale. I would say try and get a entire vehicle for the swap. When salvage yards pull engines they cut everything off with a torch.

Cyberman

You can try www.car-part.com as well. Look for the engine, then you can ask about getting a package deal for the rest.