xentrino

I'm dropping a remanned 3VZE engine in my 94 4runner today. My question is, what is the best way to prime it? The place that sold me the engine said not to prime it by cranking the engine b/c it will damage it, but my manual says to crank it.

Also, is there a way to set the timing before start-up? It seems to me that the timing should be fairly close before the initial start up but I don't know how to accomplish that. I would appreciate any other advice you wise yotatech members may have as this is my first (and hopefully last) engine replacement.

silversup

I do not see the reason why you should not crank it over. Just make sure that you fuel system and ignition system are disengaged. The fuel will wash the oil off of the cylibder walls. If you are anal, you can just crank it over by hand will a breaker bar and socket. Usually you will start the engine after the oil pressure gauge begins registering some oil pressure. Here is a link to the 93 online manual. It will have the procedure for bringing the engine to TDC and how to break in an engine. Everybody has their own way of breaking in an engine though. Good luck.

http://personal.utulsa.edu/~nathan-buchanan/93fsm/

AH64ID

I would disconnect fuel and spark, and take the spark plugs out (to reduce load) then spin the starter until you have oil pressure.. hook it all back up and fire... Dont forget the usual cam breakin of 1600-1800 rpm for the first 30 minutes...

SInce its a reman you probally have the valve covers off... pour lots of oil on there.. fill it that way.. cover the cam and rockers...etc... I am not sure how the oil filter on the 3.slow is but if you can fill it all or part way to let oil pressure build sooner....

xentrino

Thanks for the advice. I didn't get as far as I had hoped today so I didn't get to priming the engine. Maybe later this week...

xentrino

Thanks for the link to the online manual; what an awesome resource! However, I can't find where it talks about breaking in the engine. Can you point me to the section or page?
Thanks

silversup

I could not find it either. I have to check my 95 manual. in the meantime:

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/show...ighlight=break

95RunnerSR5

i have heard many diffrent ways to break the engine in since i put a reman 3.0 in my truck a few months ago and the most common way was to drive it fairly hard , not flooring it tho. this way the piston rings get a good seat or somethin like that...anyways, 4 months after break in and i'm still running great

MonsterMaxx

There's no way to spin the oil pump w/o spinning the crank. The oil pump is driven off the front of the crank, not the distributor like a SBC.

Turning the engine slowly will do nothing. The oil pump needs speed to do anything.


Just make sure you at TDC when you put the distributor in. Make sure everything is right so it fires on the first pop and start it. Get it to 2000 rpm and hold it there.

The engine builder should have used assembly lube putting it together and this'll take care of lubrication in those first few moments.

What you don't want to do is dick around trying to start it multiple times while you're figureing out which plugs you have hooked up right and wrong. Get it right so it fires on the first try.

xentrino

How long should it take for the oil pressure to start to register on the gauge? I spun the starter for 60 seconds or so (until the battery gave up) and the gauge never moved. I can use my other truck and some jumpers to keep the juice flowing but it would be good to know about how long I should spin it before assuming there's a problem.

yota_krazy

if you unplugged the ecu to cut out fuel then that also takes out your oil pressure guage. That is what happend to my buddy when we installed a reman in his truck. It shouldnt take longer than 30-45 seconds to build oil pressure.

KMoses

[QUOTE=AH64ID;1008646]I would disconnect fuel and spark, and take the spark plugs out (to reduce load) then spin the starter until you have oil pressure.. hook it all back up and fire... Dont forget the usual cam breakin of 1600-1800 rpm for the first 30 minutes...:good

You need to flow the oil w/o loading the components i.e. removing the plugs. Running the engine hard immediately after getting it back on the road is like asking for

AH64ID

Explain that a little better??

In case it wasnt clear what I was saying.. Remove the spark plugs, run the starter for 30 or so seconds. There wont be a big load so the enigine should spin quickly, allowing oil pressure to build. Then when you fire it, you immeadiatlly go to 1600-1800 RPM's, for 20-30 minutes. This is how you get the cam to break in. If you dont run it hard right away is how you as for trouble.

Here is a quote from Ted aka engnbldr

We find it is best to run the engine at 1500 to 2000 RPM for at least 20-30
minutes. The rocker arm is a slide follower, the idea is to keep lots of
oil up there until they bed in.
Ted

xentrino

What I am hearing is that the engine should have oil pressure after spinning for approx 60 secs. The gauge hasn't moved so now it's on to troubleshooting. I obviously can't test the oil pressure yet so how can I test the oil pressure sending unit and gauge. I've looked in the FSM and it doesn't cover that.

AH64ID

i dont beleive the gauge has power when your cranking, and will loose pressue as soon as you stop cranking.. it really only has enough pressue to move oil, not really enough to register. Remove your oil filter and see if its full... take off the valve cover and see if oil is up there.. buy a mechanical gague to screw into the pressure sensor port and test that.. but the first two are free and will tell you if you have oil everywhere..if its at the head you have it everywhere

xentrino

Thanks for the suggestions, John, but thankfully the issue is resolved. Unfortunately, I don't know exactly what fixed it. I bought a new battery, found a vacuum tube that had come loose, and a bolt on the oil pump that wasn't torqued quite enough.

The gauge starts moving almost immediately now. Thanks again for everyone's help.

DudeBud

sounds like Ted is talking about an r series motor not a 3vze. most reman 3vze use old cams and the cams sit on top of the valve springs, there are no followers but still its a good way to first fire any motor..

Bigblock

Ya'll make a big deal out of nothing,wire it and fire it.If oil pressure don't come up quickly,then switch it off and check it out.Toyota oil pumps are bullet proof,if oil is in the pan it should have pressure by the time you crank it.

AH64ID

Yeah thats an r sereies he is refering too, but I always thought it was the same for anything with a new cam. Didnt know most remans use old cams, but it makes sence.