I recently bought a 95 4Runner SR5. The previous owner starved the engine of oil for about 15 minutes. I am not opposed to replacing the engine, though for costs sake is a rebuild possible in this situation? The engine runs without a problem other than a loud ticking noise upon acceleration and higher rpms. I drove it 150+ miles to get it back home without a problem. I am looking for some advice from more experienced people, would an engine rebuild be worth it or will I still run into problems down the road?

 

I would just order a jdm engine with low miles and keep it on standby for when this one fails

 

Adjust the valves. Then make sure you don't overtighten the valve cover. Fingertight + half a turn is a ok. (If too tight, rocker arms might hit it.
22-RE always tick. So don't worry.

I would just drive it. It will be just fine.

 

There is no way to know the damage done without atleast pulling the oil pan and inspecting. Odds are it spun a rod bearing, this means that connecting rod will no longer lubricate properly and is just wearing down your crankshaft and filling your oil with metallic debris which causes extra wear on the oil pump and can plug your oil filter. Once your oil filter reaches a certain lack of flow the oil pressure bypass opens and its going to pump this metal laden oil through the whole motor.

 

Which engine? Starved for oil - as in no oil in the sump, zero oil pressure indicated, low oil pressure warning light, engine temp climbing into the red, etc.; how did previous owner know engine was starved for oil? I assume that a 150 mile trip would have been including highway speeds and thoroughly warmed engine

Sure you can recondition the engine. Whether it would be worth it depends on how much work and how many parts and how many hours. Depends on multiple factors. To assess the condition of the engine internals requires a tear-down. My gut feeling is that you can just drive it. My luck, i'd over think it and go through the hassle of remove engine and tear-down only to find nuthin' busted or worn sufficient to require work.

I'd change oil and filter and have the oil filter opened to check for bad stuff...grey goop, shavings, etc., if you have the filter that was on it when the oil situation occurred. An oil analysis of the oil for bearing material would be useful too. Ya' just have to do due diligence and cost/benefit analysis before you do anything. my $0.02

 

I agree with 94_Co_PU. Oil starvation is never good, and the fact that you have an abnormal engine noise isn't good either. A rebuild sounds pretty likely, as long as there is no catastrophic damage to the engine block.

Just curious, why try to find a low mile 3VZ-E (or what ever engine is in this 4Runner, we don't know right now) in Japan and import it?

That seems like it might cost more than it is worth.