I love the "hate the 3-slow" threads, but truth be told there is nothing wrong with it. (Yeah, it could breathe a little better.) If you ever owned a 22RE and went to the 3.0 - what a nice difference! Those who are getting out of a car and going to a 4x4 with the 3.0 - sure, it seems slow. In proper tune it just does its job. It's not a powerhouse, but it pulls nice and makes very usable power. (Drive a Dakota V6 or an Xterra v6 if you want to see what usable power Ain't - that claimed 170hp doesn't arrive until just before redline, and everywhere below that they make no power at all!) At least the 3.0 makes decent power right from idle, and good torque. IT's WAY better than the 22RE I drove for 15 years, and I was happy with that engine!

But you guys who are keeping your rpms low aren't doing yourself any favors - let it rev - it likes it and you will too! Try shifting at 4000 the next few shifts - you'll like it! There is a nice (not big, mind you, but still nice) surge between 3000 and 4300 or so. Lugging it all the time isn't good for it, and it won't help your mileage either. Oh, and she shifter goes down as well as up - try a downshift on those hills and bring the revs up - it will prolong your engine life, but it will also get you up the hill faster. And those of you who have larger tires but haven't changed your gears - you have no right to complain.

I generally shift at 3000 to 3500, unless I am hitting an on ramp or going uphill or in more of a hurry, then it's 4000 or a little higher. I've revved up around 5 grand, it still makes power but the engine doesn't seem happy there, 4500 is high enough.

The newer 3.4 and OhYeSss the new 4.0 are truly more powerful, but the 3.0 still does the job just fine. Even for those with autos sucking the life out of it...

Runner - you have a problem somewhere. Could be as simple as a clogged air filter, but something isn't right.

 

my old 2nd gen with the 3.0 had no power after about 4500 rpm. i took that sucker to the red line all the time and ran strong for as long as i had it with no problems i could lay on that engine all day long.

 

Lugging a motor is way worse than revving it. Has to work much harder...

 

Thanks for you help guys. I'm going to do a tune up on it and see what happens. I know the rotor points are down to the plastic, so that can't be good. I also noticed that the timing is all the way advanced, so that could be something as well. I just replaced my tps becuause the old one was shot, but I think I need to set the new one before I can time it. I'll do a search for that. I think I might try to undo the cat and see what happends cause I'm pretty sure it's original. I have a new timing belt as well to put on so I'll make sure the cams are lined up too. I'll be sure to keep you guys posted, thanks for the help.

 

The 3.0 makes power? wow

 

3.0 and power just aren't supposed to be in the same sentence

 

I just Seafoamed my 5 cyl 3slow and now I'm burning rubber through second and getting 25 mpg!

 

Damn it I read the title to this thread and that's exactly waht I was thinking...

 

I'm betting you pick-up weighs alot less tho... there's abit of a diff frojm what I've seen between v6 PU's and Runners... More weight in a runner doesn't help whaen you've got a turd fora motor to start with.

 

Could not agree more

 

A clogged catalytic converter will cause symptoms like that. Your worn rotor won't help at all either. I have had good luck with NGK spark plugs and would recommend them.

You should be able to pull most hills on the freeway at 75+ no problem with stock tires. If you go up in size, you will need to use 4th to compensate unless you regear appropriately. My former runner had the 3.0, 5 speed, 296,000 on it and it pulled almost all the hills in San Diego in 5th gear at 80 with the AC on. It has 33's and 4.88 gears. Actually, it pulled 'em much better at 80 than at 65 due to the engine being in the peak of its torque range.

My power band was between 3000 and 4500 rpms. Torque would noticeably fall off after 4500. I did not often rev past 4500, it would rev higher but I just didn't need to do it so I didn't.

The 3.0 is a fine engine. (BTW, motors use electricity to make power, engines use heat) Many of us have had years and hundreds of thousands of miles of service with routine maintenance rarely fixing the engine. However, 3 liters is small for a truck of a 4runner's mass. Compared to a 4 liter Explorer or 4.3 liter s10 blazer, it is just plain small and therefore not fast. When mated to the automatic, the 3.0 really earned the name "3.slow" as the autos longer gearing doesn't suite the peaky torque characteristics of this engine. Most of the 90+ 4runners were autos so most people will get the impression the engine is horrible when there really is more to the equation than just the engine. (tranny gearing, diff gearing...)

I have been reading as of late anticdotal correlations between where the head gaskets fail and the exhaust cross over pipe. The feeling is the pipe, which is really very poorly designed, causes excessive heat to build up in the passenger side rear of the engine thermally stressing the gaskets and exhaust valves. Headers or having a shop rerout the exaust under the tranny could remedy this and will make the engine more powerful.

Frank

 

yep ....above 3500 rpm. when i put my new rebuilt one in i kept it below 4K for about the first 1K miles or so.

the first time i really needed to merge and kept my foot it in all the way to 5K i was surprised how hard it pulled from 3500 up through 4700 or so.


The auto in my 4runner is a diffrent story though

 

As soon as I turn the key. Some days I think the alternator has better power...

 

Hmmm I have a 3.75hp alternator! HA figure that out in amperage at 14.5vdc! hehe



This 3vze is about to get a set of cams the moment weasy2k is done with all the RD work on them!

 

LOL...only money I'm spending on this 4runner is a 5.0 swap this spring.

 

why so the furd engine can drop a valve or bend a rod? jk

 

Bumpin, I wish I had your persistence. That's the second reference to the weasy cams and I still can't find a link. Can you point the way?

 

lol...me + 3.0's= enemies. after a lengthy top end rebuild and then the bottom end knocks...i haven't even gotten on it hard in 2 years! Its not worth the thousands you have to put into it just for merely 60hp or less. and the head gasket? they should have recalled these whole motors and scrapped em..

 

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f2/262-degree-cams-coming-soon-74580/

 

"Callmej75 meet my GM friend LS2, LS2 meet my friend Callmej75!"

400hp @ 5000rpm with a 6500rpm redline
400tq @ 4000 rpm (and a tq curve flat as a ruler!)
10.9:1 CR
True flat top pistons
6.0L of meanness!!

Just need to find a totalled out 05/06 GTO

I think that would be a MOST fun swap...hehehe