I just recently purchased my 94 4Runner about 3 weeks ago. The PO did the HG under warranty at 62K. Then at 119K it blew again and they put in a new short block and did a valve job for a total $4084.....ouch. At 143K they put in a used Japanese engine which I recently found out to be a 92 motor. I bought the vehicle with 166K miles on it. They provided me with all the receipts and had the vehicle maintained at a Toyota dealer. When I went through the receipts, I was amazed they only got about 24K out of a factory motor installed by the dealer. I just hope I have better luck then they did.

Jeff

 

I just wanted to bump this old thread to show you guys that the numbers don't lie....the majority of folks have not had any HG issues with their 3VZE...

 

I have an 88 4 Runner with the 3.0L. I don't know how many previous owners my truck has had, but with nearly 230,000 miles, I have had no problems with mine.

 

Those early 3.0s had the good asbestos HGs. It was the later ones that didn't hold up.

 

My 94 is on it's second head gasket repair. The PO said the HG's were replaced under recall around 140,000. I bought the 4runner cheap because the HG's were blown again at 165,000. The heads were screwed up and shouldn't have been re used. I put on another set of good heads, and all is well after 3K miles. Keeping my fingers crossed. I have owned 3 other vehicles 1991 4 runner, 1995 4 runner, 1994 pickup all with the 3vze and had no HG issues with any of those. I had the 1991 for about a year and put about 18K on it, it had 220,000 when I sold it, don't know if the HG's were ever done by any PO. I bought the 1995 from a friend and sold it to another friend and in those 5 1/2 years it had no HG issues. I put alot of miles on it and sold it with 170,000 to my friend, he had it for another year then sold it, but no issues. The 1994 truck was bought without a motor and I rebuilt one for it, and only put 15K on it before I sold it so I guess it really doesn't count.

In my current 4 runner I reconditioned a set of heads(my dad has a machine shop, lucky me), checked the block (clean and straight), used new head bolts, and re assembled the way the FSM says. If I blow a HG after that I will start over with a whole new motor.

 

i just wanted to say thanks, TNRabbit...

this is great data in the argument of wether or not the 3vz is a "junk" motor...

personally, ive never had a head gasket blow... it HAS been replaced twice out out of necessity, once when the motor was swapped and again when i had to fix a stuck valve, but she never qualified for the recall...
well, thats fine, because with 260K on her odo shes been beat up, accidentally over revved, run low on coolant, gone without an oil change for 9K miles...

hell, shes the freaking POSTER CHILD for the 3VZ-E...

 

I bought my 1992 3VZE and later did the recall at about 60K miles, before any HG problems. At 207K miles I pulled the heads for exhaust valve work. The HGs were still intact, although I could see some erosion in the fire ring on some cylinders. The cross hatching was still visible on all cylinder walls.

With new headbolts, HGs, and exhaust valves, I don't expect any major engine trouble for the rest of it's natural life.

 

I never have. 265,000. 1993 V6 4x4.. I have never taken it above 4000 RPM and only above 3000 maybe 2-3 times.

 

no problems what-so-ever and I have 310k on my it runs like a champ

 

No problems for me, though the recall was done long before i bought it 4 years ago. and i have pushed the 3VZ-E hard and no problems.

 

wonder if there is a way for the mods to reopen this poll... im curious to see what the numbers are with more peoplegiving their input...

 

130,000 miles. no head gasket! How are you keeping track of all the responses?

 

With this thread bumped back to life I'll update my posts.

4Runner

The 4Runner is still running reasonably well. Reliable, but still slow and gutless as a pig. And as the mileage increases the power decreases. I did some intake mods on it but shortly returned it back to stock once I discovered how useless these mods (ISR, drilled airbox) actually are. As soon as the engine acts up I'll start looking for a 3.4 to drop in.


Truck

Fortunately, I wasn't stupid enough to get the Jasper, or another 3.0 for that matter, and instead did the 3.4 swap. Hands down the best ever mod I did to the truck, I absolutely love driving my truck.


As I sold new and used parts from my 3.0 during the swap, one common theme from most of the buyers was HG issues.

 

I only bumped this to show the numbers at the top. Don't know if they can reopen the poll or not....

 

My 95 has had the original recall done 69K and no other HG problems, knock on wood. 182K

 

*Bump*

Can a mod reopen this poll? I'd like to see where it will go. Overwhelming number of respondents with no/little HG issues....

 

Ok, I'm in.

My 13 year old son bought a 1988 4runner sr5 5 speed with 3vze for $1200 in April of this year..........seller said ''blown head gasket"...248,000 miles, looks like he was probably right, a slight foam to the oil....it's a work in progress, currently on hold while I rebuild my 22re on my truck. So all the details are yet to be sorted out.

 

my recall was done in 98 i have had the truck from 01 till now guessing it was replaced with about 102k miles on it now i have 196k miles on it and the last 80k miles on it i put them on hard too haha and still stayin strong no HG problems but valve cover is leaking a little and the valve train is ticking a little bit but still wheels very very good!

 

I have 142K on my 3VEEZY, I go wheeling all the time. but never really go past 4500..Occaisionally Ill wake it up a little bit and Redline it.. But I've never had it replaced or recalled. I saw that I had an extended 8 year / 80K warrenty back in 1996. But no problems so far. it does suck throught the gas though. I get 10 MPGs I think its an 02 sensor but no check engine light. my guess is that the O2 sensor wont through a code.

 

You are correct..the O2 sensor generally doesn't throw a code. They need to be replaced @ every 100k miles.