I'm surprised only one other person has mentioned the 3rz. Whats so bad about the 3rz that you guys neglect to say it? You don't have to change the timing chain like you do on the 22r(e). It has the same risk of blowing a headgasket as most engines do. It has more power than a 22re and gets better mpg. It is also pretty easy to work on. Not as much as the 22r(e) but nearly. I do think the 22r(e) is a pretty dang impressive engine, but I think the 3rz beats it.

 

IMHO in addition to the venerable 22RE and Ford I-6, the BMW engines in older 3 and 5 series M10, M20, & M30 are tops in the reliability department for them. I hope the 5VZ is one of them since I'm swapping one of those in!

 

I would say in this order

Toyota 3.4-I made it to 300,XXX before the motor ate crap.
Toyota 22R-180K, overheating the engine three times, and blew the HG.
Ford 240 & 300 I6's-Had one in my van, had 240,XXX miles on it, ran like crap though.
Ford 302
Chevy 327

 

i have a b16a2 that is beatin on like a nascar everyday has currently 111k not much yet no problems just need to keep oil in it (vtec and all)

i think the best motors are def the small block chevy especially the 302 which is a small journal 327 with a 283 crank.

longer rods are the way to go for reliability a closed deck and non interfierence in all honesty fi is not really the best way to go the more gizmos (imho) one adds the more crap there is to break.

i think we need to look at f1 engines if we are going to be doing anything any better.

i cant remember which engine it was exactly but in the late 70's bmw has a 1500 cc motor with like 6.5 compression and boost to 1500 or so hp- it never broke down. the problme with that is that the compression was so low that it really would not be streatable not that that is what they were going for of course.

 

sorry, but im gonna have to go with, in this order: the old volkswagen bugs, then the ford 390 (yeah yeah, ford, but ive seen a few with upwards of 400,000 miles and still pulling STRONG, original motor. according to my dad, grandpa, and a lot of mechanics ive met, the 390 is fords best engine ever made) and the 22re. though the 22re is the only one id own out of the 3... the VW has no power, the 390 has too much power, (thus gas mileage.... ICK) and the 22re has more power than the VWs, but not nearly as much as the 390, which also means it gets way better mileage. so theres my list. flame suit *engaged*. *press switch repeatedly* dammit, even in my imagination nothing works.

 

the 4.6 ford motors are pretty good. a mechanic at my work has seen many with over a million miles on them

the ford 5.0 is pretty good too

and the 22RE

 

Anything human powered.

Either fueled by some sort of ideology or just plain motivated by a nice long piece of wet raw hide.

 

In my experience:

1. Almost anything Toyota, especially R series engines, 20R being the most reliable.
2. Subaru EA-71 & EA-81
3. Chevy small block & 4.3 (the rest of the truck falls apart, though)
4. Jeep 4.0 I6

My cousins had an old '70s Honda CVCC that they drove hard for a long time and then tried to kill a few times. They had it so beat that it could barely move. They had it hauled away still running. I am not sure what engine was in it, but that makes my list.

I also had a Daihatsu Rocky with the 1.6. I think that engine would have got a good reputation if more were sold in the US.

 

I think to be on the most reliable list they have to consistently get over the 300k mark

**Dodge 249/225 Slant I6
**Ford 390 and 460
**Toyota 20/22 series motor (with chain change however)--And there are alot of other Yota motors

**i dont put the 350 in there because i havent seen many of them with crazy amounts of miles consistenly
**Same thing with the Ford 4.6--never heard of one hitting a million miles let alone more than one
**Honda makes a good motor and they last but i dont think they really compare to the other greats

 

1. 22R, missing some of the vaccum lines, sometimes has a lack of oil and still runs and pulls strong.
2. Old VW engines (from sand rails and those bugs, been around and still work great)
3. 3.4 5vz (I have yet to hear anything bad about these engines)

-Not the 3vz!!! Nothing but problem, hence why you find them all over the place with blown engines.

 

The Honda v-tech motors, from what i have seen and heard, seem to be pretty good, burns oil but its a honda
gotta go w/ the Toyota 22r series motors though. A lot of people where i live are pretty dedicated to these little trucks, they can handle a lifetime of beating without slowing down and seem to have a mind of their own....if only we didn't use salt on the roads...
Also, try floating a valve or redlining that old dodge or ford motor and lemme know how it turns out!

 

The ford modular v-8's in just about any variation from the SOHC 4.6 to the quad-cam 5.6 are pretty bulletproof. I personally know of a 4.6L 1994 ford thunderbird with over 200,000 miles on it that has survived three teenage drivers. The tranny was replaced at 160,000, but the motor is fine.

I had a cj-5 with an AMC 304 v-8 that went 290,000 miles, and several of the AMC 258 I-6's with between 100,000 to 200,000 on them. The Jeep 4.0 is based on the 258.

22re's seem to take a beating, but mine the bed at 150,000, so I dunno...

 

briggs and stratton for the win, 5 horse is good. the 22r is great because even if everything does break, it might still drive home. i'm sure weve all seen the one on youtube that was running with a connecting rod hanging out the side of the block. i pulled one out of a celica with 450k miles and stuck it in a buddies truck a couple years ago. it was a low budget swap so the only thing we spent money on was oil and parts cleaner. runs great, check engine light won't turn off.

i think easy to work on is almost more important than rliability, if my truck breaks down i don't consider it a failure if i can fix it on the side of the road and drive away in a few minutes. hondas are just as reliable as toyotas but harder to work on, in my opinion.

my favorite engines that i have actually experience with:

flathead hurricane six, have one in my 62 willys jeep, starts up fine at 17 below zero

5fse, have one in my 91 celica, 220k but all very abusive miles, i tow trailers up mountains with this car.

the four banger in the 83 camry i used to have (only issue, gear fell off end of distributer shaft once, easy fix but i thought it was the TB at first.)

chevy 350, have one in my 1ton van, 250k. intake manifold gasket leaked when i got it. i just globbed some epoxy into the spot where the coolant was coming out and have had no trouble since. also, the radiator is held together with epoxy.

 

i'd go 1uz before i got my toyota we had chevys 305 350 327 396 327 the only ones of thoes engines that ever made it to 90k was the 327 and 396 who ever says that a 350 chevy would evin make 300k on one rebuild is outta there mind and has never owned one

 

i've got 170k on my 4runner 3.4 and yet have to have any problems at all...and i've definately had 'er redline several times(not intentionally!)...
aside from that, i'd say the CUMMINS 5.9 hands down....i only wish i could put that in my 4runner!

 

Ive bought and sold many early 90's toyota 2wd pickups with the 22re and all of them were bought for under $700 with something wrong with the motor , was either the head gasket or a piston out the side of the block.90% of those trucks were under 200,000 miles .

Its still my favorite motor because its so easy to work on.

I have read alot of good things about the 1uz-fe and for the last year have been trying to buy up some cars with this motor and the cheap ones are cheap because they are wrecked not because having engine problems, and Im not saying there hasnt been any , I just havnet seen them.

22re = most favorite
1uz = most reliable

 

I just don't see the headgasket problems everyone else does with the 22RE. Before I did my swap, the factory original 22RE in my 4runner had ~250k miles on it - even looked like it had the factory timing chain guides (starting to break, of course).

I've heard the Toyota inline 6's - 7MGE & 2JZGE - are damn near bulletproof (though the 7M does have weak a weak link, it's easily corrected with higher head bolt torque). We'll see as I continue to beat on mine like a red-headed step child . . .

 

Reliable to me means simple. Simple to me also means something heavy and slow. So I'd have to say probably something like the old flat head motors that came in a willys jeep. Single barrel carb and points ignition. Low compression, slow turning, and can probably last a lifetime.

 

22r or 22re

 

I agree that slow and heavy usually means reliable.
The exception would probably be the 20r/22r. I mean early 22r, my 83 22r (produced for 84 year) has the double roller timing chain. Rolling over 265K now, looks like it had the water pump replaced, that's it. Leaks a little, sounds like the #3 cyl has a valve seat issue, but has enough power to pull my long bed on 33's up mountain grades at 55.

Other favorites:
ford 390 and 460, 460 wins for its' twisted amount of torque, drove an 88 f350 for a while with a FI 460 and somehow got 15 mpg, sitting on 220k. Crazy!

Buick 3.8 v6 (in almost all its' variations), there's a reason it's the most produced engine in existence... I frequently see 300K+ on these things.

Jeep and ford straight sixes. Only occasionally see these things NOT last over 150k. Have one friend rolling in an 88 4.0 cherokee, only non-original parts are the spark plugs, about to roll over 400K.

My boss used to be an engine builder and claims that toyota straight sixes (gasoline, not diesel) are some of the best engines ever designed... I have no reason to doubt him, but no real proof either.

I'd say the secret to a long lasting engine is to have ridiculously huge cylinder and water jacket castings, as well as large crank bearings and bearing girdle, with the final ingredient of plentiful oil passages. All of these engines fit this category. Only thing knockin' the 20/22r is the dissimilar metals, but for early engines that doesn't seem to be much of an issue (such as electrolysis, head warping/head gasket problems).

I would include most honda engines, but having taken apart a few of them has convinced me that the engineers behind them were stark-raving nucking futs in their search for the lightest engine possible. Pull the head on a b16xx and you'll find that your piston sleeves are near-free floating, the block girdle is almost nonexistent, and a piston w/ connecting rod is barely bigger (and lighter) than your hand. Makes the 22r crank, block, and pistons sitting in my yard waiting to be built look like a big block engine. No thanks.