troydee

ive had the 22re, and it was fantastic. i wanna get a 5th gen extra cab pickup, but those mostly have the v6. should i just stay as far away from that as possible? or is a good motor? ive heard mixed things about them.

chukarhunt

iTrader: (1)

There are a lot of mixed feelings out there about it. I am a 3.slow (hint the sarcasm) owner, but I will give it one of the best reliability ratings out of any engine. When I bought the truck it had 214000 miles on it, and every...single....part... besides the plugs and wires was ORIGINAL. In fact, when I went to replace all the timing bearings/belt after the fan pulley bracket seized, the water pump still looked and felt in perfect condition, althought the timing belt was in pretty bad shape lol (i did replace the water pump while I was there, just in case you thought I was an idiot for reusing it). Saying that though, many of the 4 cylinders are just as reliable.

Regardless, it is not a power house, but I can climb a steep summit hauling a ton of pellets in third gear doing 60mph, you just got to put your foot into it and use the transmission and rpm range to your advantage. (stock engine) There are performance mods you can make to it, but from my understanding they don't help much due to the undersized heads. (don't tie me to that)

I get on average 17.5-18 mpg with a camper shell on, stock size tires and the truck still mobs pretty good. That is mixed highway/city driving too.

This engine is very notorious for blown head gaskets and a possible head fracture. I saw this happen to my buddies truck, but he had over 220000 miles on his too (I am expecting mine to go any day now, which is why I am looking for alternative engines for a swap). So as far as a good engine goes, it does very well, just don't expect it to run like a striped ass monkey... It hits its torque power band at around 3200 rpm (and you definitely notice it), so I am always shifting over 4000 to keep the torque when driving around town, and I still get over 17mpg.

Sorry if this is long winded, just wanted to give you all the details I know.

troydee

no right on. that was very informative. the reason i ask is because i too had heard about the whole head gasket issue....and the lack of response from other forum members tells me that it must not be that at all. i will definitely give that motor more consideration.

Kiroshu

The 3.0(3VZE) engine is very acceptable, built with very high quality parts as is any Toyota engine.

Its only down side is "design." Which resulted to a few other issues....

Toyota's first V6 truck engine... its production and development was rushed to compete with other markets resulting in a few slightly over looked design flaws.

-The most common being excessive cylinder head temperatures at the rear of the engine causing cylinder head gasket failure. Mainly due to poor exhaust system design.

There are on going forums on the 3.0(3VZE) pros and cons.

I'd rather not make this another debate thread .

Its a good engine if taken care of. I know of a few personally that have 200-350k miles on them.(Original engine parts)

RSR

The 3vze is just as reliable as the 22re... *If you delete the crossover at the rear of the engine bay. That's what leads to extra heat at the #6 cylinder causing headgasket failure. (Otherwise, both the 22re adn 3vze suffer headgasket issues to about the same degree -- they were both engineered for asbestos headgaskets and it took awhile to find a suitable replacement after the lawyers made asbestos go the way of the dinosaurs...).

Factory, it's roughly 20% more power than the 22re, but you can get up to 25-30% w/ the right mods. The way to go rather than expensive modding (some lost cost stuff that you can easily do) is really a 5vze swap, and the 3vze base makes it much easier than a 22re.

3vzes also have stronger trannies and the rest of the driveline too, so that helps w/ more power from the 5vze too.

The biggest suck from a diy perspective is having to remove the plenum to access the drivers side half of the engine... These trucks were also made to hold only a 4cylinder gas/diesel engine, so the V6 is a little tighter in the engine bay too.

Provided you have service records from whatever you're buying, definitely go the V6 if you want better performance (or bigger tires or to pull a load, etc), realizing you'll lose some MPG...

troydee

many thanks to you guys. very informative. i was mainly curious because i had been told by friends to avoid that motor like the black plague....now its seeming more appealing, especially considering ill be towing motorcycles with it.

RSR

If you have a head gasket issue, the biggest key that is often overlooked is to get a NEW set of quality head studs. Most folks on here recommend engine builder. And I think that the current head gaskets toyota sells are the way to go -- thought I haven't researched (knock on wood) because I haven't had any headgasket issues yet.

Other stuff to do when buying new is -- obviously -- replace all your fluids. An engine flush is a good idea too -- Amsoil's made a big difference for my engine (and at least hte past 80k miles it's only had synthetic). If your 3vze didn't come w/ the towing package, install an oil cooler. Definitely look at replacing all of your vacuum hoses, excepting maybe those connecting to the TVV (their are a lot of vacuum controlled mechanisms on this engine -- LCE sells a decently priced full replacement option). Replace your coolant and coolant bypass hoses, including heater. And check all your tranny, power steering, and other soft lines for leaks. Oh, and definitely plan to drop your fuel tank and replace your fuel pump w/in a few years -- it's near end of life and one of those items that'll leave you stranded otherwise... Lastly, check all your sensors, and then you should be good to go.