your-real-dad

1992 pickup, 3VZ-E, 234K. Need some advise from the gurus. I bought a rebuilt engine off eBay and installed it two years ago. The California builder turned out to be a real schlock shop, with all kinds of grievances filed against them. Wouldn't return my core charge until I went after them through the credit card company. The engine work was poor, with all valve gaps out of spec too tight, stripped exhaust manifold stud mounting holes, corrosion on cam lobes, etc. Had to install anyway. Compression in the 130 psi range. 14K later, running rough and no power. Removed engine, it's hanging on the hoist. Leakdown test shows 30% to 40% loss at line pressure of 100psi. Consistent across all cylinders. Checked one cylinder through it's range; constant leakage from TDC to BDC, no change in leakage. No audible leakage from the valves; i.e. no hissing from the open throttle body or tailpipe. It's all through the crank case, and you can actually feel air leaking from the dip stick housing. I'm assuming bad rings or cylinder, and have a suspicion that these crooks probably didn't bother with boring the block or replacing the pistons. My question is, what should I look for to determine if they did the work? Will it be obvious, like blackened pistons and scored cylinder walls? Can you tell visually? Do (reputable) shops stamp any kind of marks on the block to indicate that it has been bored, or can I just measure it with my calipers? Is it possible that these idiots installed the wrong diameter rings?

Smaay

where in CA are you? i have the 3VZ-E from my 4runner on a stand. you can have it for 50 bucks, just come and get it. It ran just fine, I just upgraded to a 5VZ. im in Lancaster