So while under der ole yoderhosen tonite/this am I happen to be replacing the rod bearings of my 93 runner. I was just near the end of torquing down der olde rod nuts when...!SNAP! one broke! I couldnt believe it. Anyone have any better ideas that dropping the whole crank assembly and replacing der olde rod? If I have to replace the rod Im thinking 3.4 swap or at least 22re swap. No since in spending 4-500$ rebuilding a 3.0 when I have a donor 3.4 sitting in storage. HELP? Have I screwed myself?

 

did you replace the bearings because of a knock?

 

Yeah I was replacing bearings because #6 decided to fry. It was knocking pretty good. I took it off the road and then towed it to the shop for what I was hoping was going to be a quick and dirty way of grabbing some more miles from the little snot nosed motor. As it turns out this problem wasnt one of the typical 3vzfe issues. It was an idiot with gasket sealant issue. When I bought the truck it needed a head gasket..shocking I know. But I only paid 200$ for it with a clean title and I figured I could get the head gasket done and its be fine for a few thousand miles. Well when I got into the bottom end last night I realized the truck had been rebuilt under the front. Junkyard 3rd member up front and the bottom of the motor had bee rebuilt without a gasket to be found...even on the oil pickup!!! ARRRGGGH so its been running at about half oil flow due to all the sealant clogging the oil pickup hole. ive talked to some mechanic friends and they say i should be able to knock the offending bolt through the top of the rod shoulder and drop a new one in but I apparently read the wrong torque specs bc i over torqued ALL the rod cap nuts!!! So I may have stretched them all and squished my brand new bearings. So I may still have screwed my motor! YAY!!! Well maybe ill do a swap for a 5vzfe or a 1UZ..I already have just about all I need for the big v6 bc i was going to convert the truck after it blew its head gaskets last winter. hmmmmm...any other ideas on a fix for this thing?

 

Not to pee on your parade, but Toyota doesn't use a gasket for the oilpan. They use Form In Place Gasket (FIPG) material to seal the bottom end of the engine. Now, that still doesn't help you since some moron went gasket maker happy.

As for your repair, the way I see it you have two choices. One, pull the bottom end and replace all the bearings and conn rod bolts and re-torque them to the right specs or two, drop in the 3.4 and be done with it.

It depends on how much time you have, but I'm a big fan of the 3.4 swap. Did mine a year ago and have no regrets. Drove through the Rocky Mountains last night and I still marvel at how much fun this thing is in the mountain passes.

There is no comparison with the 3.0.

 

if it was knocking then new bearings wont help any, you'll be lucky to get 50 miles out of it, the crank is journal is either out of round or it is scored/pitted and needs to be turned. in my own opinion its not worth the trouble and money to fix it, i would drop the 3.4 in

 

i don't think you're going to find anyone on the 3.4 forums who will tell you the 3.0 is worth the trouble

 

If you already have a 3.4 in storage, then why even bother with the 3.0?