I took my newly rebuilt 3.Slow 93 4runner for it's first 500 mile road trip today, and I can honestly say it's a Dog. I never drove it after I bought it and gave it to my wife who blew the head gasket in about 1 week.

Now after about 2500.00 and about 3 months of my time completely rebuilding it, I got a chance to drive it and man this thing is seriously underpowered, and now I understand where the 3.slow came from.

It got about 18 mpg on the highway and 13 in the city. Which is roughly the same as my 5.4 liter Ford Supercrew with 270 hp.

After rebuilding the Engine I can also say that it definetly wasn't designed to be worked on - this thing is like a chinese puzzle. High quality? I think not. Parts Cost -- More than a Mercedes.

OK, Flame off. I'm into this thing for the long haul due to my large investment. I've got it running like a swiss watch. We'll see how long it lasts. At least the Body / Paint / Tranny are good.

 

I know the feeling. The first couple of times I trying steping on it all I could think was "what the crap, did one of my spark plug wires just fall off?" It's not fast now but is a lot better after my headers, intake and exhaust. A few months ago I raced an Altima for about a mile and paced it the whole way. I was proud of it after that one.

oh crap, I think you did yourself in with that statement. I hope you were knocking on some wood when you typed that up.

 

Was that before or after you submerged the PCM in green water??

 

It depends on what your used to.When i first drove mine it felt really really slow.But im used to driving my accord ex.I just got back from a 200 trip to the desert this morning and compared to my 85 22re truck it does feel stronger(crusing at 70+ with the a/c on).It seems once you get all that mass up to speed it does ok.

 

Yeah the weight is the main problem,These moters are common in some toyota camry's.

 

Mine pulls pretty hard from around 3k-5500 It would pull right past the red mark if i had the nads to let it.

I still have a few tricks up my sleeve for squeezing a little more scoot out of it.

 

actually the camry version is dohc and has about 50 more hp

 

Mine is fine on the highway. I get 21-22 MPG. In the mountains it does bog down, but these thing are heavy (well built).

 

I've always wondered why people say that the 3VZ-FE is so slow. What makes it so bad?

Is it mods to cost ratio? Lack of cheap aftermarket performance parts? Cluttered engine bay? Or, is it just mainly the bad reputation it has for reliabilty due to the headgasket recall fiasco?

I figure it's still a V6 and has 150hp although it's a small V6 with only SOHC.

The little 116hp 22re has got to feel alot slower than the 3.0 in a heavy 4'Runner.LOL! Right?

 

It's slow - cause it is gutless and has no horsepower. Compare this to the similar SOHC Nissan 3.0 motor the vg30E of the same vintage. No comparison on reliability or power. The Nissan Motor is superior.

I'm going to get used to it (or at least the wife is) cause I'm in this thing so deep that she'll have to drive it for 5 years.

 

I think it's just geared too high for the 150 hp, gear it down and you'll have a nice power band.

 

Mine 3.0 feels fine to me. I have the 31" tires which came standard on my Runner. I also had a truck with the 22re. That engine is gutless.
I had a 90 Pathfinder with the v-6 also. I would say there was no difference in power between that and my Runner. The engine in that Nissan was more outdated than the 3.0 because it had throttle body fuel injection, and a mechanical distributor. There was a major design defect in those engines also. They had an air injection system into the exhaust. The thing worked with reed valves and they always got stuck open making the engine run bad. This happened on a good deal of those engines. Luckily the were easy to block off, but probably caused more polution. The spark plugs on the Nissan engine was also a pain to change because they were on the top instead of the sides for water resistance. All the stuff on the top of the engine had to be removed to change plugs.

 

I love the off road capability of the 2nd gen, but the engine definitely leaves something to be desired...

You know what would be an awesome engine to put in one of these things, the new Aluminum V-8 out of the Trailblazers... MMMMMM, V-8.... If I had the money I would definitely do that!

 

I had 4 adults in my runner last week, and started onto the highway at the bottom of a hill.

I swear I had tears in my eye as I shifted out of 3rd gear at the top of the hill.

 

What gears are all of you running? I have and '89 runner, 3.0, 33's and 4.88's. I can put four people in her, turn on the AC, set the cruise control, and pull 5th at 70+ up all but the steepest hills around here. SoCal is pretty hilly too.

When I had 32's/stock gears, I was stuck in third on steep ones when the truck was loaded down. The gearig made a huge difference as one would expect.

Frank

 

Yeah ,Im not fat ,just big boned
Lol

 

The VG in the Pathfinder? That thing had 153HP...

not to mention the Pathy weighs almost 3800lbs.

 

The 3vz-fe is in the camry, its dohc and has 200hp
the 3vz-fe is in the runner is sohc and has 150hp

Me I want one of the new v8s in the new trailblazer, displacement on demand, it can run on 4 cylinders to improve gas milage

 

im running stock gears (4.56 thanks to 31" tire option) with stock sized 31 tires, and dont have any problems. No, it doesnt leap to obey the throttle, but it goes when it has to. Way better than the 94 22re p/u i just got rid of!

 

so does that mean that a camry motor will bolt straight up?