I bought a rolled 1988 4Runner with the 3.0 v-6. The engine was turned off immediately after the roll, and the week before the guys repair shop gave "thumbs up" on the health of the engine.
However, a metal fence post punched a hole into the oil pan, so my question is regarding oil pan removal while the engine is still in the vehicle.
Is it possible to remove the oil pan for inspection, repair and re-instal to further test the engine?
Will I need to remove the differential and steering, or does the engine need to be raised?
Thank you!

 

jb weld !!

 

yes the engine has to be raised or the suspension lowered to take out the oil pan, i kno it sucks

 

Probably going to have to pull the punkin.

Try www.ncttora.com/fsm for your Factory Service Manual and see what it says.

 

Unbolt the 3 main diff mounts and the d-shaft bolts.

You will be able to rotate the diff down and almost completely out of the way. You might have to unbolt the oil pickup tube before you are able to pull the pan out over the diff..

 

That took skill, really didn't like the neighbour's fence eh?

What Jay said, but I'll add that you'll want a floor jack to maneuver the diff around because it about 70lbs.

 

good point Matt!

A second set of hands is very nice for this job, like Matt said, the front diff is heavy!

 

Yea, unbolt it use a jack to lower it and voila!

 

Thanks, guys, I'm now motivated. Today I bought a 1990 with a bad engine, it will donate its oil pan for this project before I install the good engine. So, I assume the same "recommended procedures" will also work on the 1990 vs 1988?

 

Yep. Mechanically, 1986-1995's are virtually identical save for the rear suspension.

 

Well identical, except for the V6 coming out in 88. And the various subtle changes to the V6 in 88, 89 and 90. But otherwise yeah, they're identical.

 

u will need to use the motor harness with a bunch of the sensors off the 90 v6, and the distributor too. if u are putting the 88 v6 into the 90 chassis

 

Do you need to seperate the engine and transmission to do this? It looks like the transmission is covering some of the oil pan bolts at the rear of the oil pan which is where my leak appears to be coming from.