Hello all. New to the forum- here's the short. Bought an '89 4Runner with the notorious blown head geasket. Teardown is going well (Thanks to this forum!) However, when I pulled the heads I found a piston 180 degrees out of where it should be (see piston on far right of pic). The truck ran before I tore it down, I don't imagine it came from the factory like this as it has 220k miles on it. There's no way the valves could have seated correctly on this piston. At this point should I pull the block and go right through it or what? What would you guys do?
Thanks-

 

WTF???? LMAO.

Nah I would just replace that cyl's rod bearing and make sure the piston is mounted correctly to the rod via the wrist pin. Unless you were making alot of rapping, or missing bad I wouldn't worry about the valves. But to me who ever rebuilt at one point got lucky the valves didn't seat on the pistons.

 

Would it be easiest to pull the block since I've got it torn down this far rather than trying to pull the oil pan with the block still mounted in the truck?

 

Not sure, I am not too familiar with the 3.0, but the 22r oil pan can be removed with engine still in the truck without dropping down the front diff by lifting the motor up using a jack.

 

You'll be GLAD you pulled the engine....

 

x2... pull the motor. I'm sure it can be done in the truck.... but y?

 

Thanks guys....I figured pulling the engine would be the best way.

 

I hate to see what else they did when they rebuilt this engine. I have no idea how you can do that. I would not trust that engine at all. Running a piston like that could cause uneven bore wear. Some pistons have offset wrist pins to prevent piston slap and mounting it the other way could have done some damage. I would pull the engine out and check the piston and bore wear.

James

 

Ooopppps. hahaha. sorry but that is just great. But I hope you get her all fixed up.

 

Pull the motor, replace the front and rear main seals, measure the oil pump clearances, clean the oil pickup screen, clean the bottom of the oil pan, and freshen up the pan gasket. With the heads off, so easy to pull at this point.

When removing the bell housing bolts, the upper ones are way easy to get with about 4 feet of extensions from behind the transfer case. Otherwise, a major pain.

As for that piston. How in the hell??? I guess it was your turn int he barrel, but talk about lack of attention to detail. Makes you wonder about the rest of the bottom end.

 

yes pull the motor a 3.4L should fit in rather nice

 

Cool, a 3VZE interference engine.

I wouldn't trust that engine at all, just because whoever made that mistake DID make others.

 

that is pretty interesting

 

i sat staring at it for awhile wondering where the 4th piston was and why that first one was backwards .........

I didn't know engines other than the 22re exhisted .... haha jk ... but seriously ... wtf

 

Still might not make it an interference engine, but like others have said, pull the motor and look for other "oops's." I'd personally check the crank with a micrometer and get all new rod and crank bearings. Cheap insurance while you have everything out.

Fyi, you can get the oil pan off without completely removing the engine. I had to undo the driver's side mount and lift the engine up some, but it's possible. I would not, however, do that in this case. Do it right, do it once!

 

you know, even tho elton was joking, im thinking that night just be the best way to go... i mean this isnt your standard HG replacement... if your going through the trouble to pull the motor and strip it all down, why not just replace it??

 

lmao

wow... some people...



there should be a test you have to pass before buying certain tools like ring compressors, lol

 

Hahaha x2!

 

I'd be going back to that guy you got the truck from and asking him if he knows who rebuilt this motor. You might want to tell everybody you know not to take it to this "mechanic". I've done some stupid things in my lifetime (I worked at liffy lube as well as several others for quite a while. that should say everything), but this one takes the cake.

 

Oh My...

I'd agree with the others here, with that many miles potentially on the block, that mistake and who know what others, take it all apart and at least do a minor rebuild (rings, bearings, consumables...). Have a machine shop check the heads, block, crank, rods, pistons. They can do all of that in a day, they've probably done many more times than most of us and its relatively cheap.