so i traded an 87 BMW 528e with 307k miles for an 88 SR5 4Runner 5 speed auto hubs 3vze with 270k miles, motor has a knock, a loud knock, sounds like its coming from the rear of the engine. PO said he drove it 15 miles after it started knocking and he thinks its a rod bearing...(idk if thats the case, he is an aircraft mechanic though), and i drove it for a short lap before the trade then onto my trailer, that was it. Now my question is where do i start...after a few days of searching and reading it seems like there can be a few things wrong, i.e bolts loose, valves sticking, etc. the knock seems to be in sync with the RPMs...gets louder and faster with an increase in RPM. where do i start with the diagnosis? take off the oil pan and look at...??? valve covers??? im not afraid to tear apart anything, have owned a few BMWs over the course of my 3 driving years lol. but i have never encountered an engine problem like this oh and im new to Toyotas but have always loved these 1st gen runners. thanks in advance for your time and help.

p.s i read camo's rebuild thread and saw it took him 8 months...i dont have that kind of time, so another question...do i just find another 3.0 and swap em out then build up this one? i would prefer to stay away from swapping in any motors other than what will be a direct fit.

 

Find a good motor, and swap it in.

Otherwise, break out the wallet. The 3VZ is a spendy pig.

 

im definitely not a new comer to spendy...damn Germans...but thats the way I've been leaning...just have to wait for the right deal to show its face...oh and like everyone else i have to get the finances for it...currently selling my DD in hopes i can dump most of that money into this thing.

 

I can fully rebuild a 3VZE in under 2 weeks for less than $500, $750-$800 at the most(say if any machining is required to fix the crankshaft, grind the valve seats, resurface the heads), no problem. Doesn't matter how bad of condition it's in. Even if it means replacing all the rods, pistons/rings, bearings, valves, valve guides, water pump, oil pump, timing belt, timing belt idler/tensioner pulleys, and all the gaskets/seals on the entire engine. It's not that expensive at all really, and can generally be done for MUCH cheaper than that reusing some of the parts that are still good.

You just gotta know where to get good cheap replacement parts is all. You can replace every single part of the engine(minus the block, throttle body, intake/exhaust manifolds)for $1000 or less.

PartsDinosaur.com

A good condition motor can't be had for any cheaper. Unless it's stolen or something. And even if you can get one cheaper, it won't likely be freshly rebuilt and ready to go a couple hundred thousand more miles.

 

I don't know how many times I have seen cheap aftermarket parts fail over and over again.

 

so whats the difference between this partsdinosaur.com and say engnbldr.com? i find the prices at engnbldr.com are lower, especially if you buy the master rebuild kit...any one bought this kit? pros? cons?

 

Not much. ENGNBLDR tends to be cheaper, but the parts he sells are usually either the same brand, or of equal quality to what Bruce(partsdinosaur)sells. I can only vouch for partsdinosaur, as I haven't purchased anything from Ted(ENGNBLDR)yet. I haven't heard any complaints about his stuff or his service though. They're both "old guys" with many years of experience, and I'd buy from either one of them without a worry.

 

I would seriously stay away from the 3.0 they seem to be more trouble than they're worth. I like my 22-re they are bulletproof!

 

haha too bad the 22re doesnt have enough power for me!

 

kind of surprised you have not used engbldr since he is kind of local

but I did book mark partsdinosaur for future reference

 

^^^ me too

 

so after pulling the motor apart, whichever idiot owned this vehicle ran it out of oil at some point, #6 rod bearing was blown to smithereens and spread out all through the motor, #6 journal on the crank was so far out of round i have to scrap it, cams had all sorts of gouges in them, the oil pickup was clogged with aluminum filings that covered the bottom 1/2 of the oil pan with this thick nasty chunky goop, when i pulled the #6 piston out it fell apart in my hands, all the other pistons were burnt and scraped, combination of overheating and no oil, just amazes me how some people think they dont have to do any maintenance. and when i took the motor to a machine shop they said it was one of those motors you buy from japan with an unknown number of miles and rebuilt with cheap parts, as well as orange, blue, and gray RTV? or some other junk was everywhere, they glued this motor together. On the bright side it did have a new coil, plugs, wires, distributor, timing belt, and water pump lol so now im just gonna Engine House in phoenix build me a motor using parts from mine if possible.