i have an 99 tacoma 3.4 trd OR

and it has a dipstick hole on the driver side right behind the oil filter...

can i use this hole instead of drilling the plug out on the pass. side?

 

Passenger side?

I bought a bung with a hole in it for the dipstick tube and just swapped them out. Then tapped the original with M14 tap, screwed in a bolt with some RTV done. Pics on my build thread.

:wabbit2:

 

murphyz the oil dipstick is already in the correct location if it is BEHIND the oil filter. if its in front as in, it goes through the oil pump housing, then you would need to change it. Though off subject does anybody know why you even have to worry about this in the first place??

 

I think it has to do with the oil pan and dipstick match-up. The motors that have the dipstick in the "wrong" location used a different pan that would not work with the suspension, etc. Therefore when you switch the pan, you need to switch the dipstick to match.

 

thank you any tricks to plugign the old hole? tap and bolt it shut?

 

Yup!! Different sumps

 

cool cool. time to plug a hole!

 

Mine had the hole at the front of the block. All I did was cut the original 3.0 dipstick down about 8 inches and used it to plug the tube. Why go to the trouble of all that fab work, tapping and sealing if you dont have to? Admitted, it looks cleaner without the additional useless dipstick.

 

You have to swap the pan anyway and while it is apart doing what I did took maybe 15 minutes. It's done right and looks factory.

:wabbit2:

 

My hole is behind the oil filter... But... I'm running the 3.0 pan, pickup tube and baffle. I'm "hoping" I'll be okay... I'm figuring I'll just put the correct amount of oil in it and see where it ends up on the dipstick. If it's off, I'll just engrave the dipstick with my new level basically.

 

As long as your running the 3.0 dipstick and tube along with that 3.0 pan/pickup/baffle combo, you'll be good.

 

Not sure which dipstick I've got to be honest... The motor was previously in a older pickup but was running the T100 3.4L pan and setup. I had to switch to the 3.0 setup though because of my steering setup clearance issues. I'll make sure to pull the dip stick from my old engine before the scrap guy takes it. I'm not letting the old motor disappear till I'm 100% sure the new setup is up and running correctly. Even then I'm going to strip all the accessories I can and ebay them or something...

Thanks for the reply! I appreciate it!

 

No prob. The 97 T-100 3.4 5-speed IFS pan that was on my donor was the identical pan that was on my '88 3.0 5-speed IFS. (I think they might even be the same part number).

This led to me having a direct drop-in without any pan/disptick/pickup/baffle changes whatsoever. (I never even took the pan off it).