Hi everyone,

New to the forum, 2nd 3vze engine. I first owned the 95 pickup (pre-tacoma) with the 3vze engine, 4wd and i LOVED it. Major power, handled oversized tires no problem. i ended up totaling the truck on the street and after smashing the entire front end... it still started and let me drive it to the side of the road. I LOVED THAT TRUCK!!!!

Now I own the 95 4Runner, 3.0l 3vze 4wd. I'm having cooling issues which I am searching these threads and finding lots of helpful hints,tips, and awnsers. you guys really know your stuff.

My main question is...... would it be possible to swap transmissions with the transmission with the pickup of the same year? It seems to me that while powerful, the gearing of the 4Runner's transmission is more for crawling and taking it slow. Which no doubt is fun.... but hauling through dirt roads in that pickup is what i miss. I want to have the speed and response of the pickup's transmission in my 4Runner.

I'm not a gear-head by any means but i'm dying to get my hands dirty!! Can this be done? And will it give me the performance i'm looking for?

 

Ok, acceleration problems. My truck will accelerate up to 3500 rpm or so then, all of a sudden all power loss. TPS?

I can downshift and gradually gain speed... but anything past 1/2 - 3/4 throttle and it bogs down.

 

^^^ it's because it's shifting

Sent from my iPhone using YotaTech

 

.hmmm

 

[QUOTE="StewsRunner;52045935"]^^^ it's because it's shifting

 

FYI, 5 speed. Not auto

 

It depends largely on the transmission type. The auto trans comes with 4.59 gear ration and the manuals come with 4.11. The autos seem to take off a little faster but in my opinion die out mid range. The same year, the pumpkin and front member can be changed out. It takes maybe 45 minutes to change the rear and 3 hrs to change the front.

 

Keep in mind also that your 4runner probably weighs a good 1000lbs more. That means that the engine and tranny have to work a lot harder to give you the same performance you had in your pickup.

Definitely no speed monster.

 

I'm sure I'm not going to win any races

But to be able to travel on the freeway faster than 65 without feeling like I'm going to blow it up would be nice. I took this thing from Vegas to Utah and it took WAY longer than any other vehicle I've had. The thing has cruise control but just can't handle freeway speeds

 

Then I think your problem is not your transmission. Have you done a tune up? Pulled any codes? Changed fluids? I think the symptom in your 2nd post signifies you've got some problem. I wish I knew what it might be. Maybe dirty throttle body?

Good luck and post up the progress. Always an adventure.

 

I guess I should have started with the history of the truck. I got a personal loan and bought it 5 yrs ago. Drove it for 6mo then it overheated. After a new thermostat, rad, water pump (timing belt while I was there) the thing still overheated. Out of money and patience (and fearing the HG)I parked it for 4 years and paid off my loan . I'm just now picking back up on it.

A true example of my newbie-ness was not realizing that when I changed the water pump and flushed and re-filled the system... It topped off after 1gal. After reading through threads in this forum I read that air gaps in the cooling system can cause it to not pressurize and circulate the coolant. Pulled the top hose off the rad and dumped coolant directly into the engine and it took another 1 1/2gal. (Durr) since then it has not overheated however, it's winter and the real test will be the hot Las Vegas summers with my aluminum heads. Pretty easy to not overheat right now.

One more thing to factor in was my replacement of the timing belt while doing the water pump. First time that deep into an engine and had some trouble loosening the nut to the main pulley on the crankshaft. Had to use a long extension on the socket wrench and hit the ignition for a quick second to let the starter loosen it.(probably a bad idea) I followed all instructions in the book and didn't feel confident when aligning the cams and pulley to TDC. The cams wouldn't stay directly on their marks either a little left or a little right. So after all was put back together I bought a timing light and messed with the timing by adjusting the distributed cap. Now that I think my overheating problem was coolant, I'm sure my timing is off.

Going to check timing today, oil change and coolant inspection for HG problems. But I fear that I have compounded problems leading to overall performance issues.

With the second problem in mind (acceleration loss) I'm thinking timing could definately be the culprit.???

Tried pulling codes last night and got NOTHING!!
Trying to do little tuning up until I'm sure it's going to be worth it. New plugs today and just bought a compression test kit.

I DO NOT want to give up on this thing, it was so fun while it ran I want it back!!!

 

Ok so I had my neighbor come by and check things out. He said to double check the timing and... Wouldn't you know I'm off?

Whoever had been in there before made new marks and I was following those, not the scribed lines on the back cover plate. Gotta tear it down and get it on time again. Fingers are crossed!

 

Will a 94 v6 pickup transmission fit a 94 v6 4runner. They are both 4 wheel drive.

 

So i got her up and running again, and yes the performance is MUCH better. Now that everything is working well in the engine... i really want to get down to that transmission/pumpkin swap.

I'm not familiar with the drivetrain but did just learn (and retain) a lot about the engine. What are all of the components that would need to be changed to swap the drivetrain from the pickup to the 4runner?

A friend of mine said i just need to change the differentials and not the transmission????

 

sorry to single you out but you seemed to have some good insight as to what i'm looking for. would you mind checking out my last post above please?