3000 miles on the motor. Need to know what to replace/upgrade so it doesn't eat head gaskets. I know it's some kind of heat tube or something but am having a stupid hard time finding out what it is. So far no over heating issues or any problems, need to keep it that way. I'll go back to searching while you read this.

 

You are talkin 'bout the cross-over pipe, IIRC. And I personally haven't had a HG problem in the last 3 3.0 rig's I've owned. I'm on the 3rd 3.0 rig now.....almost 200K on this motor, and still runs strong *so far*.......

 

Cross over pipe. Can I eliminate it? Block it off, re route it? Run headers to get rid of it?

 

You have to run headers...which present there own set of issues.

92toy had a good write up in his 88 4runner thread.

 

Do a search on here for "Crossover elimination mod" There are multiple threads on here about it. Having an exhaust shop do the mod is much cheaper than headers IMO.

 

If your goal is to keep the engine from "eating head gaskets," how long do you expect a standard setup to last? 200,000 miles? So if you drove 20,000 miles/year (a lot compared to average), you'd be planning on replacing the head gasket on a then 30-yr-old truck.

If you think re-working the entire exhaust system (to replace the cross-over) will somehow improve performance, that's up to you. But to me it seems like false economy to do such a significant modification in the hope of extending the life of a head gasket.

 

How many head gaskets have you gone through? I put a new one on when I rebuilt my engine and haven't had a problem in over 40k mi. <knocks on wood>.

 

Fix it with a 3.4.