First time posting after a lot of viewing.

I have a 1995 4runner V6 3.0.

I bought it used recently from a guy that i trust completely. It has 230,000 miles on it but he said the engine was replaced brand new by a Toyota dealer at 200,000 miles, so the new engine should have 30,000 on it. He told me if I called them they would verify the installation.

I called that dealer and they said that it was not in their system.

I called the guy back and asked him why, and he said it may be because they closed and reopened.

I called the dealer back and they said there's no way they did it.

Anyway, I know there isn't any way to tell the difference between a new engine and an old one, BUT I was thinking about the fact that the new 3.0 engines are supposed to not have the head gasket issues that the first ones did. Then is there some mechanical difference between a new 3.0 and an old one that would tell them apart?

Thanks in advance for any help. Please don't just tell me to ask for receipts next time, I definitely will. And he's a good friend, so I trust him 100%.

 

You could drop the oil pan because an engine with 230,000 mi would have a lot of buildup and crud in the pan but an engine with 30,000 mi should be pretty clean. If you don't want to do that, compression testing might give you an indication. If the compression is low on all cylinders or greatly varies it probably doesn't have 30,000mi on it. Vacuum lines should all look new not hard or splitting if you try to pull them off. I can't think of a way of knowing without a doubt but if you found significant sludge in the pan it definitely doesn't have 30,000 mi.

 

I think you have been had.

Have you taken the truck to the dealer and asked in person or only on the phone??

Calling on the phone it is so easy to get blown off by someone to lazy to look things up.

In this day a miss spelling in the name or vin nothing would come up in the computer .

A new engine installed by the dealer why would the owner not kept records as this had to be very expensive??

Good luck

 

i was under the impression any time a toyota was worked on recently it was in the toyota wide system...
I am with Wyoming9 on this one.

 

Hey guys thanks for the responses. Toyota verified the year make and model when I gave them the vin but said it had only been in for the timing.

I will try the oil pan and compression testing.

The whole situation is very strange because as I said before, the guy that sold me it is a friend that lost the receipts.

 

The issue with the 3.0 was the head gasket itself. Nothing was changed over the course of the engine other then adding the oil cooler and the first year having different injectors then the other years. If the engine was rebuilt the head gasket shouldn't be an issue or a tell tale sign it's old or new.
Easier then pulling the oil pan on a 95 would be to pull a valve cover to look for dark stained heads. If it has been rebuilt the heads and cams should look pretty clean. A rebuilt engine with 30000 should have fairly clean oil as well.
A compression check is a great idea regardless.

 

In not sure if I was clear before but this is supposed to be a new engine, Not rebuilt. That is why I thought there might be some differences in parts and structure since the engines that were made in 95

 

If it is a new 3.0 3VZE they didn't make them after 95, so in other words no you shouldn't see anything structurally/physically different.

 

If the engine was replaced with a new one (reman) it will look "new". The hoses and vacuum lines should be clean and what not. Overall the engine should look clean. If it's caked with grease, road grime, hoses look old, etc it hasn't been replaced.

 

Reman, rebuilt.... Your engine is the same old block and heads reconditioned. They don't make new 3vz.
What he said above also about grime. If it was just a long block they may have reused hoses.

 

Trusted friend ???

If it was me by now I would have grabbed him and the truck go to the dealer that did this work( On your friends word) see just what was done.

Since the 3.0 went away in 1995 new old stock after 20 years or so pretty hard to believe.

Being in business you don`t lose records unless your the govmint and all your hard drives crash at the same time as your off site storage.

I hope you did not pay more for this " newer engine" in this truck.