Bought a 95 4runner. 3.0 4x4 for dirt cheap. First Toyota. I havnt heard many good things about the motors in these things as far as the head gaskets. It wont turn over. I'm getting spark. Replaced the whole distributor, spark plugs and wires. And I sprayed starting fluid directly in the intake and still wont turn over. I found water in my oil. Drained the oil and blew out the spark plug holes with air and still wont turn over. So my first question is wouldn't it still start and run crappy with a blown head gasket? And 2 what is the best route to go as far as parts for replacing the head gasket?

 

As far as parts go I think the best route is a toyota 3.4 engine swap. I think fixing/rebuiding a 3.0 is a losing battle, unless you are one of the "lucky" ones you read about here.

 

First, when you mean "won't turn over" do you mean the engine won't crank, OR do you mean the engine won't start?

Water in the oil is never a good sign and can cause rusting and pitting if there is enough of it sitting in a spot for too long.

The 3VZ-E isn't a bad engine, and I think people give up on them way too quickly, but that is just my opinion.

 

If the crankshaft won't spin at all then all I can think is you either have an issue in the starter/starter circuit or you've got a very serious issue in the rotating assembly of the engine. If the crank isn't spinning and the distributor is, then you've probably got a broken timing belt. We really need more info. Have you ever seen this thing run? Is the wiring hacked up? Was there water in the cylinders? Were you getting spark before you replaced all the ignition stuff? When you replaced it did you verify timing?How bad was the oil, like a bit murky or totally milkshaked? What does the coolant look like? If it's a stick, have you tried bump starting it?

 

Wonder how long the previous owner let it sit not running. From my experience most let it sit several years thinking someday they'll fix it.
You might pull the heads and just see what you're getting into before you order anything.