The engine blew up in my daughter's 2001 4Runner (connecting rod broke) and I am wondering what I should do with it? The truck has about 171k miles on it and is in great shape otherwise, but to drop a used or rebuilt engine in her will run between $5k and $8k according to the Toyota dealer where it broke down.

The truck is 4 hours away from me and I could go get it and drag it home on a trailer. Putting an engine in it seems like a bad idea to me but perhaps others would disagree. I am inclined to sell it as is and buy her something else but she absolutely loves that truck.

Any advice is appreciated. Is it worth much to any 4Runner lovers out there?

Richard

The dealer estimate is crazy.

Where are you located? If you're in the north, what's the rust situation on the frame?

V6 or inline-4 engine?

I've swapped a few motors on my yotas. Dealer def not the way to go. 171K if body and frame good worth doing a motor swap. Don't go the dealer route obviously. Not sure where you live, I'm in MA. I can pick up decent motors $500-$1,200. I paid $1,200 for my last 3rd gen motor with 112K on it, that was high price for me, but it considering the mileage and I saw it in a running truck with digital odometer I know wasn't "clocked" and ran mint.
Book time by a mechanic for a 3rd gen V6 swap is about 20 hrs. I was lucky and found someone to do it for less that $500, I felt guilty and gave him extra money. So total job motor and labor for me was about $1,700. If you use a regular shop and they go by the book time it will be around $2,000 for swap. So maybe $3,000 on the high side motor and labor. Shop around for a reputable swap guy and I would say you could chop the book time minimum in half at least.

I agree that if its in good shape, then just swap a motor in. It's really not that difficult.

I am in Virginia and the truck is sitting in Lumberton NC at the moment. The body has no rust and the truck is in very good shape otherwise. Original paint, never wrecked. Cloth interior is a little dirty, but no tips or tears in the uphostery.

Sounds like I should go get it and try to locate an engine. I talked to my mechanic here and he told me that those engines are hard to find and he has seen crazy prices quoted for them. Looks like I need to start looking for one.

You can order jdm motors with like 60k for $700-$1200. Then just swap some accessories and document Milages, detail and enjoy

I swapped a JDM motor into my 2001 last year. I used my old fuel injectors (changed orings). It really wasn't that bad. Took my 2 days working by myself. I also did timing belt, water pump, thermostat, etc...
I think I spent around 2k but now I have a motor with 60k miles on it and it runs great.
Check this thread out.
My Engine Swap in progress!

Heres mine

5VZ FE Engine Replacement

My opinion, I would go get it and check around your home location for a rebuilder.

Here is a motor in Virginia on Craig's list in NC:

https://raleigh.craigslist.org/ptd/d...573524688.html

If it's not rusty, definitely swap the engine.

The 5vz-fe is all over ebay, many times with free shipping. Also try car-part.com

Crazy.

I think this is only the second time I've read/seen a connecting rod breaking on this engine.

If the truck is in otherwise good shape, definitely just swap in a new/used motor. It's a big job, or at least it was to me but it's definitely worth it in the end.

Or just find a new/used engine and pay a shop to do it. You should be able to have the whole repair/swap done including the price of the engine for about 3 grand (assuming you can find a good independent shop). As it sits right now, it ain't worth much and it's hard to get a decent vehicle for 3 grand.

PS. Tell the stealership to go %$@# themselves....

Huh? Does not know how many 4Runners were sold in the US? LOL

They are everywhere.

I say go get it and put an engine in it. The 3.4 is one of the most simple engine removals/installs that I have done. I pulled a blown up 280k engine and dropped in a 117k one that I picked up off car-part for 800 bucks. Took about 12 hours total.

Me thinks that the mechanic smells an opportunity to grab a good truck for cheap and fix it/flip it himself. FWIW, I'm in Baltimore. A close friend had to replace the motor in his '97 in November. He found a JDM dealer in Alexandria that delivered the motor to the repair shop for $850. ( JDM means Japanese Domestic Market, these shops import good used parts straight from Japan. There's no less than 4 of these shops in NoVa)

All told, the entire bill to fix his truck was right at $2300. Considering how rust free and general good condition his 'runner is, it was worth it to him to fix it.

is it 2wd or 4wd? what shape is the interior in? any pictures? There seems to be enough positive energy here to persuade you to go engine replacement, but I'm thinking if you're exploring all options, we should band together and give you some ideas as to a sold "as-is" price if you don't want to deal with the swap at the end of the day