The Engine Is A Goner, Warped Head And Long Block!!

the_josh

the_josh

New member
this is a continuation of my last thread:

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=49589


this past saturday night i brought my truck over my friends house (a toyota tech trainer) and we did a compression test on all cylinders and cyl 6 was pulling 199psi which was high compared to the others and that was the known cylinder that has been misfiring on startup, so we decided to do a compression leak down test, we put the engine at TDC and pressurize the cylinder and then we take off the radiator cap and guess what we see???

constant and consistant bubbling which means that the head/block is warped and since its a aluminium block its pretty much shot, sooooo i need a new engine at 128,000 miles!!!

so with the info at hand combined with all the past tests, we now know we need to pull the engine which a engine pull and replace is gonna run about 20 hours!!!

my friend then starts the search for a 1GRFE engine and he finds one the same day at a specialized toyota recycler up in sac only a hour away. i am going up tomorrow morning first thing to buy the engine, its from a 2005 sport with only 50k miles on it and with my buddys toyota discount its only going to cost me $1400 for a practically new engine, then the next step is the fun part....... 20 hours of pulling out the old v6 and putting in a new one, and dont worry i plan on documenting the whoe thing!!!


is anyone curious about what im going to do with the old engine? well im gonna strip down that aluminum block and make a sweet coffee table hahha
 
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the_josh said:
this is a continuation of my last thread:

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=49589


this past saturday night i brought my truck over my friends house (a toyota tech trainer) and we did a compression test on all cylinders and cyl 6 was pulling 199psi which was high compared to the others and that was the known cylinder that has been misfiring on startup, so we decided to do a compression leak down test, we put the engine at TDC and pressurize the cylinder and then we take off the radiator cap and guess what we see???

constant and consistant bubbling which means that the head/block is warped and since its a aluminium block its pretty much shot, sooooo i need a new engine at 128,000 miles!!!

so with the info at hand combined with all the past tests, we now know we need to pull the engine which a engine pull and replace is gonna run about 20 hours!!!

my friend then starts the search for a 1GRFE engine and he finds one the same day at a specialized toyota recycler up in sac only a hour away. i am going up tomorrow morning first thing to buy the engine, its from a 2005 sport with only 50k miles on it and with my buddys toyota discount its only going to cost me $1400 for a practically new engine, then the next step is the fun part....... 20 hours of pulling out the old v6 and putting in a new one, and dont worry i plan on documenting the whoe thing!!!


is anyone curious about what im going to do with the old engine? well im gonna strip down that aluminum block and make a sweet coffee table hahha
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I was going to say make a planter out of it! It sucks that the engine is toast though. Maybe you could sell the good parts like the rotating assembly etc. to someone who needs it. Will be interested to see the engine changeover.:cheers:
 
Does this have anything to do with your timing belt breaking a while back? I find it extremely hard to believe that an engine, a Toyota engine at that, would be toast with a little over 100k miles even if driven under harsh conditions.

Best of luck and keep us posted. At least the pics and write-up will be cool! :) Now would be a good time to pick up that new Haynes manual for '03-'09 4Runners as well!
 
G.I.G. said:
Does this have anything to do with your timing belt breaking a while back? I find it extremely hard to believe that an engine, a Toyota engine at that, would be toast with a little over 100k miles even if driven under harsh conditions.

Best of luck and keep us posted. At least the pics and write-up will be cool! :) Now would be a good time to pick up that new Haynes manual for '03-'09 4Runners as well!
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Must have been someone else, V6 has a timing CHAIN.
 
drmorbius said:
Must have been someone else, V6 has a timing CHAIN.
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That's right, I forgot. Was it the serpentine belt then? I might be getting this confused with someone else. :confused:
 
Sorry to hear about your problems with the engine, that is not good news for the rest of the 4.0 V6 owners. I decided to put this in the 4th gen. section, instead of the "genaral section".

If you are going to document the swap, I will go ahead and make this thread a sticky. Hopefully, the rest of us won't need this thread, but sh*t, happens.:confused:
 
G.I.G. said:
That's right, I forgot. Was it the serpentine belt then? I might be getting this confused with someone else. :confused:
Click to expand...

It was my truck with the broken serpentine belt but the misfire on cyl 6 has been occuring for months and I had no idea Anything was wrong besides just a random rough start- then I went 4wheeling and mud got caked in the engine and caused two pulleys to seize which in turn caused the serpentine belt to snap. When the belt broke I was only a mile away from the dealership and the engine was running hot so maybe that made the existing problem worse?
 
Your right about going with a V8, different components, harness, computer, maybe even a different catalytic converter, anyway, it would be hard, not impossible, but hard.

As far as over heating goes, the V6 is the first Toyota all aluminum truck engine. I remember years ago, when the Chevy Vega (worst car ever made) would over heat, it would warp the head. I don't know if the aluminum block had anything to do with it, but ....

Josh, good luck in your engine swap. I will be looking everyday to see how this goes. Be sure to post some pics.
 
peter78 said:
Sorry to hear about your problems with the engine, that is not good news for the rest of the 4.0 V6 owners. I decided to put this in the 4th gen. section, instead of the "genaral section".

If you are going to document the swap, I will go ahead and make this thread a sticky. Hopefully, the rest of us won't need this thread, but sh*t, happens.:confused:
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I will document the complete swap for the duration of it all starting today when I get home today with the first pictures of the engine and let me tell you, it's a beaut!!

Here is the stats on the engine:

From a 2006 Tacoma Xrunner
61,000 documented miles
Original plugs still in it and regular maint performed

So it's still a very young engine, I can't even remember hitting 60k it seems so long ago
 
heres is the engine sitting in front of my buddys 86' runner

<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j124/chevelle02/?action=view&current=IMG_3675.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j124/chevelle02/IMG_3675.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j124/chevelle02/?action=view&current=IMG_3676.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j124/chevelle02/IMG_3676.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j124/chevelle02/?action=view&current=IMG_3677.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j124/chevelle02/IMG_3677.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j124/chevelle02/?action=view&current=IMG_3678.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j124/chevelle02/IMG_3678.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j124/chevelle02/?action=view&current=IMG_3679.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j124/chevelle02/IMG_3679.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j124/chevelle02/?action=view&current=IMG_3680.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j124/chevelle02/IMG_3680.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
 
peter78 said:
Your right about going with a V8, different components, harness, computer, maybe even a different catalytic converter, anyway, it would be hard, not impossible, but hard.

As far as over heating goes, the V6 is the first Toyota all aluminum truck engine. I remember years ago, when the Chevy Vega (worst car ever made) would over heat, it would warp the head. I don't know if the aluminum block had anything to do with it, but ....

Josh, good luck in your engine swap. I will be looking everyday to see how this goes. Be sure to post some pics.
Click to expand...

warping of the head is a characteristic of aluminum and it pretty much happens right when the engine overheats, thats just aluminum for ya!!

i asked my friend about why the engine was a goner and how come it cant be fixed and also why does it seem that newer toyotas just dont last as long as older generations and he told me its all down to the materials used, he said this engine can continue to run for years in its condition as it is all i have to do it just keep adding more water to radiator to keep it going, and there are many people out there probably with this same issue, but internally the engine just keeps getting worse and that not what i wanted, i ant to fix the problems and have a good engine again. he also said that the reason the engine is all aluminum is because of comsumer demand, they wanted a 4runner that can get 15-20mpg and how can you possibly get that? well you have to shed 400 pounds by going to a aluminum block and heads among other things- the older generations had cast iron blocks and can take more abuse but thats just not the same with aluminum :(

the only symptom i can possibly recall to what cause this whole issue was one time i was towing a decent sized load probably 2500-3000 pound load in traffic and and then water temp was fine but then the a/t temp warning light came on and i pulled over immediately for 30 mins to cool down then i went home and it ran fine, but it was around that time frame that i started noticing the misfire but i cant be fore sure if the misfire happenned before or after-
 
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Looks like you have a nice clutch, pressure plate and flywheel there too. Also the air intake assembly looks different than the 4Runner.
 
drmorbius said:
the air intake assembly looks different than the 4Runner.
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hmmm i thought it looked the same but ill have to examine mine, even so if it is i still have my current engines pieces to swap over

i was thinking about popping off the old valve covers and getting them powdercoated fire engine red just for the heck if it, what do you guys think???
 
Is your ECU/ignition system going to accept an engine that it wasnt initially programmed to accept?

I understand its the same model engine but what about unique ID's for each engine.

Are taco engine's made in the US?
 
the_josh said:
hmmm i thought it looked the same but ill have to examine mine, even so if it is i still have my current engines pieces to swap over

i was thinking about popping off the old valve covers and getting them powdercoated fire engine red just for the heck if it, what do you guys think???
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I just looked in the factory service manual and they do look the same. Great, now you can pick the parts that are in the best shape.
 
eskimochaos said:
Is your ECU/ignition system going to accept an engine that it wasnt initially programmed to accept?

I understand its the same model engine but what about unique ID's for each engine.

Are taco engine's made in the US?
Click to expand...

My buddy who is the toyota tech trainer did extensive research on the matter and he says it's a direct swap, he said we'll probably have to put in a new water pump but other than that it's a straight swap

I'm not sure how the engine id's matter?

And the engine was made in japan
 
drmorbius said:
I just looked in the factory service manual and they do look the same. Great, now you can pick the parts that are in the best shape.
Click to expand...

oh good news!!! anyone need and spare parts?!? hahah
 
the_josh said:
oh good news!!! anyone need and spare parts?!? hahah
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Can I have a piston and connecting rod? I think it would make a sweet paper weight. I'm being dead serious too.

Back on topic, I think its really neat that you are taking this on yourself. And look forward to future pics and updates at your unfortunate expense!
 
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