1988 t4r 3.0... smoking! Yota gurus come help!

[mholme]

No problem. Good luck and post on your findings. There's no better way to get to know a 3VZE than a head gasket/timing belt/water pump party.

 

[sportinh2o]

You mentioned a possible future swap, so im going to chime in there. I had toyonlyswaps do the 5vz in my 89. It was the best thing I've ever done to my t4r. I had the hg failure at 245k on the 3vz and wasn't sad to see it go. It was pitiful on power for her size and way way to thirsty. If your at the cross roads and have the ability, take a serious look at that route.

Obviously a ton of threads on the topic. But I literally just had mine done and have 3k on the odometer since. I'm averaging 21-23 mpg using a Garmin for mileage. On an auto, that's outstanding.

 

[Dropzone]

You mentioned a possible future swap, so im going to chime in there. I had toyonlyswaps do the 5vz in my 89. It was the best thing I've ever done to my t4r. I had the hg failure at 245k on the 3vz and wasn't sad to see it go. It was pitiful on power for her size and way way to thirsty. If your at the cross roads and have the ability, take a serious look at that route.

Obviously a ton of threads on the topic. But I literally just had mine done and have 3k on the odometer since. I'm averaging 21-23 mpg using a Garmin for mileage. On an auto, that's outstanding.

was this about $5k to have done?

 

[10ac]

You mentioned a possible future swap, so im going to chime in there. I had toyonlyswaps do the 5vz in my 89. It was the best thing I've ever done to my t4r. I had the hg failure at 245k on the 3vz and wasn't sad to see it go. It was pitiful on power for her size and way way to thirsty. If your at the cross roads and have the ability, take a serious look at that route.

Obviously a ton of threads on the topic. But I literally just had mine done and have 3k on the odometer since. I'm averaging 21-23 mpg using a Garmin for mileage. On an auto, that's outstanding.

ill be doing that swap sometime near future but for now need this thing running to enjoy it for a bit. before winter time is over i wanna take my daughter camping and do some wheeling for now. i had a 3rd gen i built and it ran pretty well and with the trd supercharger and 7th injector, it was amazing. if i ever do the 3.4 swap, it will be equipped with trd s/c...... but later on. hoping after i do all this work to it, it will last a while.
i ordered everything now and all on the way. I've got a bit a work ahead of me... replacing clutch, rear main seal, clutch master cylinder, clutch slave cylinder, front main seal, power steering pump seal and o-rings, head gaskets, and timing kit w/water pump. then ill be changing ALL fluids. starting on it in 2 weeks.

 

[sportinh2o]

was this about $5k to have done?

I paid north of that with extras. They were pretty perfect. The truck had been sitting for years while life went on - I was exactly where 10ac was. Bad idle, bad mileage, then boom. Bad hg - then decisions.

 

[HanginInUtah]

Since I've done heads on two of these 3.0's, I'll chime in here...

RockAuto is seriously the best way to go.
Mahle, Victor, Fel-Pro are all great for gaskets. Gates, Dayco are great for timing kits with water pumps. Unless yours has had the oil cooler bypassed or sealed off, you need the bypass pipe on the water pump. The tensioner will be a spring, because they changed to hydraulic between 92 and 93. Head bolts are insurance... the Toyota repair manual says to torque them, and if they fail to replace. But I never want to bet on a set of head bolts.
Both of my engines, pulled the heads, found #6 was the problem, heads were machined but no cracks (only a few thousands to true them up) and the blocks were fine.
Don't forget a new pigtail for your knock sensor. 99% of the knock sensor issues are the pigtail getting hard, brittle, and creating an open in the circuit.

With machining, you should be around 5-600 for the job, doing it yourself.

Your exhaust idea... I've heard of some ideas to use an extra crossover pipe to cut and weld down pipes back to a crossover behind the transmission, but the right way to do it is with headers, even though they're expensive. Otherwise, make sure you have an awesomely clean cooling system, keep the temps down, and you can get some mileage out of those heads. A lot of repetitive head issues come back to extended high temps because something gets blocked or the Runner is run hard.

 

[mholme]

Since I've done heads on two of these 3.0's, I'll chime in here...

RockAuto is seriously the best way to go.
Mahle, Victor, Fel-Pro are all great for gaskets. Gates, Dayco are great for timing kits with water pumps. Unless yours has had the oil cooler bypassed or sealed off, you need the bypass pipe on the water pump. The tensioner will be a spring, because they changed to hydraulic between 92 and 93.

Are both of your trucks in your signature hydraulic tensioner? Maybe the oil cooler is a late 92-95 thing only. 88-early 92 is what I see water pumps without the outlet. My 88 had its engine replaced with something post early 92 so I have an oil cooler. There's a lot of little differences between the two, especially an 88. Makes ordering parts for me interesting...

 

[HanginInUtah]

Are both of your trucks in your signature hydraulic tensioner? Maybe the oil cooler is a late 92-95 thing only. 88-early 92 is what I see water pumps without the outlet. My 88 had its engine replaced with something post early 92 so I have an oil cooler. There's a lot of little differences between the two, especially an 88. Makes ordering parts for me interesting...

Nope. The 92 had a spring, the 95 hydraulic. And both of them had the oil cooler.
If they are not there on earlier ones, I may be intrigued to see if there is a plate or some way to block them off? As long as they don't leak, no big. But if they do leak, they're a major pain to repair. And the coolers are an awesome place to catch any contamination from your cooling system. My 92 was completely plugged up.

 

[mholme]

Nope. The 92 had a spring, the 95 hydraulic. And both of them had the oil cooler.
If they are not there on earlier ones, I may be intrigued to see if there is a plate or some way to block them off? As long as they don't leak, no big. But if they do leak, they're a major pain to repair. And the coolers are an awesome place to catch any contamination from your cooling system. My 92 was completely plugged up.

Interesting. And one of yours is an auto and one a manual so that's not it. Hmm..

 

[10ac]

Since I've done heads on two of these 3.0's, I'll chime in here...

RockAuto is seriously the best way to go.
Mahle, Victor, Fel-Pro are all great for gaskets. Gates, Dayco are great for timing kits with water pumps. Unless yours has had the oil cooler bypassed or sealed off, you need the bypass pipe on the water pump. The tensioner will be a spring, because they changed to hydraulic between 92 and 93. Head bolts are insurance... the Toyota repair manual says to torque them, and if they fail to replace. But I never want to bet on a set of head bolts.
Both of my engines, pulled the heads, found #6 was the problem, heads were machined but no cracks (only a few thousands to true them up) and the blocks were fine.
Don't forget a new pigtail for your knock sensor. 99% of the knock sensor issues are the pigtail getting hard, brittle, and creating an open in the circuit.

With machining, you should be around 5-600 for the job, doing it yourself.

Your exhaust idea... I've heard of some ideas to use an extra crossover pipe to cut and weld down pipes back to a crossover behind the transmission, but the right way to do it is with headers, even though they're expensive. Otherwise, make sure you have an awesomely clean cooling system, keep the temps down, and you can get some mileage out of those heads. A lot of repetitive head issues come back to extended high temps because something gets blocked or the Runner is run hard.

thanks for your help and info.
i actually already ordered oem knock sensor pigtail, oem head gasket kit, timing kit and more. I'm in all parts now at about 500. the head gasket kit was 268! my timing kit oem was 200 and knock harness about 20.
i believe as mholme mentioned, i have spring tensioner and no outlet pipe.

 

[10ac]

well everything is on the way. ill be taking pics and posting so we will see what i have soon.
I'm still unsure what to do then about the exhaust with crossover. i just don't wanna deal with this again till i do a 3.4 swap. headers for $650 plus i cannot do. id buy a 3.4l before doing that.
anyone know anyone who has headers for sale??????????? if so, pls let me know.
i may just need to do the crossover pipe mod. hmmmm

 

[KidVermicious]

I'm still unsure what to do then about the exhaust with crossover.

The VeeZee blows head gaskets for two reasons - reason one was incorrect head bolt torque from the factory, which you don't need to worry about. Reason two is too much heat from the crossover baking the head gasket right there by cylinder six, but that takes time. Years and years, unless you make a habit of running hot.

With a 3.4 swap in your future, I wouldn't sweat it. If you're really worried about it, wrap the crossover with exhaust tape and call it good.

 

[10ac]

blown HG

well, its a blown head gasket. its on a side that someone has replaced before. noticed while tearing into it that it had fel pro upper intake manifold gaskets and a chinease head gasket on it as well as alot of messy applied orange sealant. when i pulled heads, i saw one shiny brand new looking piston top with antifreeze in the cylinder...lol
i oredered the head gasket kit from toyota which had everything needed in the kit i needed from injector seals, exhaust manifold gaskets, manifold gaskets and more! was a great kit!!!
i also added new oem timing belt kit with pulleys and water pump.
one thing led to another so i said the hell with it and pulled the whole engine and did the rear main seal and brand new clutch kit and resurfaced flywheel, clutch master cylinder and slave cylinder. the pulled oil pan and resealed
( PITA!!).