3.0 pros and cons?

[Lil Evil1]

Looking at picking up a really nice 88 runner with a 3.0 this weekend but have noticed a lot of negative comments about that engine. What is so bad bout that engine?

 

[4runnerBrett]

Known for blowing head gaskets and spinning bearings. Thats the only real negative to the 3.0.

 

[tidehater72]

I love mine until i have to drive up a steady hill. Plenty of low end power IMO

 

[Footofgod]

Cons-Difficult to work on without tiny hands.

Pros-Take care of it and it will take care of you. I have 240,000 miles on mine. Runs great!

 

[Bad_Vision]

good engine great for crawling on trails.

 

[priestsallore]

I have a 3 with 322, still crawls well & runs well. Is underpowered from weight/power ratio but itll drive around anything any day. Agreed its a little bit more complicated to work on, mostly all of its hoses, but when you do it twice its nothing. Ive superheated mine, & head gaskets still were BP.

 

[dewiseman]

They are good engines if you take care of them...very reliable and long lasting. Most peoples biggest complaints are: poor gas mileage and poor power and not much you can do about either.

 

[Run4daN]

they are underpowered, use alot of fuel even on the HWY if there is hills,
Out bush i love mine, plenty of power in L4 and it just goes goes and goes.
Mines just ticked over 300k and still going

 

[Tanner]

I had a '90 4Runner with the 3.slow; little power and horrible fuel economy. I now have an '85 with the 22RE; much better in MY opinion. But I would still take a V6 model if it was cheap enough.

 

[kiyobrown]

3.0's are decent for what they are. Take care of them and they can rack up miles. But the best thing would be that you are set up for a 3.4 swap when the time comes. Trust me, I just did a 22re to 3.4 swap. Doing the swap from a 3.0 would have been waaaay easier. If that 88 is clean, grab it.

 

[ozzyleven]

I like the 3.0 okay. Owned it for 25k, about two years. Just a lot of annoying things to fix, most of which have been electrical due to brittle wiring and worn out sensors. Other than those types of things, I've only had to do regular maintenance for it. Honestly, my only gripes are the same as others = poor mpg, no power and hard to reach spaces. I also own a 22re but its a truck. Gets great mpg, is seemingly indestructible (my 3.0 seems so sensitive) and much easier to work on. As much as I like the 3.0, the 22re has so far cost a lot less to take care of/drive so its sort of winning right now.

 

[4runnertank]

Pros: 1. It'll run forever 2. Great for on the trail 3. relatively inexpensive for parts

Cons: 1. MPG sucks 2. no High end power 3. head gasket issue 4. CRAMMED into the engine bay with 10,000 vacuum lines, hard to get into 5. heavy

I still like mine tho

 

[kiyobrown]

My 22re was getting 19mpg, no matter if I stomped on it or drove like a grandma. The 3.0 I used to have a couple years back was a little worse. Right now, the 3.4 is 19.5 city and 22.5 highway. And I have recalibrated the ultragauge to the bigger tires, so that number should go up. I figure I will be in the 24-25 range after the calibration.