89 4runner with v6?
- Thread starter jlewis74
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I love Toyota, but the 3vze 3.0 V6 is easily the worst engine Toyota has ever produced. It will constantly blow a headgasket, has a huge oil sludge problem and is horribly under powered.
At this point, 22 years later, no. Walk away from any 3vze engine. Toyota is no longer honoring the recall, so when it blows head gasket, and it will; you are on your own.
The head gasket issue is a design flaw. New gaskets will prolong, not cure the problem. The engine heats/cools weird do to s problematic engine cooling channel design.
I owned two of these. 1st time was in the 90's, and the second was 5 years ago. I know the 3vze very well. If YOU must get a 2nd gen runner, stick with the 22r engine. YES it is underpowered for the runner, but the engine design is rock solid. The 3.0 v6 isn't honestly much better, and it is a horrid design. There is a reason the 3.0 only lasted 5 years where almost every other Toyota engine lasted double or triple that. The 22r and its variants lasted almost 15 years in production. The 3.4 lasted 10/11 years and the 4.7 V8 12 years.
They killed that engine quick. AVOID IT.
At this point, 22 years later, no. Walk away from any 3vze engine. Toyota is no longer honoring the recall, so when it blows head gasket, and it will; you are on your own.
The head gasket issue is a design flaw. New gaskets will prolong, not cure the problem. The engine heats/cools weird do to s problematic engine cooling channel design.
I owned two of these. 1st time was in the 90's, and the second was 5 years ago. I know the 3vze very well. If YOU must get a 2nd gen runner, stick with the 22r engine. YES it is underpowered for the runner, but the engine design is rock solid. The 3.0 v6 isn't honestly much better, and it is a horrid design. There is a reason the 3.0 only lasted 5 years where almost every other Toyota engine lasted double or triple that. The 22r and its variants lasted almost 15 years in production. The 3.4 lasted 10/11 years and the 4.7 V8 12 years.
They killed that engine quick. AVOID IT.
KidVermicious
New member
This is new to me. I thought the headgasket trouble with the 3.0 was just improper torque from the factory.
SUBTEGRAL
Banned
"the 3vze 3.0 V6 is easily the worst engine Toyota has ever produced. It will constantly blow a headgasket, has a huge oil sludge problem and is horribly under powered."
"DC runner" just REALLY, REALLY has a hate-on passion for the 3.0L V6.
It will not "constantly" blow head gaskets, unless every 100,000+ miles is "constantly".
It does not have a "huge oil sludge problem".
And it is not "horribly under powered" unless it's connected to an automatic transmission or maybe a manual transmission where the engine has received a lot of user-neglect. This V6 is a smaller V6, hence "3.0 liter" .. what does he expect?
There is some truth to what he's saying, but he is also over doing it.
If well maintained, the Toyota 3.0L V6 is still a damn good engine.
But yes, there is no beating the 22R-E.
"DC runner" just REALLY, REALLY has a hate-on passion for the 3.0L V6.
It will not "constantly" blow head gaskets, unless every 100,000+ miles is "constantly".
It does not have a "huge oil sludge problem".
And it is not "horribly under powered" unless it's connected to an automatic transmission or maybe a manual transmission where the engine has received a lot of user-neglect. This V6 is a smaller V6, hence "3.0 liter" .. what does he expect?
There is some truth to what he's saying, but he is also over doing it.
If well maintained, the Toyota 3.0L V6 is still a damn good engine.
But yes, there is no beating the 22R-E.
