Reman or Rebuild? Just found my mileage had been rolled back

[jimmyrecluse]

So I've had my SR5 V6 AWD for almost 6 years. Runs perfectly. Recently lifted it, got an aluminum radiator, and Magnuson supercharger, rebuilt the transfer case, and everything on the truck works.

I had also decided to keep it forever before doing this stuff.

While checking into service and recall records, I got the hint that something might be up. I ran a Carfax check, yes years late, and confirmed. The original owner kept it for almost 12 years and put an average of 23K miles a year for a total of 280K. The second owner kept it for less than 3 months and sold it with rolled back mileage. I didn't pay much for it and the paint and frame and interior were good, no rust on the frame, paint was excellent

I'm contacting the state dept to start an investigation.

The first owners miles seem to be freeway, which wear far less than city, but ill never know

I'm estimating given the math in the history and what I've put on it, 40k miles in 6 years, that it's got around 330K - 340k

Selling it is an option, but it looks like a replacement cost difference might make up for a rebuild engine and trans. I'm still thinking this out

I'd like to keep it for another 350k miles - it's lifted, supercharged, armored, and I've rebuilt the trans case, replaced the rear main seal, and other upgrades. Compression is good. There are no accidents on record and it's been solid. I drive it on 200 mile at a time trips and don't want to blow a head gasket or have some other high mileage failure on the road

Timing belt and wp have 40k miles, fluids are all clean, plug wires, plugs and coils new.

So the question is, are reman engines and trans reliable? Close or at OEM reliability?

Or should I rebuild the engine and trans with an OEM kit?

If reman engines are superior, I might drive this until something blows.

If a rebuild is the best route, I'd plan to do this sooner rather than later.

What are your thoughts?

 

[G_Raw]

I'd say pull a good condition OEM and rebuild and drop it in when yours goes, then del with swapping the SC.


Otherwise ride it out and when your SC 3.4 goes drop a tundra v8 in...

That's just me though...

 

[jimmyrecluse]

The V8 crossed my mind

Also, the odometer had 140k when I bought it. Shows 180k now. The 2nd owner who had it for less than 3 months rolled it to 127k

If that tundra motor dropped right in I would be tempted

 

[UnderFire]

I'd find a good used motor and have it rebuilt and ready to go when the time comes. Mileage doesn't scare me with these trucks, and original owner up to 280k is a huge plus and it sounds like you've taken care of it. Trucks probably in the best shape it could be for 300k+.

I just supercharged my all original 260k mile Tacoma, bought from the 2nd owners (since 2005, 70k) all dealer maintained. Not a worry in my mind that something will go wrong and still doesn't burn a drop of oil.

Sent from my JSN-L23 using Tapatalk

 

[jimmyrecluse]

I'd find a good used motor and have it rebuilt and ready to go when the time comes. Mileage doesn't scare me with these trucks, and original owner up to 280k is a huge plus and it sounds like you've taken care of it. Trucks probably in the best shape it could be for 300k+.

I just supercharged my all original 260k mile Tacoma, bought from the 2nd owners (since 2005, 70k) all dealer maintained. Not a worry in my mind that something will go wrong and still doesn't burn a drop of oil.

Sent from my JSN-L23 using Tapatalk

I had a feeling it seems solid so far. Mine burns half a quart every 5k miles, which ain't much. I'm just bummed and want it to be reliable for what I use it for.

 

[G_Raw]

I had a feeling it seems solid so far. Mine burns half a quart every 5k miles, which ain't much. I'm just bummed and want it to be reliable for what I use it for.

It's reliable. Just maintain it from here...

 

[BoomerBob]

You should do your own research of course but if you do plan on putting a reman long block in; you might want to consider the "Yota" engines. They are by far the most expensive but from what I understand; it's because they use OEM Aisin parts to rebuild/reman them. I went with a seller on ebay and I'm very happy with it so far but we'll see what I think in 100k or 200k miles if I ever put that many on it.

Rebuilt Toyota Engines - Toyota 3.4L 5VZ-FE V6 - YOTASHOP

Of course some of the peripheral parts may need replacing too if you want the most reliability. Things like the radiator, water pump, timing belt kit, starter (or just replace the contacts), and all the hoses are a no-brainer if stock or well worn. I personally wouldn't worry about easy to change parts like the alternator but things like the oil cooler should be carefully inspected with new seals/hoses because they are a pain to work on once the engine is in. Doable; just has a pain in the butt factor. If you aren't in a hurry and can take your time by making it a process rather than a rush job then that works heavily in your favor.

Not sure I'd change out the auto trans unless I felt it was not shifting or acting right in some way. Generally speaking; these are amazingly stout auto trans. Yes, they break, but no where near as frequent as many other makes. It's not unusual to replace a Ford F150 auto trans every 150k-200k miles if they see hard duty like towing or lots of heavy acceleration. These 3.4L engines are quite stout and well known for it but they are also known for not being all that powerful which is why so many add the superchargers. It's also a big reason why they last so long. They are underpowered but they are also over built. That combo equals longevity assuming good maintenance. I know I'm preaching to the choir saying these things here; just wanted to keep that in perspective.

IMHO these rigs are well worth reconditioning to the point of being like-new. Can't say that about a lot of other cars and trucks.

 

[jimmyrecluse]

I totally agree

It's not a rush job, would be awesome if I could get another 100 K out of it, everything seems to be in good shape and well maintained and I know I've maintained it well in the 6 years that I've had it.

I just hope I'm not tempting Murphy's law on a long trip

Remanns.com sells the reman engine for 3,700 and includes a 7 year unlimited mileage warranty. Are they serious??

NO FAULT: 7 Years, mileage plus $50/Hour Mitchell Labor reimbursement rate paid regardless of reason for failure

 

[plcfcng]

The above advice is solid about the rebuild. You spoke about going after the seller I don't think you going to get anywhere with that there is a term called buyer beware. You should have done the Carfax before you purchased the Runner it would have gave you leverage over the price. You have had it a while the best you could do is take him to small claims court over the difference in value and that will be difficult to prove and if you win it very hard to collect. The second 4runner I purchased showed less than 200,000. I purchased it for a good price with some problems I fixed it and sold it but told the purchaser that I could not be sure of the mileage before I sold it to him.:shocked:

 

[jimmyrecluse]

The above advice is solid about the rebuild. You spoke about going after the seller I don't think you going to get anywhere with that there is a term called buyer beware. You should have done the Carfax before you purchased the Runner it would have gave you leverage over the price. You have had it a while the best you could do is take him to small claims court over the difference in value and that will be difficult to prove and if you win it very hard to collect. The second 4runner I purchased showed less than 200,000. I purchased it for a good price with some problems I fixed it and sold it but told the purchaser that I could not be sure of the mileage before I sold it to him.:shocked:

So it was you! I'm not going after anyone, this is the owner before me and the last, the 2nd in line out of 4, me being the 4th.

But I am going to report it

So you would go over a supervised rebuild rather than remanufactured?

 

[VernySanders]

How do you know for a fact that someone didnt already swap the engine for a lower mileage one, thus the rollback? Get a lower mileage oem or jdm engine and just throw all new gaskets and a new rear main seal on it making sure you properly torque it all to spec. I reman semi truck differentials for Weller truck parts and Jasper owns our company. Personally I love reman products. But only the ones I build. I work with some realllllll knuckleheads. Reman is hit and miss because you never know who remanufactured it, what parts they decided to reuse and push and and what parts are brand new but probably aftermarket. Remanufacturing is different than rebuilding. Rebuilding is assuming all brand new parts, remanufacturing is taking something apart, seeing what parts failed what didnt, what needs to be replaced and what will be ran again. Noone is remanufacturing these engines up to toyota spec. If my engine goes, only option for me personally is the one I first stated or me personally rebuilding the engine with all new OEM parts. That would be more fun, however it would be more expensive and who knows what if I have one too many beers one night and screw it all up

 

[Greaser]

It sucks that people do things like that. No honor.

That said it warms my heart that you supercharged a stock motor with nearly 300k on it and have obviously driven it quite a lot since and it's still running strong.

 

[jimmyrecluse]

It sucks that people do things like that. No honor.

That said it warms my heart that you supercharged a stock motor with nearly 300k on it and have obviously driven it quite a lot since and it's still running strong.

330k at least

Yeah totally sucks, someone bought it, rolled back the mileage, and sold it at a profit

 

[jimmyrecluse]

How do you know for a fact that someone didnt already swap the engine for a lower mileage one, thus the rollback? Get a lower mileage oem or jdm engine and just throw all new gaskets and a new rear main seal on it making sure you properly torque it all to spec. I reman semi truck differentials for Weller truck parts and Jasper owns our company. Personally I love reman products. But only the ones I build. I work with some realllllll knuckleheads. Reman is hit and miss because you never know who remanufactured it, what parts they decided to reuse and push and and what parts are brand new but probably aftermarket. Remanufacturing is different than rebuilding. Rebuilding is assuming all brand new parts, remanufacturing is taking something apart, seeing what parts failed what didnt, what needs to be replaced and what will be ran again. Noone is remanufacturing these engines up to toyota spec. If my engine goes, only option for me personally is the one I first stated or me personally rebuilding the engine with all new OEM parts. That would be more fun, however it would be more expensive and who knows what if I have one too many beers one night and screw it all up ����

I don't know that someone didn't swap it out but the title doesn't show that the chassis mileage is different than the actual mileage. Someone just rolled it back
My gut is telling me that OEM parts rebuild is the way to go, thanks for that bit of remanufactured advice. I seem to recall that with other Remanufactured products, they just take out what needs to be replaced and leave the rest, nothing standard as far as a full rebuild.

 

[mtbtim]

The V8 crossed my mind

Also, the odometer had 140k when I bought it. Shows 180k now. The 2nd owner who had it for less than 3 months rolled it to 127k

If that tundra motor dropped right in I would be tempted

There is no such thing as a "Drop In" V8 motor swap for our rigs. You'll have alter the wiring harness which alone is a lot of research and tedious work. You'll have to make custom motor mounts. You'll have to reposition the transmission cross member. You'll have to make custom length driveshafts. You'll have to create a custom electric fan and fan shroud set-up. You'll need to alter the exhaust. You'll have to make custom AC lines. Lots and lots of work to do one of these right.

Like somebody mentioned, I've heard good things about the Yota shop. When the time comes and you need a new engine, order an engine from the Yota shop and swap over the needed parts from your original engine. If this is your only vehicle, I highly suggest you get a back-up. Having a second vehicle makes big projects like motor swaps possible and less stressful. You can take your time with the swap and not be in a rush because you're paying for a rental or borrowing a vehicle so you can get to work and run other necessary errands.

Here's a video documentary of what is entailed with a V8 swap for our rigs.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Fce7IgMTdKg" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[mtbtim]

How do you know for a fact that someone didnt already swap the engine for a lower mileage one, thus the rollback? Get a lower mileage oem or jdm engine and just throw all new gaskets and a new rear main seal on it making sure you properly torque it all to spec. I reman semi truck differentials for Weller truck parts and Jasper owns our company. Personally I love reman products. But only the ones I build. I work with some realllllll knuckleheads. Reman is hit and miss because you never know who remanufactured it, what parts they decided to reuse and push and and what parts are brand new but probably aftermarket. Remanufacturing is different than rebuilding. Rebuilding is assuming all brand new parts, remanufacturing is taking something apart, seeing what parts failed what didnt, what needs to be replaced and what will be ran again. Noone is remanufacturing these engines up to toyota spec. If my engine goes, only option for me personally is the one I first stated or me personally rebuilding the engine with all new OEM parts. That would be more fun, however it would be more expensive and who knows what if I have one too many beers one night and screw it all up

I think there is a chance you got your terms reversed. It was my understanding that "Remanufacturing" was more thorough than "Rebuilding". When [MENTION=102606]infamousRNR[/MENTION] and I purchased a "Remanned" transmission from Toyota, we were told this included renewing every movable part. The only thing that remains original is the housing. Rebuilding on the other hand was only replacing the parts that were worn out.

I just did a search on what the difference is between Rebuilding and Remanufacturing and from what I have found, I am correct that Remanufacturing is the much more thorough of the two and thus more expensive. But, I imagine these terms are swapped for one another on a regular basis. A shop might say they sell rebuilt engines but their process is actually more close to remanufacturing because they are replacing all the wear parts and bringing it as close to a brand new state as they can.

 

[jimmyrecluse]

No doubt it's a lot of work, I've have swapped motors before in other cars and I am not going down that path ever again, but it did cross my mind.

It is not my only car, just my weekend off road overland get away rig. I believe I will analyze costs as far as the yota remanufactured goes and rebuilding my own. If there is a huge difference, I may consider one over the other

Of course if I throw a rod for some reason, then the answer might be more obvious - rebuild another used engine or purchase reman

With the added weight of the armor and the supercharger has just made me a little nervous about getting stranded in the middle of somewhere. But like I said, it run strong, you would not guess it had such high mileage based on the condition of the rest of the truck, I do believe these are freeway miles. I'm going to do another compression check and if things are good I won't worry

 

[jimmyrecluse]

I think there is a chance you got your terms reversed. It was my understanding that "Remanufacturing" was more thorough than "Rebuilding". When [MENTION=102606]infamousRNR[/MENTION] and I purchased a "Remanned" transmission from Toyota, we were told this included renewing every movable part. The only thing that remains original is the housing. Rebuilding on the other hand was only replacing the parts that were worn out.

I just did a search on what the difference is between Rebuilding and Remanufacturing and from what I have found, I am correct that Remanufacturing is the much more thorough of the two and thus more expensive. But, I imagine these terms are swapped for one another on a regular basis. A shop might say they sell rebuilt engines but their process is actually more close to remanufacturing because they are replacing all the wear parts and bringing it as close to a brand new state as they can.

You bought a remanufactured transmission from Toyota? I need to look into that

 

[plcfcng]

If this is not going to be a daily driver and going to be a hobby then I would lean toward doing the rebuild myself. You learn alot it is not a very complex engine to rebuild. I did a 90% rebuild on my current 2001 Sport. I thought it was just going to be a head gasket but when I opened it up I found two cylinders with score marks, not deep enough to be rebored but I did have to replace two pistons. I re-ringed it honed the cylinders and replaced the rod bearings for good measure they were in pretty good shape but the pistons were out so I did it anyway. I didn't do the mains as the engine was still in the car. I have 10,000 miles on it and it runs great.

The thing to remember for me is the bottom end are very strong and alot of the engines loose a head gasket at 180,000 to 250,000 maybe from lack of coolant service and at this point the valves are usually out of spec so I just send the heads out to a good machine shop let them grind the valves, resurface the heads and let them set valve lash. This cost about 500.00 but worth it to me. Use a high end parts if your going to keep it. If you have not rebuilt a engine before do have someone to keep you on track on what to do.

As far as reporting the mileage roll back I just don't understand where you can go with that.

Enjoy working on your Runner :clap2:

 

[jimmyrecluse]

If this is not going to be a daily driver and going to be a hobby then I would lean toward doing the rebuild myself. You learn alot it is not a very complex engine to rebuild. I did a 90% rebuild on my current 2001 Sport. I thought it was just going to be a head gasket but when I opened it up I found two cylinders with score marks, not deep enough to be rebored but I did have to replace two pistons. I re-ringed it honed the cylinders and replaced the rod bearings for good measure they were in pretty good shape but the pistons were out so I did it anyway. I didn't do the mains as the engine was still in the car. I have 10,000 miles on it and it runs great.

The thing to remember for me is the bottom end are very strong and alot of the engines loose a head gasket at 180,000 to 250,000 maybe from lack of coolant service and at this point the valves are usually out of spec so I just send the heads out to a good machine shop let them grind the valves, resurface the heads and let them set valve lash. This cost about 500.00 but worth it to me. Use a high end parts if your going to keep it. If you have not rebuilt a engine before do have someone to keep you on track on what to do.

As far as reporting the mileage roll back I just don't understand where you can go with that.

Enjoy working on your Runner :clap2:

I've not done a complete thorough rebuild on the same engine but I have done some heavy lifting

As far as reporting it, it can't hurt and will only take a few minutes of my time to make the call

I will use OEM parts