3.blow!

[ccannon222]

Well,
We got 297 miles on my wifes new 3.0 Long block. Blew a head gasket on the way to the landfill. :-( Now I am going to have to try to get MidAtlantic Engines to warrenty this thing.
This really sucks. My wife and I are going out of town next weekend and we were really hoping to take the 4runner instead of her little saturn.

chris

[mtnyota]

Damn, that sucks Chris.

[Littletoy]

Alway's something.

[ccannon222]

Well it might not be the head gasket after all. I did a pressure test of the cooling system and I found a heater hose that was leaking really badly. I fixed that and now the system holds pressure. However, now the motor runs like crap. Really rough and rich. I believe that the Engine Coolant Temp sensor took a dump. The cold start injector is dumping fuel in like crazy. I need to test that, the Cold Start Inj time switch sensor and the TVV valve. All three of these are located directly below where the leak was and could cause this problem.

Cross ya’ll fingers and hope that the HQ is holding.

ccannon222

[Ted]

Taking the 3 slow to the landfill huh :)

[ccannon222]

Taking, but not dumping it. LOL

ccannon222

[BeaterToyota]

You need to swap that 3.slow for a 3.fo'

[Eric_N]

You need to swap that 3.slow for a 3.fo'

WOW, your so white. :flipoff:

[mtnyota]

WOW, your so white. :flipoff:

FO- SHOO

[ccannon222]

My wife has to have an auto and it cost way too much money to swap in a 3.4 and auto. I could buy a newer 4R with a factory 3.4.

The point in this was the 4R was almost free and in great shape other than the motor. Put a motor in it, let her drive it a couple years then sell it and her car to buy something newer.

ccannon222

[ccannon222]

Well,
I replaced the ECT, double checked the vacum lines (they were correct), fixed the cold start injector plug (wire clip was on backwards) and tighted the injector harness ground wire. Now the runner runs good and as far I can tell no coolant is leaking.

Chris

[Eric_N]

Good to hear. I only messed with the 3.0 about 3 times when I worked at the dealer, and two of them we came to the conclusion that the engine needed replaced. The other one someone dumped a ton of money into it trying to keep it on the road.

[ccannon222]

The 3.0 problems are all heads, exhaust, and antiquated EFI system. The long stroke small bore design helped over up the poor head design of the heads when it came to low RPM power, but it really exaggerated it in the higher RPM’s. The bottom end is very strong, just like the 3.4. You can get around the exhaust problems by putting on headers, but there really isn’t anything you can do about the heads and EFI systems.

The exhaust manifold designs leads to a lot of burnt # 4 and # 6 exhaust valves and HQ failures around # 6 cylinder.

Also the power robbing A340H auto trans doesn’t help either.

The Bosh EFI system is very similar to the system used on the 22re, 5MGE, and 7MGE. It was great for the early 80’s. Toyota just stuck with it way too long to save money.

The 3.4 is what the 3.0 should have been. If Toyota put the Yamaha design DOHC heads on the 3.0 (3VZ-E) like the Camry motor (3VZ-FE) and didn’t have the passenger side exhaust dump directly into the drivers side manifold the 3.0 would be bullet proof just like the 3.4.

By using the DOHC head, not only would you by-pass the faulty matting surface design that is the main cause of the HQ failures, but Toyota would have been able to shorten up the stroke and increase the bore. With the increased intake velocity of the Yamaha DOHC heads this would have given a lot more HP with no loss in TQ. The .4 liter increase from the 3.0 to the 3.4 didn’t give the motor hardly any power increase.

Chris

[Eric_N]

Im trying to remember the exact cause of the two 3.0 failures that I saw, but I cant recall it. I do know that they were both high milage engines, and they did lead a good service life, which is something to be proud of.

[ccannon222]

3.0’s seem to be very weird engines. Some take a beating and some fail even when babied. The older ones seem to last longer than the newer ones. Also, I’ve heard of a lot of HQ failures after having the recall performed. Mainly because most dealers re-use the old head bolts and almost none of them have the heads checked for flatness and machined flat if needed.
All in all, it is one of the worst Toyota engines.
The thing that I like about Toyota is they turned this failure into one of the best motors they’ve ever made in the 3.4, IMHO.

Chris