My $500. project 4x4

I bought this 04 tacoma 4x4 with 147k miles last week from a customer at my work for 500.00. He ran it low on oil and starved the top end. Tonight i pulled the valve covers and this is what i found. I plan on replacing the heads, timing belt and related parts. I'm keepin' my fingers crossed that the bottom end survived.

 

Wow, you got an awesome deal! It's probably worth 10x that even without an engine.

 

Thanks, yea i was shocked when he said $500.00, but he trashed the interior. I spent 3 hours cleaning the filth from the inside and the caked on brake dust from the fr. wheels. But on the bright side i found 15.00 in bills and 33.00 in change!

 

Oh hell yeah thats a steal for sure! Why cant I get that lucky! haha! Sub'd to see how it turns out

 

$452 for a truck??? One of a kind deal!

 

woW!

 

Wow, smokin deal. Getting a $500 truck sounds like permission to beat the shit out of it and hack it up however you see fit. Congrats

 

Congrats on a good deal.

I'm headed to the seized vehicle auction tomorrow.

The last time I was there, I picked up a 93 Toy 4x4 reg cab with 80 K on the clock and blown head gasket. I fixed it, drove it for about three years and sold it for more than I had in it.

This time, I'm scouting a Tacoma Prerunner which appears intact.

 

Make sure you drop the pan. I can guarantee there is metal down there. If he ran it low on oil, the rod and crank bearings probably got hot. Just drop the caps and take a look for excessive scarring.

 

fuck, for $500 bucks, pick up a new engine from a junkyard and put it in...

 

goodluck finding anything tacoma related in a junkyard.

 

people who drive tacomas still get in accidents correct?

 

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Agreed...

 

Our shop deals with a couple salvage yards and they are only showing 2 complete 3.4's but with unknown mileage and they want $1500.00 each. I'm searching CL, but so far no luck. Has anybody purchased a engine from JDM? From what i've read they only import low mileage engines. It's a toyota so a high mileage engine does'nt scare me but for 1500.00 i would like to hear it run. I drained the oil tonight and there was no evidence of any metal, at least that i could see. Oil was clean, but that's because the po was adding oil frequently. I did see evidence of the oil leak from the oil filter area the other night when i first put it up on the lift and sure enough the filter was loose.

 

salvage yards will usually give you a warranty on the engine, my dad bought one for his ram a couple years ago thru a salvage yard, and had it put in. it ran fine, but they did give him a warranty on it. 1500 is not all that expensive for an engine.

 

yes but when one hits the junkyard the parts are scarfed up pretty quickly usually.i have yet to find one ina junkyard here. i want the console out of an 01 to 04.

 

$1500.00 is'nt a bad price, but not knowing the miles or not hearing it run scares me. They do give a 30 day warranty with it.

 

I think $1500 is a little steep for a V6 with mystery miles, could prolly do a rings,bearing & gasket job with small machine shop bill for less then that!

 

If going to a wrecking yard for an engine (which is a good idea) look for the "wrecked" vehicle, that way at least you know that it was running up to that point....

 

That's what i was thinking, but because of the seized/broken cam, i'm gonna have to replace the dr. side cylinder head. The pass head might be able to be machined, idk, i may have to replace both heads. So a complete running used engine may be the way i should go. This is my winter project so i have time to shop around. My plan is to educate myself here about taco's and 3.4L's, i appreicate all the feedback, thanks.