Rebuilt Engines

Good Morning buys looking for some advice, So my 99 tacoma finally blew its head gasket and i plan on replacing the engine with a rebuilt longblock. Anybody have any suggestion on who to talk too about this. I've checked several online shops and my local mechanic but it seems to be crap shot when it comes down to reliability. Any help would be greatly appreciated as i'd like to make the purchase once. Thanks in advance for any info.

 

On line is fine unless you have issues Freight back and forth gets expensive.

Are you installing and pulling yourself??.

I don`t know any engine rebuilders that pay labor to remove and replace a bad engine no matter how good their warranty might be

Why not do the engine yourself?

Gotta be a Machine Shop close

 

As long as you have a torque wrench and some basic tools, a head gasket isn't really all that difficult, and certainly less expensive than a whole new (rebuilt) long block.

I did one on my '86 4Runner several years ago without much prior experience (I did take autoshop in high school, lol).

Get a HG kit, some new head bolts, and have at it. If you're considering doing the engine swap yourself, the HG would be far less work, IMO. If you're paying a shop to do the engine replace, just have them source the longblock.

That said, do you have reason to believe there are other issues with your current motor? Or is it just the HG that's the issue?

 

I want to cover all my bases when coming to that part my the vehicle so with that said i'd rather not just replace a headgasket when so much more could've been affected especially when it had over 300,000 miles on it. Its not the cost factor it's about getting my money worth. I pretty sure replacing the gasket would be fine but i'm not willing to chance it when if it was more than that I'd be down shit creek somewhere costing me more in recovery than if i would've just done a clean swap in the first place. I'm not looking for a quick fix but a long term answer to is my engine dependable. I'm not planning on doing the swap cause i dont have the space or the time, i have a general knowledge of what to do and youtube has been fantastic but by the time you factor it specialty tools trips to autostore and time away that's not worth it to me.

 

What guarantee do you have that the new engine (the block part) will be in better condition than what you have now. Unless you buy brand new engine it is a crap shot. I would rather remove the head and then evaluate what the bottom looks like. Of course if your current engine was running with no oil, got flooded or seriously overheated then the blok probably suffers some hard time. But the age or miles alone mean nothing to these engines if were taken care according to service schedule.

 

Yotashop seems to have good reviews.
A dressed 2.7 3rz is $5,000 Plus a $600 core & shipping charges.
If the 2.7 in my 02 tacoma ever goes, I think I'd go with a JDM used motor. They seem to run about $1500 with 100k or so miles on them. From what I've seen on craigslist they are usually available within a reasonable driving distance from me here in Massachusetts.
I like my tacoma as much as the next guy, but I'm not sure I could justify spending $6k on a motor for it.

 

https://minneapolis.craigslist.org/hnp/pts/d/farmington-toyota-tacoma-engine-27l/7042137064.html

 

Also something to think about... the truck has 300k on it. You can spend 6k on a new engine and the transmission or anything else could give out.

I’d spend the time on updating other components and do the HG and timing belt myself.

a new engine is not worth it for a truck with that many miles imo. Unless the rest of the truck has all the updates and is in mint condition.

 

This..I just don't see the point unless this truck has some kind of sentimental value to you.

-Fix HG and drive it into the ground. Maybe you'll get another 20-100k out of it, maybe more. Price that around $500 for parts and new fluids assuming you do it yourself/with a friend.

-Put in a new motor at $4-6k for a truck that is worth...probably 4k with that kind of mileage. With a new motor maybe it will be worth 6k but you'll still have a 300k drive train.

 

I got my 3RZ from Yota1 performance for $2700 shipped residential. I've only put 12k miles or so because I ended up swapping it into my 4Runner. They are in Modesto I think and are also a great machine shop. I've also read/heard great reviews. If you want a fresh rebuilt Toyota engine and not some chinese junk then this is a great way to go.

 

Thank you very much this is what i was asking for.