How safe to drive with zero compression in #4 Cylinder?/Got a bad motor from a salvage yard - advice

This is a two part post. Questions below. I have a 1998 Toyota Tacoma V6 3.4L 4WD. 379K miles total. The old motor went out last week and I bought a motor with 155K miles on it from a friend's salvage yard in Arkansas. That motor was installed yesterday in New Orleans where I am located and found to have zero compression in the #4 cylinder. I don't know if the valve is stuck (best case scenario), bent, broken, or burned and no one around here is willing to open it up. I drove it home and it died a few times idling and noticeably shakes.

1. How safe is it to drive a motor with a zero compression in one cylinder? If it is safe, how many miles/hours would you trust it for? The mechanic encouraged me to drive it for a week or two to see if it's a stuck valve. I have an upcoming road trip for work and the holidays that will total about 1800 miles. Other than a shaky engine and dying while idling, am I looking at any other consequences if driving on 5 cylinders?
   
   
2. Do any of you have experience with getting a bad motor from a salvage yard? If so, can you please share any advice/insight based on my experience described below? The salvage yard did do a turn-over on the engine, but I found out they did not do a compression test before shipping. Shouldn't all salvage yards run compression tests *prior* to selling a motor? The engine is warrantied under them, and they will replace it but want to charge me $500 for labor which would also require me driving to Central Arkansas. So, I'm looking at incurring an additional $500 in expense, two days of my time for driving, gas expenses to and from Arkansas, 3 days hotel expenses, 3-4 more days without a vehicle in Central Arkansas, and 3-4 days being away from work. My other option is to have them ship another motor down and have it replaced here. The salvage yard is willing to ship another motor down at no cost to me, but they said that they cannot compression test it beforehand. Why can they not compression test beforehand? Seems like the test is pretty simple. I would also be looking at another $1400 in labor to reinstall the motor here. The salvage yard said they would not cover labor expenses here.
   

It’s an unfortunate situation but there will be costs incurred and either I am going to take the hit or they are going to take the hit in this instance. I know that I likely have no legal recourse. I’m of the opinion that good business would be for them to take the hit and pay for labor here and/or reimburse me for all costs associated with getting up there and not charge labor up there.

Any thoughts?

 

If it's your friend's salvage yard, why not talk to your friend about it? No way in hell I would take a vehicle that is down a cylinder on a 1800 mile road trip.

 

I had a four cylinder with a similar scenario you're describing so take what you will from my experience.

Cyl 1 was dead for a week and I drove it like that because it was my only form of transportation, would die everytime I came to an idle so I would just shift into neutral and keep the revs above 1.5k to keep it running.. the vibration was bad enough after a week (about 300miles total) that it tore one of the rubber motor mounts that had 220k on them. Tearing apart everything for my motor swap I did not notice any other rubber parts broken or too beat up other than what you'd expect from a vehicle with over 200k miles but that was the scariest week of my driving life because of how afraid I was of breaking anything else.


To answer your other question based off my experience with junk yards... they don't know the condition of any vehicle when it gets to their yard and it would be too much money to have someone on staff to diagnose any running issues, not too mention the cumulative time it would take to check basic things on every thing that rolls through. They'll spin the motor over to make sure it spins free but without a working starting system no one is able to spin a motor fast enough by hand to get an accurate compression reading.


It sucks that you're so far away but what the salvage yard is offering to help fix what happened to you is a reasonable response on their end. If it was me and I were you I would have them ship you a motor and pay to have someone put it in... but that's because I couldn't afford to miss as much work as you described is necessary.. otherwise I'd drive myself back to Arkansas and have them do it.

I absolutely would not drive an 1800mile road trip with a dead cylinder though

 

Why don’t you just rebuild the current motor?

 

I don't have the means to rebuild the current motor. Everyone around here no longer takes on rebuild work or if they do, they're postponing for weeks or months and prioritizing smaller jobs that didn't get done during the pandemic.

Do you all think I could drive it 500 miles to get it to the salvage yard in Arkansas to have the motor swapped out? If they can connect it to a starter, they should be able to pressure test it, no?

 

I would rent a car for the work trip and deal with it later, without a time crunch.

Driving it to AR seems risky - if something goes pear shaped on the way - who pays for it?

Pulling the head would be the quickest and cheapest way to determine the next step for repair I think.

 

to answer your question... it is not ideal but you will have to monitor oil and or coolant consumption. The cat(s) are going to be toast and I wouldn't be surprised if the CEL illuminates or even flashes. An 1800 mile trip, I wouldn't do it unless I HAD to meaning life or death. Bring the ownership papers with you and whatever tow truck picks her up might give you some $ for her.

 

What is your criteria for "safe"?

Will the motor explode and kill everyone in a 5 mile radius? Probably not. But you're not going to be doing the motor any favors, and the more you drive it the more you risk doing even more damage.

As for the salvage yard, it's up to them to decide how much work they are willing to do to it before selling it. If all they said was that it turns over, and didn't make any other claims about how good it is, the responsibility (and risk) falls on the buyer.

Generally, unless they say they rebuilt the motor, I would assume that you're going to need to rebuild the motor. To me, that's just the nature of buying a used motor with unknown history. Basically you just hope that it's less F'd up than your current motor.

At least in your case you say they have a warranty on the motor, which is good.

The other thing that complicates your situation is how far away this place is. I'm willing to bet that if you drive that far away on a 5 cylinder motor, they're going to hassle you on the repairs since there's no telling how much MORE damage was done by driving it back there. So if you're going to do it. Rent a uhaul and trailer it back.

 

While parts may have a warranty only in rare cases does labor .

I am hoping you got a Super deal on this Engine.

The Downside to buying non running engines I have a friend who got two engines that knocked that is 2 engines in and out plus the first one being pulled good thing labor was pizza and beer.

Best of Luck

 

Thanks for the helpful responses everyone.

The engine was $850 after shipping and tax. The labor here was around $1800.

They've already agreed to swap out the motor at the salvage yard. I don't think they'd back out on that at this point. I've known the guy since I was 8 years old. I don't think he'd do me wrong in that capacity. He has offered to fully refund the $600 for the motor ($250 was shipping and tax).

After much thought, I'm trying to decide between getting my refund on the motor, selling the truck as is here, buying a new Tacoma or trying to drive the 500 miles to Arkansas and hope to make it and getting the engine swapped out there. I'm beginning to think that dealing with this truck anymore would be a money pit and time suck. Do you all have thoughts on that?

 

The truck is a 98 Tacoma Off road package. V6 3.4L 4WD. Extended cab, 5 speed with topper. 379K miles total, mostly highway miles. Two owners (I am the second). New clutch, new starter, new alternator, new battery, new belts, and frame is in good shape (never lived in an area that salted roads or flooded). Paint is near perfect.

How much do you all think I could get for this with the faulty engine?

 

$30,000 vs free replacement engine? I say swap the engine again.

 

The downside does your friend own the yard that his word is law .

I know things can be quite different at times in that part of the world .

If you attempt driving that far and the engines fails an example rod through the block now you have a junk engine plus a towing bill for x amount of miles. Is your engine swap deal still good I have seen things like this destroy the best of friendships .

Bottom line you might get another bad engine unless they have a running one you can hear. How many will they swap for free before saying enough.

I am guessing for what ever reason you don`t have the means or help to swap an engine yourself.

Your already into this for $2400.00 As was said dumping the raw fuel through the exhaust and past the rings will dilute the oil and take out the cats .

Will the oil be so diluted the bearings will fail before the trip is over ??

Money pit Was a new timing belt installed with the used engine?? Lower Ball joints been done ??

Running tested engine or rebuild local maybe Jasper depending if lots of out of state travel is part of your life

The sad part only you can make the final decision Best of Luck!!

 

I would take the motor out, ship it back and have them fix it. Will be cheaper and safer for everyone. Fix the original engine in the meantime or buy a new rebuilt from a Toyota specialist nearby and use the original for the core. I personally wouldn't want to deal with the salvage yard and would just ask for a refund and cut my losses. They are too far away and it makes no sense to continue doing business with them.

 

I would see what the problem is first.
1. Try putting 1oz of 2 stroke oil in that cyclinder. Let it sit for a day. Retest

2. Pull the valve cover off and check if cams are broke or lifters working. If u can check valve clearances. Look for a bent valve

3. Do a leak down test
4. Could be a cracked head or head gasket issue.

I did a motor swap last year. 1 cyclinder had low compression from sitting to long. The 2stroke oil work on it.

 

Everyone's got some good advice but nobody mentioned the most obvious and satisfying answer. Remove the engine. drive it to arkansas. Throw the engine throught the front window of your "friend"s house. Drink a beer.

 

I'll take it off your hands for $0.35 and an empty Zagnut wrapper.

 

The hillbilly side of me says to unplug the injector on the bad cylinder and drive it.
The responsible side of me says to get a refund and buy a JDM motor.

 

Any used motor you buy should be given a quick rebuild so you can inspect internals and you don't end up where you started.

 

Define Quick Rebuild it might mean a few different things .

To me new bearings turned crank .

Bored Block new pistons and rings

Heads rebuilt as needed

timing belt chains or gears what ever your style at the time.