3.4 Headgasket Blown Questions

Little back story here. My lady’s uncle recently passed and owns a 1st Gen tundra with a 3.4 V6. I’ve been told that it needs work and the uncle called it a ticking time bomb. Recent receipts show a shop receipt for diagnostics.

Misfire, cylinder 6 has coolant in it, headgasket is blown.

It’s 2wd, an access cab, 268k miles. Body is in decent shape. No one in the family works on their own cars, and it’s up in the air what to do with this truck.

How complicated would this be to do? What else could the engine need? I may be able to buy this truck, I don’t need a 3rd Toyota truck but Tundra

If I were to buy this truck, long term plans would be to refresh the engine, and maybe 4wd swap it .

 

High mileage 3.4L sometime crack heads right between the valves. I can't say I've seen one of these lose a headgasket for no reason...the later ones used an MLS headgasket, which typically don't have issues. The first couple years (I can't remember when they did the split...probably the ones that still had cast iron exhaust manifolds) still had composite gaskets....which do, occasionally fail. Depending on how hot it got (and why)...things could get interesting.

Straight edge the block deck and check for pitting around the fire ring areas...if the block is too eroded away to support the fire ring, find a used engine. Pull (after numbering) the buckets out and reinstall the cams...make sure they turn nice and free, then check the heads for pitting/warping...you might have 'em machined, but if they're good...no point.

 

Yeaaaa that’s the deal potentially. I know my lady would love if I fixed it up but I don’t think it’s really worth it

 

Just saw that you're not too far from me....I'm up in LB. If the price is right and you don't want it. I might be in the market.

 

Thanks for all the info. This is going to be an interesting project if I do end up doing it

I was shocked to pop the hood and see the 3.4 vs a V8

 

I’ll let you know when the time comes. I might be taking it over to carmax just to see what they offer eventually, depends what the family wants to do with it

 

Don't waste your time....if it's over 5 or 6 years old and more than 100K miles, they'll give you pennies if anything.

 

Eh helps when you work there and can fudge a few things to up the price

 

Is it a manual? I know those 1st gen Tundras with the 3.4l were offered with manuals, only manual trans Tundra there was.

But it's basically a 1st gen Tacoma with a Tundra body on it. Or a T100 as it were

 

Auto, stick would have been cool. That’s what I figured, basically a taco

 

Yup, essentially a 1st gen Taco with a longer bed and bigger brakes