18' trd vacuum pump vs. Non vac pump motors???

I have a 2018 trd with bad 3.5, busted timing chain... trying to find a replacement 3.5. Seems to be mass confusion surrounding the vac pump vs. Non-vac pump motors. I cant even find the vac pump location on mine. Is there a specific vin digit that specifies? I know the head or block is cast different. Thanks taco gurus!

 

Non trd trucks without crawl control decent control etc... just use regular intake vacuum for brakes egr etc .... since the trd options require more vacuum, the heads are cast differently to accommodate an extra vacuum pump. Making non vacuum pump motors not interchangeable with TRD, or Pros. This could be wrong but this is what my research is telling me over the last week.

 

Maybe @Jowett or @Jeff Lange has some definitive beta.

 

The research you've done so far has led you to the wrong conclusion unfortunately. The vacuum pump is used on all models with the conventional vacuum brake booster. Only the TRD Off-Road and TRD Pro use the hydraulic brake booster, and so do not have the vacuum booster.

Additionally, the vacuum pump is mounted to the rear of the RH camshaft housing (not the head itself), connected to the intake camshaft. The vacuum pump can be added or removed from any engine as needed. The engine is the same either way, it's just that it will either have the pump (29300-0P021) or a block-off plate (2930A-0P010) installed on the head.

Summarizing, TRD Off-Road and TRD Pro models have a block-off plate. TRD Sport and all other models have a vacuum pump. If you get an engine without a vacuum pump and need to install it, you can easily do that. If you have a vacuum pump and don't need it, you can get the block-off plate.

EDIT (2023-09-10): When I wrote this, unfortunately I missed that there is a ball that seals the camshaft when the pump is not present. If you get an engine with a pump and need to use it without the pump, you will need to add both the ball (90360-10006) and the block-off plate (2930A-0P010). If you get an engine without the pump and need to add the pump, you either need to figure out how to pull the ball out or replace that camshaft (13501-0P030).

Jeff

 

Interchangeable, as jeff says. Go ahead and get any tacoma engine and swap parts as needed.

Typically with used engines you re-use as much of your original engine as possible.

 

@Jeff Lange is it possible to not block the flow with the ball and just use the plate? (Without causing issues) Or remove the impeller part inside the back plate of the pump and reseal the pump but shutoff the out? Of course a new source for vacuum or a different brake booster would be necessary.

I wonder if anyone knows where the oil goes if you didn’t use the ball to stop the oil flow to the pump.

 

If you don't install the ball in the camshaft, you would have a large internal oil leak which could potentially affect oil pressure to the bearings, etc.

It's probably not a good idea.

Jeff

 

Is the purpose of the opening that the ball seals on hydraulic booster models, to provide oil to lubricate the vacuum pump on the vacuum pump models?

 

The purpose of the opening is just so they can machine the oil passageway into the camshaft, then it is normally plugged with the ball. On models with the vacuum pump, they needed the clearance for the pump shaft to fit into, so they took the ball out and put an o-ring on the pump shaft to seal it.

The oil doesn't actually flow into the vacuum pump. The vacuum pump is just plugging the hole instead of the ball.

Jeff

 

As I understand, some vacuum draws oil into the vacuum chamber to aid in lubrication and seal to help create vacuum. If the ball is not installed is oil forced through the cam from another source? Also the hole in the pump that allows the positive pressure from the vacuum exhaust has to go somewhere. I figured it travelled down that tube in the cam.

edit:

Could you then just remove the impeller so it doesn’t fail and then close off the vacuum pump permanently?

 

I don’t think so, Jeff said the vacuum pump models do not have the ball plug, but have an o ring on the impeller to seal the hole. Here’s a picture of a new pump I have. Note the small o ring on the end of the shaft. Why do you want to delete the pump?

 

Great thread about it:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/fs-complete-2gr-v6-engine-pnw.810636/

 

Interestingly, I took a look at a pump and it does have a hole in the end of the shaft that oil could enter. The Tacoma 2GR-FKS oil flow path does not show oil going into the vacuum pump, however the 7GR-FKS does, and looking at the pump itself, there seems like a potential oil return path as well.

So I take it back, it looks like oil may in fact enter the pump, likely for lubrication purposes.

Jeff

 

I’m curious, for someone with the hydraulic booster that needs an engine, how difficult do you think installing the ball would be? Do you need to remove the cam and put it in a press? I’d imagine to seal out 50 lbs of oil pressure it would take some significant installation effort.

 

I’d be surprised if Toyota services just the ball. If you have a vacuum booster you don’t need the ball.

 

They sell it as a separate part. I’m just not sure what it takes to get it into the cam properly. I’d personally try to source the right engine but sometimes options might be limited.

 

Not super difficult, however installing the ball will have some decent force involved. I would maybe be concerned about damaging the camshaft housing/head if you tried to do it with the camshaft installed in the engine. I couldn't say for certain - the ball is not well documented in the repair manual to be honest.

Toyota sells the same cam for both engines, with the ball sold separately. If you need a new cam, you need to also buy the ball and press it in.

Jeff

 

Yeah, couldn’t find any info myself, hence the question, haha. Guess that’s a figure it out in the moment thing if it ever comes to that point.

 

I mean, I would need to really dig into/order/open up some other stuff to see exactly what's going on. There are engines that use the same cam, that don't list the ball, that also don't have a vacuum pump, so on those engines, are they just leaving the cam open, is there a ball installed but it's not mentioned? Are the cams actually coming with a ball and it's not shown (doesn't seem likely, as you'd have to remove it to install the pump).

There is a good possibility that the cam may be left open in some cases from Toyota and that it actually isn't a problem, but it's hard to recommend to do that without confirmation/validation.

Jeff

 

The guy with the engine for sale who recently revived this topic had notes from the dealer (they diagnosed that he installed the wrong engine). Their notes mentioned that the VVT wasn’t working right due to the ball missing and that that’s why the engine ran poorly. So I’d imagine it matters based on that…I don’t know near enough to know about how the other models the engine is in work without a ball or pump though.