2nd Gen Tacoma Engine Swap

I am at a bit of a crossroads. I have a 2008 4x4 Tacoma with 330,000. It's running and driving okay, but recently I have confirmed oil in the coolant. Truck got hot last year while driving with a slow leak. I did not find any combustion gasses in coolant system, but I'm pretty sure the head is leaking. I am hesitant to replacing the head gasket because I am not familiar enough with these engines to know if its likely / probable crack / warped head. This is not my daily, but it was my father's before he passed. If I consider swapping the engine it would be of the standpoint to upgrade to something bigger. The re-sale value is not of concern to me, but an investment that i'd like to have for another couple decades.

 

https://youtu.be/aqsEU0itvIU?feature=shared

 

You should buy @AR15xAR10 engine. He has way less miles than you do

 

If you plan on keeping it for a long time, you can buy a brand new short block from Toyota for ~$3k. Have the heads checked out and cleaned up for $500. Add another $1,000 for gaskets, timing chain, VVT sprockets.

 

You say you have oil in the coolant, are you sure it's not the oil ooler or transmission cooler leaking?

Pretty rare for oil to get into the cooling system via the head gasket.

 

I’m tryin to keep the motor dawg. Just not everything else

 

DM93,
I thought the same, but its a 2.7 L 2TR-FE. I investigated and seen the 3RZ 2.7 has an oil cooler integrated with the oil filter housing. That is not the case for the 2nd gen apparently. Unless there is another location for 2nd gen oil cooler. Im not sure if there's a trans cooler, but it's a 5 speed. It's peculiar issue because the truck runs good otherwise.

 

Ah ok, yea no engine or trans cooler on the 2TR M/T.

Still super rare for oil to get into the coolant in the engine, really the only place pressurized oil could get into the cooling system is the one pressure feed port from the block to the head otherwise it would have to be a crack or casting flaw.

I've never seen oil in a cooling system that wasn't from a blown cooler or someone mistakenly put in there, not to say it isn't possible but I've never seen or heard of it. Coolant in the oil yes but not oil in the coolant.

 

@Pittsy

 

do you have a milky sludge on the oil cap or when you pull the dipstick it is milky?

 

oil sludge on cap is engine not getting up to temp/short trips,( nothing to worry about short term) milky dipstick is bad, and if there is indeed coolant in the oil it will take out the rod/main bearings as the coolant acts like sandpaper

 

No milky oil. I've tried flushing the coolant a couple times and each time I went to bleed the air out it was impossible and the heater would blow cold some of the time. I took it to a shop and that guy was unsuccessful in bleeding it and said that it looked like oil to him in the coolant reservoir.

 

ok I totally misread the thread... oil film in overflow bottle on some cars almost normal have seen it with no issues. to trouble shoot, Rad needs a flush with some kind of chemical to wash out any oil (if any is in the system) then burp out/bleed all air out of coolant system, If your loosing heat from heater its either low on coolant/ air in system. thermostat if its overheating or over cooling
Either wash out reservoir or replace it with new or as a temp measure zip tie a large (2liter in Canada) pop bottle in the engine bay and run a longer hose to it. if using a pop bottle fill one 1/3 with coolant and drill hole in cap push hose in so its immersed in coolant .the over flow will take a very long time to show oil residue as the bottle only moves fluid when coolant heats up and exceeds 15psi to lift the pressure valve in the rad cap, then as the coolant cools in the rad it creates a vacuum the valve in the rad cap opens up allowing the coolant from the reservoir to return to the rad, so as you can see its going to take a lot of heat cycles to show anything in the bottle, my guess there is nothing wrong with it, residue on the insides of the bottle is one thing oil floating in the coolant is another. that being said if the coolant is milky in the rad there is a serious issue.