Life span of a 3.4L

thats abuse by the previous owner... plus if your doing heavy sand driving the k&n filters need a bag/cover over them. my motors at 263k I just replaced my valve covers and the cams & valves looked great. most of its life its had a k&n... the pcv system on these trucks puts oily air right back through the throttle body. If you want the intake to stay clean get yourself a catch can system for the valve cover breathers & pcv .

 

I would be surprised as I believe that if it's federally funded, there is some stipulation that it has to be made in USA or something to that effect.

 

I have a 99 Tacoma SR5 Xtracab 5 speed manual with 323, 450 miles on it, and it runs better than it did back in 2004. Every part I've had to replace has been an original part. They're simply built to last when, as mentioned in an earlier post, you maintain it over time.

 

Idk man, like I said, it is just something I observed while taking the intake off and looking into the ports. It was 100% sand/grime. I can't say with certainty that the k&n caused it but I could't figure out another reason. If I was to run an oil filter, I would just plan on cleaning it completely and re oiling it very frequently so you don't end up like the guy who owned my truck prior to me.

 

Well, I’ve checked the MAF sensor multiple times and it doesn’t seem to be getting contaminated. I did the VCG’s awhile back too and saw no issues in the intake or throttle body. Already ordered a dryflow so I’m gonna change it anyway. Seems like most dryflow filters aren’t allowed in CA so that was a bit of an obstacle

 

nothing is allowed in CA. lol

 

This is true

 

I've never seen an air filter that wasn't allowed in CA. I ran the Pro Dry aFe filter for years with no smog check issues.

Unless you're talking about cold air intakes, in which case yeah...have to get a CARB approved one. But CAIs aren't worth the money anyway

 

I have a '98 SR5 with 323,000 on it. Original motor blew a head gasket at 295K (water in cyinder 5). I could have just done a head gasket job, but it actually looked more difficult and time consuming than an engine swap. So I opted for the latter with a JDM 3.4 engine. More expensive and probably every bit as time consuming as doing both head gaskets, but gave me a chance to clean everything up in the engine bay and front end. To my wife's astonishment, the engine fired right up and ran smoothly right from the get-go. I've put about 30K on it since then and the only 'trouble codes' I've gotten so far were traced to cracked vacuum hoses. (JDM motors are advertised as having 'about 50-60K on them, which would mean I have about 90K total.) Plus someday I'll get to replacing the head gaskets on the original engine and sell that to recoup some of the cost. When I did this maybe 10 years ago, the JDM engine was $1,100.

 

My original engine and trans are still going strong at 336,000 miles and I'm by NO MEANS easy on it.

 

the 95 i picked up has 482k on the clock. PO did head gaskets.. other than that its original. transmission is too.. that ol 5 speed shifts so nice.

 

I'm about to hit 300k miles on mine. Runs great. When this engine goes I'll probably put a younger one in I love this truck so much.

 

just getting ready to buy 2001 taco 3,4l 4x4 stick shift wit 290k miles ;-)

 

I assume you are in the Rust belt, yes?