Dead 3rd gen engine while off roading.

"You don't buy a truck for its fenders"

 

Yep...

Both my 1st gens had their own little issues.

Remember, the Tacoma is the bottom rung of the Toyota / Lexus truck ladder.

 

Never mentioned oil starvation just the smoking.

 

The issue is that the PCV valve is at the rear of the driver side valve cover. The oil on the valve train returns to the pan at the front of the cylinder heads. On a steep incline the oil puddles at the rear of the cylinder head and the PCV system pulls that oil directly into the intake manifold. Depending on the amount of oil the engine gets down the manifold you are looking at anywhere from light smoking to a hydro locked cylinder. A catch can would help with this issue until it too becomes full of oil from both the incline and the manifold vacuum. The passenger valve cover is vented just forward of center on the cover just for reference. A direct drain line to the sump just after the PCV valve or a oil return galley drilled through the cylinder head and block would be a true fix for this issue.

Rear view of 3.5L PCV valve location circled.

Passenger side 3.5L valve cover vent location circled.

 

A catch can won't help in this situation !!!! , basically what's happening is oil is pooling over a valve spring at the rear of the cylinder head . This pooling of oil is to much much volume for the valve stem seal to keep oil from being sucked down the valve guide

So the result is oil being sucked into the cylinder ea time the piston is on it's intake stroke and creating oil smoke upon the exhaust stroke

 

Has anyone tried the catch can and gone up something steep for a minute or more?

 

OK: How is a 2nd gen 4.0 V6 different? The PCV valve is (also) located at the rear of the driver side valve cover. Assuming the return drain is at the rear of the head?

 

Agreed a catch can is only going to give you a little extra time before it starts to do the exact same thing. Once the catch can fills up with oil the results will be the same.

 

With all the cool mods people come up with here, someone has to come up with some sort of bypass to keep the oil from pooling!

 

Is there a recommended angle published by Toyota?

 

What's weird about this to me is I've wheeled some really steep trails with a couple buddies that have 3rd gens and never once seen this white smoke show happen to theirs. Both trails in particular were as steep if not steeper and much longer than the one in the OPs video.

 

Old Priest Grade on Hwy 120 in Central Valifornia - - 17%, and there’s a few 32% grades in San Francisco and Pittsburgh, but Waipio Rd. in Honokaa, HI -- 45% beats all!

Someone should drive their trucks up all those roads, smoke them out and then start complaining to Toyota because all of these public roads are paved.

It is freaking dangerous to have a stall on a steep hill, especially if you lose your brakes and start rolling backwards. There’s going to be a major liability issue of Toyota doesn’t fix this.

If someone can figure out a way to modify the engine to alleviate this problem, be adding a drain line and a pump, putting in baffles or whatever it takes, they’re going to make a lot of money if it’s an affordable modification.

 

The valve is located at the rear on a 1gr but it is baffled on the inside of the valve cover to a location near the front.

The 2gr fks drivers side valve cover baffling is at the rear of the cover.

 

One mod which requires the cyl heads to be pulled and sent to a machine shop . This mod is opening up the oil drain back holes and blending / contouring them to allow oil to flow directly to them

Other way is to have machine shop install oil restrictors in the engine blocks oil galley's oil passages that direct oil to the valvetrain

 

Damm, Sounds like a pain... neither sound like they'll ever happen lol.

Even if a catch can isn't a solution, I guess its a relatively cheap and simple band-aid. Just check it frequently..

 

That’s a lot of smoke for a valve stem seal don’t you think? PVC is the more likely culprit.

 

Seriously?

 

leecampaign on Instagram has a video like this. May be him.

 

AJ,
If you lock that engine, you’re going to need to sell a lot more grills. Lol

 

The clinometer caps at 30 degrees front, back, side to side. So I'm assuming it'd be 30 to stay in "recommended" angles?