Life span of a 3.4L

The only thing I am going to add to this thread is that 3.4 V6s will live an awfully long time if properly maintained.

 

At 12,000 miles switched to synthetic fluids in everything. Every 5 years changed antifreeze belts hoses. Flushed trans every 40,000.All Toyota parts.Changed timing belt water pump, tensioner.Im not your average mech.I work on wide body jets for a living. Worked at dealership before that. Truck was never over heated.Changed thermostat at 5 year mark regardless of miles. First 44,000 was in 2013.After that 90 percent hwy miles.Cyl walls at 144000 still show no sign of wear.I would say its properly maintained.Crap happens.Not first 3.4 I seen with cracks between valve seats. They have a problem. It doesn't happen to all of them.They have sb for the headgasket problems.Cant say if heads crack because of blown gasket. I suppose pressure could build up trying to compress coolant who knows.Theres very little material between valve seats if you actually look at cyl head iff truck. Its just strange Im not the only one with cracked heads and then you see some go 300,000 without cracks or have cracked and its not apparent to owner.Mine could have cracked years ago and I just found out because heads had to come off.Ive owned Toyota trucks since 85 when bought my first. Never owned 3.0 because I knew it had issues. 22r.Bullit proof

 

My truck I bought with 245,000 on it and a broken motor. The oil had not been changed regularly and the oil pick up screen was completely clogged. NO oil to the top end to the point the drivers side cam bearing sheared and the sprocket tore off. I'm glad I didn't just rebuild the the motor. They are underwhelming in power, but they are one of the best motors they have made. Best V6 anyway.

 

Forever.

It will outlive my grandchildren.

 

Machine shop said they have seen numerous.

 

Cracked between valve seats. My luck.I figure new heads should run another 100,000 or so.No signs of wear on cyl walls at 144000

 

At the time it was invented, it was the most powerful small truck V6 available. 190hp and 220 lb ft of torque was pretty good in 1995.5. It stayed the most powerful small truck for quite a few years.

 

Trying to get heads for it now.Hurd JE makes a good one but out of stock.May bite bullit and get new set of factory ones.

 

I regret to say that my 1999 Tacoma that I've owned for 20 years with 276K miles has a blown head gasket with coolant leaking out of both sides of the engine block when I drove it to the repair shop today. I had to fill up the radiator with water before leaving my driveway, but I made it to the repair shop without the engine seizing or having to call the tow truck for a tow. I'm getting another used V6 engine block with low mileage, have my mechanic install it, and enjoy driving it in 2019 & beyond. My original engine block lasted me 20 years.

 

You did good.Mine just blew 2headgaskets and both heads have cracks between valve seats.144000.Bottom end looks great.Looks like only lasting choice is to get 2 brand new heads and use my cams.Cant seem to find any rep rebuilt ones.Probably going with a tundra in near future

 

hey fellas, i found a '99 SR5 V6 4x4 AT that i'm going to look at this sunday. the ODO shows 157K with some change, the body is in really great condition, according to the seller the truck has been garaged the last 10 years and has never seen a dirt road since they owned it the pics looks fantastic..i know this thread covers the motor that it has, but is it worth checking into? they are asking $6500..

 

Rugerm44 - Is that a common thing?? Overheated??

 

I'd say it is... I have seen trucks around here NE USA MA sell for 6K and under similar to what your looking at.

I have also seen guys still asking above 10K for an 01, 02 and 03 Taco; I would certainly go take a look at it...

 

Your block was bad? Twisted, unaligned, corrosion??

 

I'm having the original motor pulled and having my mechanic install a used, low mileage motor, and use the old motor as a core exchange. I'm not going to bother having my mechanic tear apart the old motor to find out about the block. He's going to be putting in some hours on getting my truck up and running.

 

I had about 280,000 when I traded my 2000 MT. I was losing antifreeze and went through 2 lifetime water pumps in 2yrs.
I imagine the head gasket was probably going. Being a beach buggy for all those years it needed a lot of work if I was going to keep it. I miss that truck, but didn’t want to invest all the $$ to bring it back where it needed to be..it had always been reliable until the end!

 

'03 v6 4x4 DC Taco (current daily driver) with 333,213 and ticking. With regular maintenance these things will run forever.

 

In regards to the longevity of the 3.4, how often do the valves need checking for clearance? I recently had to have on head pulled and burnt valves replaced on one cylinder. I asked the mechanic about checking the clearance on the other head, but he acted as if on the 3.4 they’re not adjustable (which I know isn’t tru) or either usually don’t need adjusting.

 

from a toyota tech buddy, they dont require adjusting not for a very long time. It does not hurt to check them though.

 

There's really no need for that much power in a compact pickup truck though, and that would drive up the price tag and insurance premiums significantly anyway.