Rebuild or buy new ?

I bought a 2010 Tacoma 4X4 with 268000 on it. Its my first Toyota truck so I am learning as I go. #3 cylinder is losing compression and its gonna need some work soon. My question is do I buy a new engine or rebuild what I have?? So many options it makes me dizzy. Thanks for the help!

 

Buy a used engine and drop in in. 4.0s are not too bad to locate

 

2.7 are $$. Must be a popular engine

 

Durable, so not a lot on the market as well.

Love mine..

 

Sounds like you/someone has done a bit of work to determine that #3 has lost (some) compression. If it's zero or close, might be just a burnt valve. Any other cylinders low or just that one? What is the compression reading on it and the others (if you know)? I bought my Tacoma about 2 years ago and #1 was misfiring/dead (265k). No compression on #1. Had a burnt valve. Did a valve job (myself) and runs like new now. Might want to see if you might have a similar problem. Valve job took some time/work and you might be able to buy a replacement engine for the same/less money as a valve job. I never considered an engine as the rest of my engine was fine. I would spend just a bit more time on the diagnosis and then do some pricing to see what makes sense to you once you know what the actual problem is.

 

Ah 4 banger. Great motor. There is a reason they are expensive but worth it

 

#3 is about 5 pounds off 1 2 and 4. Ive been driving it and it does this real hard shutter and the check engine light starts blinking. You can turn engine off and crank it and it runs fine. Check engine light stays on all the time. Code reader says #3 misfire. Thanks for the info on the valves. The gas mileage sucks!!!! Gonna limp it through deer season and tear into in Febuary.

 

130 132 121 133

 

That's not a big enough difference in compression to really matter. They all seem a little on the low side but hard to tell without standing next to you while you do the compression test

Try moving the #3 ign coil to a different cylinder and see if the code follows

 

Any clue whats affecting the mpg?

 

Probably the misfire

 

ok thanks for the info!!!

 

2.7 liter 2TR-FE Engine.

Compression Pressure: 178 psi.

Minimum Pressure: 128 psi.

Difference Between Cylinders: 10 psi.

Appears your compression numbers may be getting a bit low based on what you posted. Delta is on the edge of not being good. Did you have all the plugs out when cranking over the engine for the compression check? And the battery was cranking the starter at the normal speed (not slow)? If not, remove all the plugs and then run the compression test again on each cylinder. It's important to know what the compression actually is best that you can. I didn't see it in your post but is your CEL flashing/staying on constantly when the engine is running? If so, which is it? Flashing or staying on constantly? Or maybe it's off? Flashing constantly typically means a dead cylinder which could be a lack of compression, low/no spark or low/no fuel getting to that cylinder.

 

before you go replacing the engine, change all of your spark plugs with ngk or denso units, if that doesnt do it, take the coil pack from #3 and swap it with a known good cylinder and see if the problem follows, it could just be a coil pack or ignition related.
some fuel injector cleaner wont hurt either.

 

Check engine light stays on. It doesnt happen everytime but when you pull a steep hill and gear down from 5th to 4th the engine light will start flashing. You can pull over turn it off restart and it runs better. Check engine code is a #3 misfire.

 

I'd suspect a coil pack, though I'm no expert re internals of the engine. This sounds similar to a car I had long ago when you mentioned the restart and it getting the flashing light under load, coil pack solved it

 

Move the #3 coil to a different cylinder and see if the code follows

 

will do as soon as we get put from under this artic deep freeze ! I live in North Alabama it was 6 here today!!

 

Replace the valve cover and spark plug tube gaskets then new plugs and coils. Good luck