SOLVED! Post 2853 Leaking Injectors, Dealer Techs Rock! Extended Cranking after Engine Swap 3.4L 5vz

Just read your additional comments, and you are totally right. I seriously doubt we'd tow it there today, even if all my additional questions are addressed w/that guy before end of day, cuz exactly, we've taken this much time, and now it's the weekend, so why not spend 2 more days when we both have time to put all options under the microscope again. You hit the nail on the head, don't want to trust just anyone w/my baby!! I wonder if people ever get buried w/their trucks?

 

well if there is serious crud in there it could, but after reading up on the injectors, I see threy have filter screens in them and I think that is what may have been the trouble.

there are rebuild kits for injectors where you replace the seals and the filter screen and that is considered "refurbished" so there isn't much to them. see one here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/88-95-Toyot...&fits=Make:Toyota&hash=item461d724310&vxp=mtr

thinking about it having a filter its easy to think it could be restricted and not flowing and cause problems so I think adding fuel system cleaners once or twice a year should be a routine maint item

 

Did you check out EDITED Facebook page I linked? Curious if those photos help reveal anything to you guys (who know a lot more about this stuff than I do!) about the quality of his work......

 

i cant ever seam to find stuff im looking for on facebook pages and lets face it, its a place to promote yourself so its not an objective thing but the page was interesting, just didn't say much to me about how I feel about it except to wonder if they are too much into other things.

I tend to see places with varied interests and lots going on as having less time for attention to detail and proper oversite of day to day operations and employees but that may not be a very fair view but that's how I think.

 

If you click on photos, then click on albums, they have a bunch of sets of picture you can look at, showing their toyota engine rebuilds.......

 

all I see is a bunch of extravagant show cars and extreme paint jobs that say to me they must have to charge high prices to afford all that extravagance.

to me if this were a true top of the line engine shop then that would be the main focus and to me it does look like that is the case.

think about it, if this were your business, wouldn't you be more focused on showing off the work you do? and when everything they show is custom paint, chrome, and hot rods?

looking at their page tells me the are a custom car shop that "oh by the way" we also do engines too.

perhaps I completely get the wrong impression but that's just how I see it. true dependable engine shops don't do custom paint jobs and chrome and custom car builds.

 

https://www.sandjengines.com/rebuil...5VZFELB?subModel=_&productApplicationID=10174

Whoa! May have found a cheaper/better alternative for us! Way over in eastern WA, and not even sure if having them do the labor is an option or not, but certainly worth calling to find out more!!!! $3200, 7 yr/100,000 miles warranty, and they CLAIM to be sticklers for quality! Calling now......

Keakar, called two of the places you linked - one is calling me back w/an exact quote (Leif's), but ballpark she said ~$5-7K for them to put in a Jasper reman. Yikes!

Central Cylinder Heads would rebuild ours, so we'd have to pull & install - $3200, and he tried to give me a number of a shop that could put it in, but when I asked for a ballpark of total costs if we went w/his shop for labor, he said $6K. Yikes again. That dude was super nice though. Asked him if he knows anything about whether electrical systems or trannys go out much on these trucks - he said no clue, but smart to think ahead to that before doing $$$$ engine replacement. Told him that's the worst fear - do the engine $$$$, then everything else fails on Taco the next day. He said highly unlikely, so I told him not with the way my luck's been lately. He told me bad luck comes in 3's, so go stub my toe a few times and get #2 and #3 out of the way! Told him perhaps I should throw myself into a wall just to be safe.....

Will call the 3rd one you linked now too......

 

I see your point Keakar, and thought that too. We certainly aren't looking for souped up bells and whistles, and I could care less about the color of my engine (something they let you choose) - we want it to run properly, plain & simple! Still, unless we can find a better alternative, they are at the top of the list of our options....

Which leads to the place in Spokane, WA, that I just linked in my last post. Called them, and they'd be $3700 including shipping costs to get it to us. It'd be a reman (not rebuilding ours), then we'd get $375 back for our core. But. They don't do the labor, so we'd have to find a mechanic we could trust that could do the swap AND diagnose/repair whatever caused that f'in piston hole for a reasonable price. Best part of that place is they do a SEVEN YEAR/100,000 MILE WARRANTY!!!!!! WOW! Reman'd engine would include new timing belt/water pump, HG, new valves, valve train, springs, cams, pistons, rings, then we'd reuse our oil pan. They have our engine in stock, and would ship it to the mechanic we chose. He said they do the machine work there. But they don't use OEM parts, all aftermarket, whereas souped up $4500 guy uses OEM for a lot of the new parts. And he said they do ALL types of remans, not just Toyotas, which was something I liked about $4500 guy - he only does Toyotas. Doing all types makes me wonder if it's more of the "assembly line" atmosphere that others have warned me about regarding quality, as opposed to a small place focusing solely on a handful of engine types, all Toyota truck engines. But man, that warranty is hard to overlook! How poor can the quality be if they stand behind it for 7 years, right? This place's 7 yr warranty covers $50/hr in labor, up to $850 total, but he said you can pay an extra $200 for a warranty that covers $85/hr in labor. Forgot to ask who pays for shipping our engine to them.....hmm, wonder how that would work. What do you think - is this a better option for us as far as quality? The potential is there for it to be cheaper, pending mechanic prices, and the warranty is certainly way better than the 2 yr warranty w/$4500 guy, but no OEM parts, no Toyota specialty, and it did appeal to me that $4500 guy could be one stop shopping for diagnosing/repairing the cause of the piston hole, as well as the swap. Hmmm. Great, more stuff to analyze.

Guys, any thoughts on this new option, compared to $4500 guy?

One thing I forgot to ask the Spokane guy - what are my color choices for my new engine?

 

I would stay local, Just in case something crops up. S&J in Eastern Wa is a haul if it needs to be made. I realize they ship to you,,but free return shipping of the core is not implied. It's probably $175 for you to get them the core,,so you can get your $450 core charge back. A double negative right there with bucks swirling the drain.

Even if not, I would still stay in the area.

 

Thanks for reading/giving input Mod, you make an excellent point! Damn, that freaking warranty sounds soooooooooooooooo good though! But yeah, staying local could very well equal way less headaches down the road.......

 

HA! Get this guys - that Leif's place just called me back, and they want $8900 to do it!! Granted that includes everything, but all they'd be doing is putting in a Jasper reman w/a 3 yr warranty. Guess the bells and whistles it'd come with add up to ~$5-6K? Wow. I'd like to see what those look like - perhaps the engine is covered in diamonds and gold? I actually LOL'd when she gave me the quote. Then I felt like a jerk - after all, she's just doing her job, not her fault they have crazy prices. Maybe I should get a job there? With profits like that, employees must be paid pretty well! That was more than all 3 Toyota dealer quotes!

Thanks for helping me through this guys - I am now an informed enough shopper that I can find the humor in it when I receive outrageous quotes!

 

one thought is to include in your plans to buy a new set of upgraded 4 hole injectors like mentioned earlier in the thread so you can forget worrying about that issue.

its the only thing to worry about as far as fixing the original problem that caused all this and its the surest way to sleep better at night. plus the upgraded injectors will make it run better and might get a slight mpg improvement as well. compared to the engine prices, spending $100-$200 on a full set of upgraded injectors is a minor expense and well worth it since I think you had injector issues to start with..

 

Thanks for the tip Keakar! $4500 dude said he'd clean our injectors - should I tell him we'd rather replace them? Wonder if I could get 'em on Amazon for cheaper then he could put 'em in.......

 

if it were me I would replace them with the upgrade ones, don't let him price OEM Toyota injectors as they are to the moon on prices.

the upgrades are going to work better and it will cost the same to replace them as to pay him to clean the old ones

 

Got it, thanks Keakar!

You guys will be proud of me for this one. Went through chapter headings in Haynes manual last night, to get a general sense of what expensive sounding parts there are on Taco, besides obvious stuff like engines and trannys. Stuff that might not be a "husband can do it in gravel driveway" task, to feel more at peace about forking over $5K for engine being a sound decision. Electrical was what jumped out at me - computers and wiring harnesses? No thanks, let's leave that to the pros. Called an auto electrical place, explained my situation, and a very nice lady said wiring harnesses rarely go out, usually only if catch on fire (thinking insurance would kick in if that happened!), but if it did ever need to be replaced, $1-2K. That's a lot, but it wouldn't send me into heart failure if it happened. Said computer would be $200-600. Sounds good to me. Then I asked if the computer controls things like sensors, check engine light, etc - she said, yes, so be sure if you ever have a check engine light, go to Auto Zone and get the code checked for free, cuz that's telling you there's something wrong w/your engine, even if car runs fine - hmm, seems I heard that somewhere else recently? Wish I would have thought about that 3 months ago and $5K richer!! What an expensive lesson to learn..

 

ALERT ALERT, just what the doctor ordered

call these guys ASAP http://garagesquad.tv/

too bad its just for people in the Chicago area lol

hmmmm, I wonder if overhaulin would come get it and turn it into a show truck for you

 

Yeah, but what really matters is if they'll paint the engine the color of my choice? ha ha ha.

Good find! Can you make this happen for us? Free makeover for Taco, woo hoo!

 

well I think you'll need to join the peace corps or something because from what I see on overhaulin it needs to be someone with a classic muscle car and shown to be one who goes out of their way to help others and not just regular normal nice people with plain vehicles that need help.

but who knows, if we all submit you maybe you'll get lucky

besides, you'd have a freakin heart attack if chip foose showed up at your door lol.

 

$8900 is insane. A big fat NO on that. Glad you giggled on the phone,,they needed that. I would have set the phone down speaker up and laughed out loud. They can keep that one. Have seen some of there paint jobs. Not real impressed.

New injectors and injector base seals in the intake manifold for sure. It's basically going to be "breaking in" when the key is turned for the first time, So you want good oil-air-fuel-spark. Some remans are spun on a new style spintron engine cycler before going out to preseat the rings and check for overall function, but they haven't had any operating temps put to the motor yet.

Your mechanic you choose needs to be extremely gentle with the engine sensors that he removes and reinstalls. Critical for proper break in as well. The knock sensor is a biggie when the key is turned, because it's going to automatically adjust the timing and put it where it should be to avoid engine knock. The sensors are cheap, as far as having to do this again.

That sensor could have killed your last motor, but it should have coded and depending on the underside of that cylinder head, I think it was a combo of things,,a cascade effect.

 

Wait, but I'm nicer than the average person, that counts for something, right? Our dog is a rescued pit bull mix, picked up as a stray w/a broken leg as a puppy - that's a tearjerker story, isn't it? Although I drink like a fish and curse like a sailor, so not exactly Mother Theresa or anything........hmm.......

Yep, the $8900 quote was the comic highlight of this whole experience. Crazy dealer prices never shock me, but this, wow. Told her too much, then she got all desperate and said they want to earn my business, and can price match. Asked what dealer offered, I told her quotes ranging from $5200-$7700, but we're likely going w/a guy that specializes in Toyota remans for $4500. She got all discouraged sounding and was like, "oh, we'll never be in the ballpark of price matching that" - ha ha ha.

I honestly think when CEL came on couple months ago, and our response was to replace gas cap and stop using fuel injection cleaner, perhaps if we'd pulled the code instead, we would have found out that we had a spark plug exploding and maybe could have saved our piston. Ah well. Lesson learned. I hope the mechanic gives us back our piston - I'm thinking I'll make it a decoration for rearview mirror!