Valve job or replace the engine?

An engine that has a tendency to blow head gaskets can turn into an expensive ordeal....just sayin'

 

I had the same truck but mine was a 1990 auto v6. I really wanted to swap in a manual and a 3.4. There is a company that will do this for you but it is expensive if I remember correctly about 4-5k. Also the 3.4 sits higher than the 3.0 so you need a hood scoop or a body lift. I ended up buying a 03 tacoma in manual. I will try to find the company that does it but if I were you I would see how bad the problem is first and try to keep the motor. If it is too bad bite the bullet sell and buy a tacoma.

 

I believe this was the company that I found before (just did a quick google search) https://www.yotashop.com/toyota-3-4l-5vz-fe-engine-swap/ They are in WA

Here is another site that goes into great detail whats involved with the swap http://www.offroadsolutions.com/tech-info/3-4l-5vz-fe-conversion/

Whatever you end up doing good luck with it.

 

All of you guys saying "swap in a 3.4!" aren't considering a whole lot. Most people aren't made out of money. You're going to end up spending as much if not more than what you can BUY a TACOMA for. OP, sell the truck, or keep it and just have the 3.0 fixed, but if you are hell bent on a 3.4 then you are much better off investing in a solid Tacoma with the 5vz already in it.

 

I thought the engine blew head gaskets because they were built with the defective head gaskets, not that the engine had a tendency to blow them. I'll read up on it a little bit.

 

Well, i do not really know. All I know is that there's a long history of those engine blowing head gaskets even after they were replaced. There's some theories about there about whether or not many of those engines actually had some manufacturing inconsistencies. I don't really know. What I know is that a lot of people did not those engines at all because they were unreliable and anemic.

 

https://www.dallasjdmmotors.com/pro...oma-99-03-tundra-5vz-fe-5vzfe-3-4l-v6-engine/

 

Its not as hard as it sounds if you buy the right parts. I did one on a 93 yota pickup with a 5 speed with a junkyard 3.4l and the wiring harness from ORS. Truck is still on the road. FWIW, also just rolled 400k on my 99 with a 2.7l. They're both super reliable motors. 3.4l is closer to 'plug and play' than the 2.7l for your application. We did lots of reading and parts hunting before the swap.

 

No offense to OP, but if you didn't even know what vehicle you bought, engine swapping is not for you lol. I mean, unless you are seriously in love with the truck body you thought was a tacoma, it will likely be cheaper to sell your 94' pickup and buy an actual tacoma 95.5+ with the 3.4L engine already in there (and still spend less time and money on an engine swap done by someone else).

My 0.02. Sorry to hear about your truck, hopefully it turns out to be a cheaper fix than you thought. good luck

 

The head gasket wasn't defective on the 3.0s they tended to overheat and blow the gasket near the #6 cyl due to poor design of the exhaust headers. A stronger head gasket and freshly milled heads was the bandaid fix toyota assigned to deal with an engine that truly needed better headers. With better headers there wouldn't be the tendency for it to build too much heat back there. Still an underperforming 3.0 V6 and the only single cam V6 toyota ever made but I suppose it could at least be dependable.

 

For me it was just a factor of money. I decided to buy a 03 tacoma with a manual and the 3.4 I kept the 1990 for awhile after buying Tacoma too. I was just showing OP what will be involved. For him it will be easier to swap engine as I wanted to swap a manual into the 1990 along with 3.4

 

Do yourself a favor and buy a 3.4 v6 motor as they last 500,000 if taken care of and DO NOT BUY A JAPANESE JBL motor was made for the Japan market.
These engines you can find everywhere for sale brought over from Japan but you have NO idea of the miles, forget that they say they have 50, or 60, or 70,000 miles. For all you know your buying an engine with 200,000 miles. They have no idea or no proof of what any of the miles are on any of these engines.
Find a wrecked trunk that has the engine in it 100,000 miles or so you can hear it running and you can do a carfax to get the true miles on the truck. You don't want to do an engine swap twice because of a bad engine you bought.

 

I dont think ive ever seen a Japanese vehicle (In/ from Japan) with over 200k miles myself. Theres nowhere there to drive unlike the great distances we have in the Americas. Which is why they have 50,60,70,000 Miles.

 

They used to have a regulation that didn't allow a vehicle to be legally operated after 60,000. Because it is a small island, emissions and environmental protection are super important and apparently a study found that around then was the right time to discontinue use of a vehicle. With efficiency and emissions being improved I think that law has been lifted but theres still plenty of vehicles that it could still apply to and typically those are what we get engines from.

 

That's a urban myth and not true from what I have read And have seen plenty of thread of people that bought one of these motors that was no good, also hear that
because these were made for the Japanese market the emission setup is not the same as the USA engines is what my parts man at Toyota told me, anyway still you would be taking a gamble and who wants to replace an engine twice if it doesn't pan out, is a gamble
http://www.superstreetonline.com/how-to/project-car/ssts-0664-buying-used-jdm-motors/


http://www.city-data.com/forum/automotive/1469231-jdm-engines-generally-reliable-risky.html