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JDM engine vs 'higher' mileage used vs full rebuilt engine for 02 Tacoma 5vz(3.4)

Lil'John said:
I push the clutch in, the knock disappears. I leave the trans in neutral, there is the knock...
It could also be the trans...
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Sounds like the bearings on the input shaft?
What was the problem with trans when bought new-
 
Lil'John said:
As noted in the post you quoted, I haven't diagnosed shit. This thread is me fishing for best approach if worst case happen. If best/safest approach is to do a full rebuild, I put a core engine and Yota factory build parts on my list of things to watch out for.

And for the record, I 100% appreciate ideas for diagnosing what my issue might really be.

On the oil burn/leak issue, I'd guess around 1 quart every five to six thousand miles last I checked... I haven't really measured it since I replaced the valve cover gaskets about two to three thousand miles ago. I believe it is mostly a leak as oil is coating the oilpan, rack, and sway bar. Changing the valve cover gaskets helped but there still appears to be a leak/burn.:homer:
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A quart at basically oil change time?! :laughing: Unless your adding a quart every thousand miles, its fine.

And no, any engine bearing noise will not go away because you're pushing the clutch pedal. I'd bet dollars to donuts your clutch is worn the fuck out.
 
A quart of oil every 5k miles is less than most brand new cars with cylinder deactivation burn coming off the dealership lot. And you have a known leak.. so it's likely not burning anything.

Check the oil cooler gasket, it's on the drivers side rear of the block and would soak the rack & sway bar. It's a big O ring and easy to replace.

Crank thrust bearing knocks usually get much worse when you push the clutch, not quieter. Throw out bearings can rattle when unloaded and quiet under pressure. I think you're barking up the wrong tree, you likely have a clutch, throwout or transmission input shaft bearing issue. And it may be minor enough to ignore for years.

What RPM range do you shift at usually? It will feel underpowered compared to a 4.3 if you shift early. 4.3 makes more low end torque. 3.4l's peak power is up by 5k rpm. I've held mine there full throttle for an hour straight pulling a trailer against the WY wind. They take it just fine. Let it eat!

Don't make your own luck by assuming the worst on everything.
 
HillbillyDeluxe said:
A quart at basically oil change time?! :laughing: Unless your adding a quart every thousand miles, its fine.

And no, any engine bearing noise will not go away because you're pushing the clutch pedal. I'd bet dollars to donuts your clutch is worn the fuck out.
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Adding 1 quart per 1000 miles is basic maintenance :laughing: if you don't have to plan out how many quarts of oil to bring based on how far your driving its a non-issue :grinpimp:
 
What? said:
What happened to the s10 you had?
<snip gracious offer>
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S10 is still on the back 40 waiting for time/money to figure out smog. Seems like I've got one or the other but not both. New Year's "resolution" is to cut back on my clutter/projects.
det107 said:
Sounds like the bearings on the input shaft?
What was the problem with trans when bought new-
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Different tacoma(99) I bought new off lot and it had a gear whine that wasn't constant. After third complaint, they pulled the transmission and found one of the gears was miscut(I want to say 2nd gear/cluster)

Ranchtruck said:
A quart of oil every 5k miles is less than most brand new cars with cylinder deactivation burn coming off the dealership lot. And you have a known leak.. so it's likely not burning anything.

Check the oil cooler gasket, it's on the drivers side rear of the block and would soak the rack & sway bar. It's a big O ring and easy to replace.

Crank thrust bearing knocks usually get much worse when you push the clutch, not quieter. Throw out bearings can rattle when unloaded and quiet under pressure. I think you're barking up the wrong tree, you likely have a clutch, throwout or transmission input shaft bearing issue. And it may be minor enough to ignore for years.

What RPM range do you shift at usually? It will feel underpowered compared to a 4.3 if you shift early. 4.3 makes more low end torque. 3.4l's peak power is up by 5k rpm. I've held mine there full throttle for an hour straight pulling a trailer against the WY wind. They take it just fine. Let it eat!

Don't make your own luck by assuming the worst on everything.
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I'll take a look into oil cooler.

I shift on the "way high" side... My wife shifts on the "way low" side:laughing: I probably treat it too much like a sports car than I should. But at some areas on my daily drive(Wentworth Springs), it won't hold speed without reving the piss out of it where as the S10 holds better. You are correct in the S10 has more torque... I seem to recall ~20 ft-lbs more last I looked.
 
Have never check to see if a 3.4 short block is available from toyota? But back when the 3.slo was used seemed like we were getting them for $900.Was around $500 for the head to get done and about another $400 to get the oem gaskets,head bolts and oil/water pumps ,timing components. This was always the better option then versus used engine prices then.
 
Lil'John said:
S10 is still on the back 40 waiting for time/money to figure out smog. Seems like I've got one or the other but not both. New Year's "resolution" is to cut back on my clutter/projects.

Different tacoma(99) I bought new off lot and it had a gear whine that wasn't constant. After third complaint, they pulled the transmission and found one of the gears was miscut(I want to say 2nd gear/cluster)


I'll take a look into oil cooler.

I shift on the "way high" side... My wife shifts on the "way low" side:laughing: I probably treat it too much like a sports car than I should. But at some areas on my daily drive(Wentworth Springs), it won't hold speed without reving the piss out of it where as the S10 holds better. You are correct in the S10 has more torque... I seem to recall ~20 ft-lbs more last I looked.
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What other maintenance have you slacked on? Maybe it needs a set of plugs, wires and other ignition parts?
 
HillbillyDeluxe said:
What other maintenance have you slacked on? Maybe it needs a set of plugs, wires and other ignition parts?
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To pass smog and fix a miss fire around Sept, I replaced plugs, wires, and coils. To further pass smog, front and rear o2 sensors were replaced. I also replaced one air line that goes from throttle body to air filter plenum.

When I did valve cover gaskets, I did head to valve cover gasket plus the bolt "grommets". All were OEM parts.
 
I'd say you have another 100k of miles before you need to consider fixing anything major . Someone said something on here about don't make your own luck.......I agree.
 
Lil'John said:
To pass smog and fix a miss fire around Sept, I replaced plugs, wires, and coils. To further pass smog, front and rear o2 sensors were replaced. I also replaced one air line that goes from throttle body to air filter plenum.

When I did valve cover gaskets, I did head to valve cover gasket plus the bolt "grommets". All were OEM parts.
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I'm about 90% sure that if your engine passed that Cali smog bullshit you arent anywhere close to needing to replace your engine :laughing:
 
Diagnose your damn issue before you spend money. Replacing an engine because you can't be bothered to diagnose a clutch/trans issue is probably the most Toyota thing I've read all week. :flipoff2:



Leadfoot21 said:
25-3500 engine for a 300k 21 year old truck engine and another 1000-2000 in labor to install it not to include the things that need replaced that go with every engine swap … personally I’d scrap/sell it but since it’s a Toyota somehow that makes it worth it …id buy a used engine and install it myself otherwise you’re spending more than the trucks worth when you could buy something else .
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How dare you inject rationality into this emotion driven decision process. :laughing::flipoff2:


Leadfoot21 said:
Side note : a locally rebuilt engine or even from a large rebuilder will never be 1/2 as durable or as long lived as a factory long lock so I always suggest the used engine, always .
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That's just a reflection of the fact that 99% of re-builders DGAF and are just parts assemblers. Any idiot can hit OEM tolerances if they care to.

YotaAtieToo said:
In my opinion, that Era of tacoma is a very solid platform, same platform as my 4runner.
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Motivated reasoning much? :lmao:
 
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Lil'John said:
To pass smog and fix a miss fire around Sept, I replaced plugs, wires, and coils. To further pass smog, front and rear o2 sensors were replaced. I also replaced one air line that goes from throttle body to air filter plenum.

When I did valve cover gaskets, I did head to valve cover gasket plus the bolt "grommets". All were OEM parts.
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Any engine light on?
 
I have a friend that drives from VT to NJ to buy Japanese take out engines, he says they are super clean and in very good condition and lower miles. His thinking is that Japan isn't that big so not much long distance traveling. He has had very good luck with the 3 that he has purchases since I've known him (different vehicles)
The last one (Honda Civic) there were a couple brackets that were different but nothing major.
 
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In a Japanese vehicle I would take a 150k mile engine over something that had been opened up and had "new parts" any day.

I'd also be hesitant to let a shop change an engine unless you really really trusted them. There's just way too much fucking hack work going on right now.

And diagnose your fucking noise :laughing:
 
In the past i have bought multiple JDM engines and have never had a problem, if i ever needed another one i wouldnt hesitate to source another
 
Add said:
I personally think the whole JDM thing isn't what it's cracked up to be.

Forever, people believed there was a law in Japan that engines had to be removed at X number of miles. Idk who started that lie but it's not true. Yes I'm sure some have low miles but it's not like they hit 50k and get yanked
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I’d be way more concerned with how many hours are on those engines than miles. Japan isn’t that big.
 
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Diagnose it. As others have said the 3.4s like to be wound out and beat on, they get better fuel mileage as well all wound out :laughing:. Toyota people crack me up.
 
Vinman said:
I’d be way more concerned with how many hours are on those engines than miles...
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The huge statement is the rush hour commute every day & drivers wear diapers (dunno why no funnel+tubing or water bottle)-
 
Lil'John said:
The truck runs pretty well... in fact, just past Calif smog with flying colors. But it has an 'odd' knock that I haven't diagnosed yet. I push the clutch in, the knock disappears. I leave the trans in neutral, there is the knock. I am preparing for the worst of a rod/crank knock since this year(2023) has been complete shit for me so far:homer::barf:

It could be as 'simple' as the clutch is junk. Or it could also be the trans... I had a 99 Taco that I bought new off the lot with a bad gear in it that I fought with the dealer to fix for 20k miles.

I will ignore the fact that the Taco feels WAY underpowered when compared to my 4.3L S10 truck that is roughly equivalent but with less mileage(2000 S10, 4wd, manual trans, ~130k miles) They are both supposed to be ~190hp but the 4.3L is supposed to have ~20ft-lbs more. But I'm talking seat of pants dyno difference is power "feel". I will grant you extra-cab(Tacoma) versus regular cab(S10) but both with 31s, 4wd, and manual trans.
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Friend of mine had this in his 99 Tacoma. He replaced the throwout bearing and it went away. YMMV My 99 was starting to get it then I sold it to DozerDan from here. It had 320k on the original clutch so I guess the bearing needed to be replaced.
 
It has to be in the clutch. Quit being a pussy and fix it. Cardboard makes the rocks more bearable :flipoff2:


My buddy bought a Cherokee that was 5 years old for $500 because "it has a rod knock". He started to pull the trans off the motor and noticed the flywheel bolts were loose.
Cranked them down, fired it up, and the rod knock disappeared! :laughing:

He's put 300k on it since, and it still doesn't rod knock.

I also thought I had a rod knock once until I went to pull the starter to pull the oil pan. The starter bolts backed out and my stupid loud knocking noise was the starter bouncing around on the block. :homer:
 
arse_sidewards said:
Y'all are pissing into the wind. When a dumbass Toyota owner decides they wanna spend money on shit they don't need they're gonna spend money whether you validate their pretext or not.
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This. If you have the money and want to, do it. A couple grand either way won't ruin your life and you aren't selling the truck. I'll be the different opinion. Do it. The last JDM vehicle I bought I shipped to my work from Chicago sight unseen. Had the equivalent km to 157k and all I ever did was brakes and batteries. I'd look for a 3.4 first, and if I didn't find what I was looking for then fuck it.

Clarification: I am a Toyota owner.
 
Kaptain said:
Quit telling this guy to replace the motor, he has not done any useful troubleshooting yet
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My advice is AFTER he troubleshoots and correctly diagnoses the engine as garbage and not worth rebuilding :flipoff2:
 
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