1997 Toyota Dyna Motor Seized (4 Viewers)

[hobojordo]

Hey All
The Engine in my 1997 Toyota Dyna 3L LY161 died Im afraid. With only 17,000km I expected it to last much longer!
I had changed the oil about 2000km ago, and haven't checked it since (no leaks on the floor). But apparently it was low - the oil light came on and it died. I check the oil (it seemed to be fine with oil all over the dipstck) I drove a few hundred more yards, and it died again. Now it wont turn over and smoke came out of the dipstick hole.

I probably need a new motor, huh?

Sad, and I know parts for these older Dynas are getting harder to find - is there a motor I could put in it that would be more up to date and have more readily available parts? Maybe even one with a turbo?
Or should I just find a used 3L or 5L and replace the motor? I'm only wary to do that because no-one wants to work on the thing because all the seals and such are getting harder to source.

 

[duncanrm]

HOw does your engine only have 17,000klm on it?? What a shame

I'd be looking for a 5L engine for sure.. Definitely make sure its 5L, and not 5L-E

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

Did it have an aftermarket turbo? What we re you doing when the engine seized? When you say the oil light came on, are we talking a red low oil pressure light or an orange low oil level light?

 

[hobojordo]

Well there is hope it’s not seized. I thought smoke from the dipstick followed by it not turning over might mean that… but..
I had changed the oil not long ago, and maybe it wasn’t as low as I thought. When I checked it the first time after it died (shortly after the red oil pressure light came on… I thought that was a low oil light) it had oil on the dip stick (all over it) so I kept driving. It died again. Then I saw the fumes coming out of the dipstick hole and looked more closely and it wasn’t as much oil as I thought it was- but definitely not dry.

Now it just clicks when I try to turn it over. Could it be a voltage thing? Maybe it’s not the motor seizing? But why the smoke? I clearly am still learning ha…

what should I try doing?

for now I’ll takeoff the fan and try turning the crankshaft by hand…

 

[hobojordo]

Here are the fumes..

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

Any time the low oil pressure light comes on, it's bad news. To then go and drive it again....

I would say the engine is seized. You might be able to get to move a little with a breaker bar now that it has cooled down, but it probably started with big end failure, then seized up when you continued driving with no oil. So the bores may be scored.

You'll need to pull the engine apart to see what has happened. I would guess oil passage obstruction.

 

[hobojordo]

Any time the low oil pressure light comes on, it's bad news. To then go and drive it again....

I would say the engine is seized. You might be able to get to move a little with a breaker bar now that it has cooled down, but it probably started with big end failure, then seized up when you continued driving with no oil. So the bores may be scored.

You'll need to pull the engine apart to see what has happened. I would guess oil passage obstruction.

Yeah.. it’s seized. Won’t manually turn over.

Wow that sucks. I thought that was a low oil light, it wasn’t out of oil so I was going to drive the 200 more yards to a pull over spot. Bad call!

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

To be fair, the engine was probably ruined when it first stopped, I doubt you did much extra damge if it was such a short distance.

To me a 30+ year old engine with so few kms is not necessarily a good thing. It must either have been used regularly for very short distances, or not used for long periods. Either way, there might have been quite some sludge in the oil galleries which led to a blockage.

Not sure if you just want to junk it and move on, or look into root causes, but we'd be interested to see the internals if yoyu do take it apart.

As stated earlier, a 5L would be a drop in replacement and minor upgrade. But still probably underpowered for the vehicle.

 

[blinkerfluid]

Or you can rebuild this to a 5L

 

[hobojordo]

To be fair, the engine was probably ruined when it first stopped, I doubt you did much extra damge if it was such a short distance.

To me a 30+ year old engine with so few kms is not necessarily a good thing. It must either have been used regularly for very short distances, or not used for long periods. Either way, there might have been quite some sludge in the oil galleries which led to a blockage.

Not sure if you just want to junk it and move on, or look into root causes, but we'd be interested to see the internals if yoyu do take it apart.

As stated earlier, a 5L would be a drop in replacement and minor upgrade. But still probably underpowered for the vehicle.

Yeah that definitely makes sense… been scratching my head - but sludge blocking the passages makes sense.

Im in the USA so I’m worried that by the time I import another unknown motor the sunken cost fallacy might get way out of control…

is there any other motor/trans combos that are more available that people put in these things? Could be a project for the future if so..

 

[hobojordo]

Anyone know if the 3.4L V6 (5VZ-FE) out of the first Tacomas bolts in? Someone said they thought it does..

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

No chance without major modifications. A V6 is a much wider engine.

 

[blinkerfluid]

Yeah that definitely makes sense… been scratching my head - but sludge blocking the passages makes sense.

Im in the USA so I’m worried that by the time I import another unknown motor the sunken cost fallacy might get way out of control…

is there any other motor/trans combos that are more available that people put in these things? Could be a project for the future if so..

3rz or 2tr

or the 1KZTE

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

I believe your Dyna has a R351F transmission. If this has the same bolt pattern as the common R150/151 then you have a number of options for engines which will fit without an adapter, I think the 5VZ, 3RZ and 2TR are among these engines.

However, the engine is pretty tight in the Dyna's cabover body, so even with a similarly sized inline four like the 3RZ or 2TR, you may need to do a lot of fabrication to make things fit.