3fe that only takes 5qts of oil? (1 Viewer)

[4rnr]

Im stumped I just changed the oil on my GF's 62, and I put in the recomended 8 qts and I ended up being 3 qts to high I dumped out 3 qts (leaving 5 qts) and everything is fine. oil press and dipstick reads normal. Why does this engine only want 5 qts. It did have a motor swap once apon a time due to a oil issue blowing up the orig. As far as I can tell it has a 3fe (I couldnt find a label on it) Im a 4runner guy amd am new to these 62's. Any ideas?

 

[lovetoski]

Very wierd. Does the valve cover say 3FE on it? It should be an in-line 6 cyl engine.

 

[123c]

How many quarts of oil did you drain out originally? When I normally change oil, I drive about 20 miles, and get the oil nice and hot, then I let the oil drain out for a few hours, maybe overnight if possible, this gets almost all of the oil out. I know on my old Mercedes 300D, I had to do this to get all 8 quarts out...

 

[zcruiser]

I changed my oil this weekend. Pretty sure it said 'F' when I started (warm engine), but when pouring out the used oil into containers (including oil from filter), I only got 6 qts. I put 8 quarts in, ran it for a bit, and it seemed a little high (1 qt, maybe) but haven't really driven it enough to get the engine warm so will check again.

 

[KLF]

Best way I found to change the oil in a 3FE:

* Take the truck for a drive, 10-15 miles at least.
* Park it on a slight incline with the front higher than the rear.
* Put the drain pan under the engine, remove the drain plug.
* Open the hood, reach in with a loooong screwdriver and poke a hole in the top of the oil filter.
* Lower your spare tire, spray the hell out of the winch with oil to keep it from rusting. Oil all your door hinges.
* Shut the hood. Go inside, drink a beer or 2, go to bed.
* Next morning, remove the oil filter (it will be totally dry, no drips). Install new OEM filter.
* Put the plug back into the pan.
* Dump in 6-7 quarts of oil.

The factory spec of 8+ quarts of oil is if the engine is totally empty, which will never happen, unless you could somehow flip the engine over. There's just too many galleys and crevices for old oil to get caught in.

 

[zcruiser]

Good stuff. I poked a hole in the top of my filter, too, worked pretty well exc. I turned the filter sideways to get it through the gap and spilled some then .

 

[4rnr]

Thanks guys I only got 5 quarts out of it and I only let it drain for 20 min. It wasnt coming out very much at that time but I know how stubborn oil can be. Also when I over filled it I had to drain about 4 quarts and it was BLACK as hell, so this is starting to make sense.

 

[lovetoski]

I've changed the oil in my 80, my 60, and my sis's 62 on many occaisions. It's always ~8qts. If your're getting 5 qts, something's not right.

Seriously black oil isn't good. Suggest you change it again after a few hundred miles. Also, read some of the posts on AutoRX and SeaFoam and see if you like what's said. Might be something to consider.