Central Texas turnkey engine replacement? (1 Viewer)

[TexasDoug]

I'm gonna be realistic about my own abilities here: I'm never gonna pull and replace an engine myself and I'm more than happy to let a professional tackle this job.

Anyone know a shop in central Texas that will just do the whole thing drive in / drive out and stand behind the work? Just sourcing a re-manufactured engine is already proving to be annoying as hell, as every reman engine supplier I come across seems like a roll of the dice. I know we've got LCS here in Austin but in past conversations with them, I didn't get the sense that turnkey was really their cup of tea. I'd also trust Bearden in Austin to handle the install, but again they aren't really in the business of sourcing the engine for you.

The anxiety of picking up a bad reman engine that fails me after dumping all this money into replacement is enough to make me consider just selling it while the current motor is still running and reliable and picking up an old Tundra or 4runner with less miles

 

[ppc]

Why are you considering an engine replacement? Unless there is some major problem most just replace the head gasket, resurface the head, replace valve seals and are good to go. Most engines still have good rings and cross hatching in cylinder walls with higher mileage .

 

[TexasDoug]

• 327K miles. Valve seals / HG last done about 180K miles at dealership in Houston, per the paperwork I have on file. There's high mileage, and then there's 300K+ mileage. HG and seals seems optimistic, but I'd be happy to be wrong here.
• My follow-up question would be can anyone recommend a shop that will actually crack open the motor and confirm what it needs? I keep asking the local shops and they just hem and haw and suggest I keep driving it.
• It's consuming a quart of oil about every 500 miles at this point. Runs reliably but definitely "feels" tired. Isn't making noticeable smoke but it's not leaking enough to account for the rate of loss, so it's gotta be burning it.
• Yes, I can keep throwing oil into it and it will probably run this way another 50K miles for all I know. But I don't trust it to carry my family and I out into the desert like this, which is kinda the whole point of owning a cruiser

 

[TexasDoug]

I think I have a better appreciation for why shops aren't just "cracking open the motor" - it's about 10+ hours of labor by the book to pull the head, so you're already $1200+ deep just to find out what you're dealing with. If all you need is the head redone, it's well worth it. But if you end up needing a full overhaul you've blown a bunch of money that you could have spent on a replacement engine or full rebuild

 

[flintknapper]

Have a compression check done it...or do it yourself. That would give you a good indication of the health of the Cylinders and rings....without pulling the head to look. Also you can 'bore-scope' the cylinders and see what they look like to some extent.

The 1FZ-FE is not an especially powerful engine anyway, but quite reliable. IF your cylinders and lower end are still in good shape, then refreshing the head, having your injectors serviced and just a good general tune up...might be all you need. (Plugs, Wires, Cap, Rotor and set timing).

I have 312K on my '97 and still have 190psi on all six cylinders.

But honestly...it sounds a 100 series would better suit you.

 

[TexasDoug]

Good point - I'll start there. You're probably right on the 100 series, but I'm gonna need to get my arms around this either way if I want to sell my 80 so this gives me a reasonable next step. Thanks bud.

 

[Heckraiser]

I've still got solid compression at 330k (not 190psi, but consistent across the board 160psi) but I'm losing oil through the valve stems and the upper oil pan seal. A quart every 500 is a little excessive, but a quart every 1000 is about where I'm at. I'm hoping fixing the oil leaks will bring that much lower, but if not I'm prepared to do the valve stems and HG. I wouldn't go beyond that. I beat it hard in the middle of nowhere with no rescue options and I don't worry

 

[inkpot]

Have you dont a Blackstone test on the oil to see if/how much bearing metals are showing up? Are you consuming a lot of oil? You only have 147,000 on the head gasket and valve seals.

 

[TexasDoug]

@inkpot I have not. Yes, I'm consuming about 1qt per 500 miles, and sometimes more if I really push the truck hard. I'm about to run down the road to get a compression test kit. That will give me something to do this evening

 

[ppc]

A bad PVC valve can be partially the issue as well. Cheap to replace.

 

[TexasDoug]

So it took about one beer per cylinder, but I managed to change all the spark plugs along the way since why not. First the good news!

Compression test results:

C1: 190 PSI
C2: 190 PSI
C3: 190 PSI
C4: 190 PSI
C5: ~181 PSI (I had to run this cylinder a few times. Initial run was terrible at 150 PSI, but I re-seated the tool and the following 4 attempts came in at 181. I released the pressure after each run)
C6: ~180 PSI

So the numbers look really good considering 327K miles on the motor. But ... I'd like your opinion on the following I when I pulled the spark plugs that have less than 3k miles on them:

All of them had a healthy amount of oil on the threads (ignore the dirt they picked up after i placed them in the driveway). A quick google search offers explanations ranging from bad valve cover gaskets up to bad head gaskets. My takeaway so far is that I'm likely looking at a head rebuild no matter what if my goal is to cure the oil burning, during which all of these issues would / should be addressed.

Base on what you've seen so far, does anyone feel strongly that I need more than a head rebuilt at this point? My mind is blown.

 

[graham5david]

Its easier to pull the engine and transmission than it is to pull the head. With 330k you should at least replace all seals and gaskets. If you have it all out then you might as well rebuild it.

 

[TexasDoug]

Lmao @graham5david .... this thread is a rollercoaster. I was with you, then this thread gave me hope that perhaps I was overreacting, and now I just want to go buy a Tundra

 

[ppc]

3K miles on the plugs but over what period of time as the outside of the plugs looks to have some corrosion? What did the other two plugs look like? It is important when removing plugs to keep tract of what cylinder each came from.
The pictures should zero in on the electrodes in better lighting conditions with no shadows. The oil on the outside/threads can be caused by old/hard spark plug tube seals in the valve cover

 

[graham5david]

Lmao @graham5david .... this thread is a rollercoaster. I was with you, then this thread gave me hope that perhaps I was overreacting, and now I just want to go buy a Tundra

Honestly you could probably get away with rebuilding the head. You can pull the engine and trans in a few hours. No big deal. Do t let it overwhelm you.

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

@CenTXFJ60 might be a good person to call to help you with an engine swap. He operates out of Spring Branch area.

 

[TexasDoug]

@ppc 3k miles at most over a course of 1.5 years. Was more fixated on the cause of oil than the spark plug condition due to limited amount of action they’ve seen.

 

[ppc]

The type and color of the electrodes tell a lot about the engine condition. Any oil you see is a result of seals and gaskets leaking and can be repaired and not what I would use to determine if an engine needs replacement or major overhaul.

 

[TexasDoug]

Disregard - I cannot verify the age of the spark plugs. Bearden Automotive in Austin changed out my distributor cap and rotor and wires within the last 1.5 years and under 3k miles but the paperwork does not specifically say whether or not the plugs were done. It’s hard to believe they weren’t done with this work but I simply have no way to verify at this point. I'm now guessing they weren't changed because they clearly would have billed me for the plugs Weird.

 

[TexasDoug]

Spark plugs in more detail. Sadly out of order at this point so no way to match plugs to cylinders.