- Thread starter
- #21
Ok, so we are getting near the 22RE death part of the story. So I had been driving the rig to and from work every couple weeks since July leading up to KOH because I wanted to see if I had any cooling issues or anything in general. It's 30 miles each way and about 1200 feet of elevation gain from my work. I had noticed that this particular 22RE felt weak. I had my previous 22RE 4runner when my DD was a 4 cylinder Ford Ranger and now days I have a 5th Gen Ram Cummins. So I kind of thought "ahh, you've just become power spoiled, this is back to the old 4 cylinder life".
Then I noticed I was burning oil at a decent rate. Meeeehhhh, 22REs do that!
Then I noticed the oil sneeze mark on the side of my house where I idle the truck... LOL. This is when I started doing some serious 3RZ research and planning my exit. Man, they are kind of difficult to find now days it seems though. Toyota prices are what they are, and these aren't a super wide spread engine. But I was pretty damn set on keeping 4 Cylinder weight since I just tuned the whole rig around that weight and I really am a fan of keeping it light.
My whole crew runs on one tons and 40"+ tires. They are all 5800lbs on up to 8200lbs for one of the full size guys. I kind of dig being the odd one out and having to pick my own lines and completely think from a different angle. So I am fairly set on the 3RZ at this point.
In late Feb, I went on a quick snow run up Ice House road. It was pretty fun and the truck did excellently with the snow conditions. This further convinced me of keeping the weight the same with a 3RZ and potentially upping to 37x13.5 tires. The increased power and contact patch would be really nice. I also definitely noticed when pulling the grade out of Placerville and coming back up the grade going West from Fresh Pond towards Pollock Pines that I was dying in regard to engine power. I was dropped into 3rd gear and barely holding it in the power band. Temp gauge showed good and I was being stubborn...
On the temp gauge - I had suspicions of it potentially being bad since I have seen it pop up into the warm zone curiously fast when warming up. A few weeks prior to this I had ordered a new temp sender and both ohmed out the same, so I didn't replace it yet. Failure mode #1.
We got all that good snow and on March 3rd I really wanted to hit it. A buddy was heading up and I said I'd meet him up there. When pulling that grade out of Placerville I was seriously dying for power. I started to look for exits, but there were none. It was that section along Apple Hill Cafe to Camino where there is the median and the massive snow year left a snow bank. Honestly, I wasn't going to stop and clog up a lane and have people bombing 60 MPH by us. I am not trying to get killed by someone texting and plowing into us, so I decided to hammer it to the Exxon at Camino where there was a safe exit. Temp gauge was still showing good, but I was struggling in 2nd gear to get there. My buddy behind me radios me and goes "Holy s*** dude, I smell so much oil my eyes are burning and the heat ploom coming of of your exhaust is about 4ft long!" I immediately grab for my fire extinguisher, get it handy, and radio him telling him to be ready with his.
So the basic story is that She's fried.
A buddy came with his trailer to get me which was awesome. 
The 22re had enough power to barely pull up the trailer and then again barely to pull up my steep driveway and onto my side yard. I honestly was not that sad. I was more thankful I didn't burn it to the ground and also that it still had power to pull up my driveway where I am doing the engine swap.
I really would have liked to be able to wheel the 22RE through the summer and do the swap in the off season, but whatever! Gotta roll with it!
Then I noticed I was burning oil at a decent rate. Meeeehhhh, 22REs do that!
Then I noticed the oil sneeze mark on the side of my house where I idle the truck... LOL. This is when I started doing some serious 3RZ research and planning my exit. Man, they are kind of difficult to find now days it seems though. Toyota prices are what they are, and these aren't a super wide spread engine. But I was pretty damn set on keeping 4 Cylinder weight since I just tuned the whole rig around that weight and I really am a fan of keeping it light.
My whole crew runs on one tons and 40"+ tires. They are all 5800lbs on up to 8200lbs for one of the full size guys. I kind of dig being the odd one out and having to pick my own lines and completely think from a different angle. So I am fairly set on the 3RZ at this point.
In late Feb, I went on a quick snow run up Ice House road. It was pretty fun and the truck did excellently with the snow conditions. This further convinced me of keeping the weight the same with a 3RZ and potentially upping to 37x13.5 tires. The increased power and contact patch would be really nice. I also definitely noticed when pulling the grade out of Placerville and coming back up the grade going West from Fresh Pond towards Pollock Pines that I was dying in regard to engine power. I was dropped into 3rd gear and barely holding it in the power band. Temp gauge showed good and I was being stubborn...
On the temp gauge - I had suspicions of it potentially being bad since I have seen it pop up into the warm zone curiously fast when warming up. A few weeks prior to this I had ordered a new temp sender and both ohmed out the same, so I didn't replace it yet. Failure mode #1.
We got all that good snow and on March 3rd I really wanted to hit it. A buddy was heading up and I said I'd meet him up there. When pulling that grade out of Placerville I was seriously dying for power. I started to look for exits, but there were none. It was that section along Apple Hill Cafe to Camino where there is the median and the massive snow year left a snow bank. Honestly, I wasn't going to stop and clog up a lane and have people bombing 60 MPH by us. I am not trying to get killed by someone texting and plowing into us, so I decided to hammer it to the Exxon at Camino where there was a safe exit. Temp gauge was still showing good, but I was struggling in 2nd gear to get there. My buddy behind me radios me and goes "Holy s*** dude, I smell so much oil my eyes are burning and the heat ploom coming of of your exhaust is about 4ft long!" I immediately grab for my fire extinguisher, get it handy, and radio him telling him to be ready with his.
So the basic story is that She's fried.
A buddy came with his trailer to get me which was awesome. The 22re had enough power to barely pull up the trailer and then again barely to pull up my steep driveway and onto my side yard. I honestly was not that sad. I was more thankful I didn't burn it to the ground and also that it still had power to pull up my driveway where I am doing the engine swap.
I really would have liked to be able to wheel the 22RE through the summer and do the swap in the off season, but whatever! Gotta roll with it!
