Greetings to all, and a 4Runner Question.

[Griffin1340]

I kinda bounced into this forum from a link on off road trailers.
But I like what I see so far.
So for some of you Toyota X-perts.
I have a '91 4Runner 4X4
3.0 V6 [head gasket last year & a fix of the knock sensor]
Auto trans...OK nothing yet but a fluid & filter change.
Running stock tires and no lift.
Problem is...really crappy fuel mileage.:Wow1: I mean really crappy, I could drive a '74 Ford F250 with a 360cid and get the same MPG [And I used to drive one so I know!]
Summer MPG [in Wisconsin] 15-17
Winter MPG 8-12!
New air filter & plugs.
Timing is on the mark.
Thermostat is proper range.
No engine codes.
No air conditioning x-cept the windows.
County roads and Interstate driving.
Winter I shroud off the grille with a sheet to limit cold air to the engine. Off now.
Need to replace front FWD axles next month. [paycheck allowing]
I know that the 3ZVE is not noted as a powerhouse or even one of Toyota's better designs. But is this all I can expect out of this truck for MPG?
Heck my Wife's Chevy Tahoe gets better MPG...with a 350cid.
Any ideas?
Or do I just 'deal with it?'

 

[datrupr]

Sorry, Im not a Toyota guy so I don't have an answer for you, but welcome to ExPo! I'm sure some of the Toy guys will chime in soon.

 

[Overland Hadley]

Don't have an answer, but welcome to ExPo.

 

[Scenic WonderRunner]

I'm not a mechanic. But from several years of trying to keep my 3.0 V6 alive I will say ......give these options a check. And spending lots of cash in the process....qualifies me to answer!:elkgrin:


1. Replace O2 Sensor.

2. Fuel/Air Mixture not correct.

3. Throttle Body needs major Cleaning.

4. Replace PCV Valve

5. Fuel Injector issues

6. ......Or/ All of the Above!


Check out this link for ideas.

http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/4Runner/

http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/maintenance/30_V6/throttle_body/


Good luck! Welcome to ExPo!:sombrero:


.

 

[Scenic WonderRunner]

PCV Valve......


Replacing the PCV (Positive Crankcase Ventilation) valve, and why you need to


http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/pcv-replace/index.html


.

 

[BLKNBLU]

Another welcome...and another "no answer". I've seen many complaints of similar mpg on other boards, never an answer though. I get the feeling that's just the way it is. I feel lucky to have my 22re. Good luck.

 

[laxtoy]

i can tell you as a former 92 4runner w/ a 3.0 (aka 3-slow) owner, those summer numbers are close to what i typically got in mine w/ a 5 speed. factor in an auto with a 130ish hp dog of an engine, and that will explain those summer numbers. as for winter, could be ethanol infused gas and cold temps could surely help pull your mileage down, but once you drop below 10, i'd say you might have something wrong. all i could suggest is a tune up (anything you missed like fuel filter, cap and rotor, pcv valve), possibly replacing the o2 sensors as was mentioned before, and maybe cleaning the throttle body and maf sensor. and to add, sadly, before i had my 4runner, i had an extended cab 4x4 chevy w/ a 350 that got as good if not better milage than the toyota.

 

[Scenic WonderRunner]

i can tell you as a former 92 4runner w/ a 3.0 (aka 3-slow) owner, those summer numbers are close to what i typically got in mine w/ a 5 speed. factor in an auto with a 130ish hp dog of an engine, and that will explain those summer numbers. as for winter, could be ethanol infused gas and cold temps could surely help pull your mileage down, but once you drop below 10, i'd say you might have something wrong. all i could suggest is a tune up (anything you missed like fuel filter, cap and rotor, pcv valve), possibly replacing the o2 sensors as was mentioned before, and maybe cleaning the throttle body and maf sensor. and to add, sadly, before i had my 4runner, i had an extended cab 4x4 chevy w/ a 350 that got as good if not better milage than the toyota.

Your HorsePower quote is Wrong!

And my new engine has never run better....with more power.

Oh! ....and I DO have an AUTO!

Downey Headers are Awesome!

When these are running perfect.....you can get 18 to 24.50 MPG.

I've done it.




I'm sorry you had a sucky engine!




.

 

[User_Name]

Just traded my 92 4 runner 3.0 5 speed in last year, it was basically stock and over the life of the truck it rarely changed much MPG wise from the day I bought it new, every time I did a check it held right at 19.2 MPG

Sold it with 130,000 on it, original brakes, clutch and only maintenance I did was a timing belt and plugs about 55,000 when they did a recall on the head gasket.

Now driving an 08 Tacoma TRD Offroad and the juries still out whether this one will be half the truck that 4 runner was since I hate to say it but Toyota quality I have come to expect since my first one in 79 has obviously slipped over the years

At least I have over a dozen cup holders in my new one

 

[Griffin1340]

Thanks for the welcomes and the advice. Looks like I have a few things to check.

 

[4Rescue]

3.0 3VZe??? Deal with it.

The engine barely makes more RWHP than my 22RE and the torque band isn't very advantageous for a heavy (and our older trucks are the overbuilt Hilux's of woldwide legend remember ) Frankly, the 3VZE isn't just one of Toyotas worse designs, it turns out to be the WORST motor they ever put into their trucks. The only motor of theirs that poped more HG's was their 2.4 Turbo Diesel the 2L-t

That said, you've got one of the best made, burliest little trucks EVER. Powerplants aside these are about as durable and overbuilt pund for pound as it comes. The ony things that I can think of that are more over built are the Toyota H/FJ7X and the Nissan Patrol and those admitidly meant to be even bigger burlier trucks then ours.

-Will your 3Vze "crack" and suddenly yield amazing milage??? No... They didn't new, and they're not going to now... Take into consideration how diferent the surfacer of the world is from place to place and how say someone in Florida might get better mialge in the same truck as say someone in Colorado... THere are alot of contributing factors to milage, terrain, load, weather... So someone;s claim of great milage at one point can have to do with alot of things... Will it average out? or are these just the exact peaks and valleys that averages remove?

-Will I be able to do a few things to make it better??? Possibly. Any motor in top tune will get it's best milage because it's running at it's most efficient wich actualy means more power and more MPGs a powerful engine is an eficient engine... SO you need to make sure that the AFM is set right, the O2 sensor is working properly, make sure your TPS is working properly, check for vacum leaks etc. and so on and so forth...

-Are there any tricks to the 3Vze to make more power and get better milage??? No... lots of folks have tried, some guy's have built the snot out of these things. There's even a guy with over 1,000,000 miles on one... They're Toyotas so even at their worst they're better than some at their best... They like anything will run forever with routine maint.... the best thing to make for better milage is YOU...

Your driving habits are probably more eratic than you'd even think to know... I used to have this old car with a mpg meter on it and just driving around what I thought was reservedly in town it fluctuated ALOT... so I'd pklay a game and try to keep it as low and steady as possible for as long as possible and viola' I got better milage.

Don't let me lead you to belive that I think you've got a POS truck, it's just that the motor is not a favorite motor of mine. But in reality if you can handle the milage for now you have one amazing platform to do an engine swap in further down the road likie say the 3.4L, that makes alot more power and get's better milage. Plus they're really fun in 1st and 2nd gen trucks...

Cheers

Dave

 

[Scenic WonderRunner]

The 3.0 .......

Is refered to as the....

3VZ-E


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_VZ_engine



3VZ-E
The 3VZ-E is a 3.0 L (2958 cc) version. Bore remains at 87.5 mm (3.4 in) but stroke is pushed to 82.0 mm (3.2 in). At introduction output was specified as 145 hp (108 kW) then later bumped to 150 hp (112 kW) at 4800 rpm with 180 ft·lbf (244 N·m) of torque at 3400 rpm. Despite sharing an engine family designation the 3VZ-E and 3VZ-FE have few parts in common.

Applications:

1988–1995 Toyota 4Runner
1988–1995 Toyota Pickup
1993–1995 Toyota T100




~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


The Downey Headers solve the over heating problem around the back side of the heads (protects the head gaskets), which was really the main issue with this engine......and they add a good deal of power!

I have already established years ago, that I can get 18 to 24.50 MPG.


Wanna Race>?!!!! hehe




.


Just sayin'.........!

Maybe just 'cause I've had my 3.0 apart a few times!

I got it Down........!

 

[Scenic WonderRunner]

3.0 3VZe??? Deal with it.

The engine barely makes more RWHP than my 22RE and the torque band isn't very advantageous for a heavy (and our older trucks are the overbuilt Hilux's of woldwide legend remember ) Frankly, the 3VZE isn't just one of Toyotas worse designs, it turns out to be the WORST motor they ever put into their trucks. The only motor of theirs that poped more HG's was their 2.4 Turbo Diesel the 2L-t

That said, you've got one of the best made, burliest little trucks EVER. Powerplants aside these are about as durable and overbuilt pund for pound as it comes. The ony things that I can think of that are more over built are the Toyota H/FJ7X and the Nissan Patrol and those admitidly meant to be even bigger burlier trucks then ours.

-Will your 3Vze "crack" and yield amazing milage??? No... They didn't new, and they're not going to now... Take into consideration how diferent the surfacer of the world is from place to place and how say someone in upstate New-york might get better mialge in the same truck as say someone in Colorado... THere are alot of contributing factors to milage, terrain, load, weather... So someone;s claim of great milage at one point can have to do with alot of things... Will it average out? or are these just the exact things that averages remove?

-Will I be able to do a few things to make it better??? Possibly. Any motor in top tune will get it's best milage because it's running at it's most efficient wich actualy means more power and more MPGs a powerful engine is an eficient engine... SO you need to make sure that the AFM is set right, the O2 sensor is working properly, make sure your TPS is working properly, check for vacum leaks etc. and so on and so forth...

-Are there any tricks to the 5Vze to make more power and get better milage??? No... lots of folks have tried, some guy's have built the snot out of these things. There's even a guy with over 1,000,000 miles on one... They're Toyotas so even at their worst they're better than some at their best... They like anything will run forever with routine maint.... the best thing to make for better milage is YOU...

Your driving habits are probably more eratic than you'd even think to know... I used to have this old car with a mpg meter on it and just driving around what I thought was reservedly in town it fluctuated ALOT... so I'd pklay a game and try to keep it as low and steady as possible for as long as possible and viola' I got better milage.

Don't let me lead you to belive that I think you've got a POS truck, it's just that the motor is not a favorite motor of mine. But in reality if you can handle the milage for now you have one amazing platform to do an engine swap in further down the road likie say the 3.4L, that makes alot more power and get's better milage. Plus they're really fun in 1st and 2nd gen trucks...

Cheers

Dave

Too bad I didn't quote your thread above..........because now after my post.

You are changing it.

You called it a 5VZE...........

Our 3.4 bros wouldn't like that!

Let's get real!

If you don't own one. Or have never worked on one. How in the world would you know?

Please!



.

 

[4Rescue]

Too bad I didn't quote your thread above..........because now after my post.

You are changing it.

You called it a 5VZE...........

Our 3.4 bros wouldn't like that!

Let's get real!

If you don't own one. Or have never worked on one. How in the world would you know?

Please!


.

??? Are you asking me a question or are you refering to me mis labeling the 3.0 3VZe a 3.4L 5VZe??? I don't know what I was thinking either btw, I changed it within about a minute and hadn't even read your post. I felt sort of dumb hehe. I find your typing hard to follow sometimes mate, I don't mean anything negative by that, I just can't make out what you're going at some times eh. Me, I use the "..." way too much to end sentences, apparently I trail off nearly everytime I say something... HAHAHA

As for my 3.0 background... the majority of the guy's I wheel with are Toyota guy's and alot of them have 3.0's. I've worked on them, wheeled them and watched them drink gas on long road trips where they filled up almost twice as many times as us 22RE'rs did... That's alot of gas. All of the trucks were loaded to the gills with Rafting gear and in reality the people that had the manual tranny's were just happier regardless of what motor they had pushing it.

The 3.0 sure can sound sweet when you throw a simple 2 chamber flowmaster on it or even some dual's, they sound real good. The're pretty cheap to repair when and if they do go down on you. Hell the HG replacement has to be written up on nearly everysingle Toyota based forum on the web and can be completed fairly easily if you don't have to do too much to the rest of the mtor. Read: you caught it when it went and you towed it home ya know

Stock to stock though, your auto 3.0 versus my 5spd 22RE since we have the same truck (nice rig btw mate ) I'm fairly confident that I'll pull away from you. possibly not up long grades, but then I can hold a lower gear and just wind out the 22RE (something they actualy like to do for a big I4) so... But then from your pic unless you've gone a long way to making your engine shiney, I feel you may have modified it a bit??? Yes no???

My thing about sinking the money into the 3VZ is the same as me going for a bone stock 22RE when I replaced my engine. For all the tweaking you can do to either motor (and belive me it was hard NOT to go with the engnbldr performance goodies, his brother installed my motor), for all the modifying and porting and pollishing etc... you tend to end up with a peaky motor with odd spikey power curves that tend to be finicky. Hell there's a guy over on Yota techt aht I belive put a tewin turbo set-up on one... fun motor but a bit abrupt for daily driving when the boost comes on and certainly not very good for crawling. Loads of fun in the sand I bet though. For me, doing a 3.4 swap or better yet a 1KZ-Te diesel swap is just a far better option. In the case of the 3.4 it's cheeper and it's a world of difference from the 3.0. The 1KZ is just plain bad as and will get you amazing milage with house pulling torque.

Either way, I stand behind my statements... the 3.0L motor is the least desirable motor found in the Toyota minitruck IMO and in the nopinion of most of the rest of the Toyota crowd. Like I said, Toyotas worst is still bette rthen alot of others best AND honestly for a DD the motor isn't bad, it's only when we ask it to perform at levels that aren't condusive to good mileage or engine longevity does it really fall flat.

Don't give up on your truck. Like I said very poingiantly in my OP, driving habbits have alot more to do with milage then motors do IMO.


Man I just typed all that... did any of it make sense HAHAHAHAHA????

Cheers

Dave

 

[Griffin1340]

So as a relative newbee to Toyota 3.0's I understand it's limitations. Is a 3.4 swap a thing a 'experienced amateur' could swing?
I mean when I bought it I had a '****** were they thinking moment'..when I found out where the knock sensor was.:Wow1:. But I dug out the wrench set and broke into it. Then did it all again a year later when the HG blew.
I'm looking at a durable, efficient and dependable engine to keep my 4Runner running for a while longer.
My '91 is in great shape for an Asian truck in Wisconsin..it originated in AZ. Little rust and only a few other minor issues.