Alright here's the story my friend just bought a 4x4 Rodeo with a 3.1 V6 5spd from my aunt, she was the 2nd owner and bought it in the mid 90's. My aunt drove it until the crank wore out, she loved the truck so much that she paid a machine shop to reman the engine and replace everything that was not rebuildable. New crank, cam, heads and timing job, the truck ran but doesn't have much power and won't pass emissions. She took it to another shop and they replaced the injectors, throttle body and some other random stuff but still the same. She gave up on it and sold it to my friend, we were able to drive it 60 miles home with no problems doing 55-60mph but it's really slow getting there. So far i've heard that sometimes they get the wrong grind on the cam for that engine and I also heard the ECUs can go bad after time. The truck was running good before the reman so an ECU problem would have to be a coincidence.


Any ideas where to start?

My first instinct is that it is a plugged catalytic converter. All the symptoms seem to fit.

Yep - I'd bet that's the problem and that the crank was never worn out to begin with. Shop was dealing with a femaile customer - fleeced her - happens all the time. Lots of $$$ spent needlessly - shop #2 - same MO as shop #1.

I'll check it out, and get back to you guys. Thanks