The problem with the V-6 headgasket issue is that damage to the block and cylinder can and does occure without the owner even knowing about it as the leak is usually internal and slow. That's why Toyota had to replace so many motors. So, as if replacing the headgaskets wasn't enough of a pain, now you have to worry if the block was scorched as well.
This same scorching is common with 22Rs. It's way too common for these little engines to also get serious erosion of the water passages.
Don't get me wrong, the 22R is a great engine. But, it has the same basic flaws and strengths as the 3VZE.
Well, 3VZE has a design defect that the 22RE does not. It's debatable what that defect is, whether it was the gasket material/design as Toyota claims or whether it was a defective head design, lack of proper number of head bolts or inproper head torque, the motor has a design defect that could rear its ugly head at anytime and has on many thousands and thousands of motors. Because it occures on so many V-6s, the scorching is far more common on those motors.
The 22R series doesn't have this same defect at all. Of course, if a headgasket fails, it could scorch the cylinders, but the point is the 22R doesn't have that same design defect and therefore doesn't fail nearly often.
Every blown 22R headgasket that I've heard of can be traced to the motor overheating and the head warping. Since its an aluminum head on an iron block, this is to be expected. Sometimes the two events don't occur at the same time, so an earlier overheat is discounted as the reason for the current headgasket failure.
