My brother is looking to buy a toyota pickup and found one locally. It's a 1994 pickup w/ a 3VZE 3.0l v6. It's got 101,000 miles. First owner was an old man who towed it behind his RV for about 50,000 miles. Based on that info, the motor only has about 50,000 miles on it, 20,000 of em from the second owner. It has been extremely well maintained and the owner has all the records of work performed. There was recall work done a few years ago on the head gasket. I've heard rumors that the 3.0l v6 was a problematic motor and had problems with blowing head gaskets due to an inherent design fault in the head design. Is there any truth to this or just rumors? Should i advise my brother to aviod the 3.0l motor? How "bad" is this motor?

Any adivice and info would be MUCH appreciated.

The '94 was the last of the 3.0 before the Tacos and the 3.4 came out. There was a mail-out campaign for about 14K of those rigs for this year. This recall has since been rescinded.

More info www.yotarepair.com

Some folks like 'em; others hate 'em. Main thing is that you do your regular maintenance like you're supposed to, and DO NOT USE TAP WATER to mix your antifreeze!!

The fan bracket was problematic on these; you can usually find 'em on fleabay.

Read the 3.0 articles in the tech and maintenance section, as well as the Tacoma 30K maintenance. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/shame.gif" alt="" />

Nice thing is that we have a 93 FSM sticky'd here he can use, or he can download one from Toyota's site (also in sticky).

Pretty nice you have some maintenance history on it; rare. Check and see if the timing belt was swapped lately. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

Popular swap is 3.0 to 3.4. Kutter just got done doing his. Article in Runner section right now. Kicked butt. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

If nothing else, I just pointed you to a running spare engine! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />

Where is this article? I couldn't find it.

Mark

The timing belt was replaced i believe at 80,000 miles according to the service record. Overall this truck is really nice. It's been well maintained, babied to the nth degre, wheeled only once barely because the guy was afraid of scratching it, already has a lift, custom bumper, winch, 33" BFG mud terrain tires. He build it to wheel and when he finally went wheeling, was to afraid of getting it dirty or scratching it. The inspection on the truck at the Toyota dealership came back perfect. Only thing the mechanic found was an extremely miniscule oil seap on the side of the passanger valve cover gasket. No dripping or glossy from this leak, extremely small. I wouldn't even consider it a leak. The mechanic said the truck was in "very good condition and well maintained." The only bad thing about this truck is the 3.0l v6 because of the head gasket issue that seems to be a big problem. Seems to be a shame to let the truck go just because of the head gasket issue. Would you guy's reccomend buying this truck even though it's the 3.0l?

As long as it's not overpriced, get it!

This is the ad:

http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/car/253494372.html

I priced it out on kelley blue book and the private party value was $6900. With the improvements to the truck it puts the value at about $11,000 since my brother be adding all the stuff to the truck if it didn't have it.

I think his price is fair.

$9500 is still too much...

I'd say $7.5k TOPS.

The HG problem is basically a hit and miss, some have never had problems, while others have had to replace the HG 3-4 times. A lot of the repeat HG jobs were doto improper repair, i.e., reusing the headbolts, or putting warped heads back on. Since the job was done by Toyota, it is probably not going to be a problem. Also since the dealership mech has already stated it as a good rig, there shouldn't be much issues down the road other than regular service. The 3.0's do tend to get burnt valves, I have had 2 on mine since '98, no one can lock down the exact problem, there are several different theories as to the cause.

A stock rig that clean here in CA usually sells for about $1500 over bluebook value, so at $10k, it isn't all that expensive. The upgrade parts new would run about $6-7k, depending on who did the labor. Normally you can get back about half of what you put into the rig, so a reasonable price for the rig that clean would be $10,500, just what he is asking. If the gears haven't been changed I would offer him $9500 including the winch and bumper. Though before wheeling it much it needs a good rear bumper, and some rock sliders to keep it clean.

This "90 X-cab would also be a good rig if he was looking at wanting to build one of his own.

Actually, 95 was the last year. Taco's came out 1/2 way through 95 as 95.5 models.