I have a 89 Toyota 4x4 3.0 v6 with a blown head gasket. It has almost 200,000 miles on it but the body and interior is in very good shape considering the age. The mechanic recommends finding another engine instead of fixing the heads. He says with that many miles a lot of times it will cause other problems with the bottom end of the engine like oil leaks if you redo the heads. Any of yall got any input on this or know a good place to get an engine, preferably with a warranty, for a decent price? I've found some companies on the Internet that supposedly test the engine and warranty it for 3 years for about 2 grand but I surely don't want to be scammed.

The 3.0's were junk,find a 3.4 to go in it and you're set

The 3.0 was really bad about blowing head gaskets. I don't know a lot about mechanics but can any other Toyota engine be dropped in without changing everything else out?

I need to get Hulapopper to chime, in he doesn't check in much. We hauled his to Crumps place in Jasper 15 years ago with around 100 on it. Toyota covered the repair under some kind of recall and he's still driving it! Last time I talked to him it had over 300k and he drives the hell out of it.

If it did NOT get hot, fix the heads and fix the problem and run it.

If it got hot, all bets are off. Depends on how hot for how long and whether you just screwed up the heads or maybe the block. If it ONLY needs gaskets replace them with the upgraded Toyota ones and if you're not comfortable with it sell it. It's EASY to sell one in decent shape.

You can put a 4 cylinder in it but you'll have to change transmission and transfer case also. There are tricks to working on a 3.0 and getting them right. And they all run hot, look at the way the exhaust runs behind those aluminum heads, piss poor design. Most old Toyota guys think that's what causes the head problems on them.

Thanks for all the input. I have thought about 3.4 swap and a 4 cyl swap I just concerned about how much money I would end up spending

22re and running gear from a salvage...

/thread.