I have q 1986 Toyota pickup with a 22RE (fuel injected) engine. I have a little over 368,000 miles on the car. It still gets 22-24 MPG and doesn’t use oil (unless I drive over 75mph for a couple hours, then it uses a little) I have maintained the car (change oil ever 3000 miles- tune up every 30- 45000 miles). I know this engine is getting old, and I will need to do something, probably within a year or so. The question is, should I have this one (well cared for) rebuilt when that time arrives or get one of those 40,000 mile (probably not maintained) Japanese engines?
Why not just take a 15 or 20 year leap forward and slip into a newer Tacoma??
I like the 5 speed transmission, the size of the truck, ease of parking, and that it does just about all that I want from a truck. I have a car for that other stuff.
I have seen many high mileage Toyotas and rebuilt several. The 22R engines are a very friendly engine to build. Do you have a regular mechanic now who has rebuilt Toyota engines? If so ask his opinion on the work. It has been several years since last building one but I would expect that a proper job including a new clutch, water pump and all incidentals would total well over $2,500 here with flat rate labor at $65.00. That will go a long way towards a newer truck but I have a neighbor who traded his old Toyota pickup in for a new one some years ago and went back a week later and paid cash to get his old one back because he had grown to trust it more than the new one. Go figure.
I would say to go ahead and keep saving money for what you are anticipating needing to do with this truck, but keep maintaining it and see what happens. You may not have to do anything of the sort with it if you have taken good care of it. The rest of the truck may give out before the engine needs any major work. At that point, a new truck will be in order and you will have a healthy down payment for it, since you were prepared to do major engine work on the old one that it never needed.
Another issue is the transmission, rear axle, and suspension if those items have not been rebuilt or replaced. A proper rebuild can get pretty pricy because odds are the cylinders are worn way out of spec along with the crankshaft journals, valve guides, etc.
If everything else is known good or has been fixed at one time or the other I might say rebuild the engine but keep in mind there are a dozen ways to rebuild an engine. Only one of them is proper and much depends on the guy doing it.
I replaced the clutch about a year ago and did the seals at the same time, just a maintenance and routine repair. I kind of suspect the timing chain and guides will be the next thing to need repair. The water pump is no big deal on this type of engine but it seems okay for now. When the valves the rings can’t be far behind and that would mean bearings, oil pump, and an complete rebuild or replace, and that is the question- should I rebuild the engine or replace it with one of those Japanese 40k engines. - Which will last longer andgive the best service?
Keep up the maintenance and minor repairs and see how many miles that beast will run.
Agree; just keep up the maintenance and replace things as they wear out or fail. When finally you get a really big expense facing you, or you can’t pass a state inspection or the truck becomes dangerous through rust-out, you know it will be time to get a newer vehicle, and drive this one to the scap yard.
If you live in a dry climate, you can achieve well over a million miles in these trucks. I recall one dealer in the West having one with 1.2 milllion miles sitting in his showroom (not for sale). It sold more trucks and cars than any of his salesmen could!