Why I Love SBC's... Toyota Not so Much

[BBM3]

<rant>
When I bought my '75 K10 in January the engine leaked oil everywhere. No Surprise. I knew it when I bought it.
After about $100 worth of gaskets, seals, and a couple hours of my time I have the engine completely sealed.

I inherited my Father's 2006 Toyota Avalon with 65,000 miles about the same time I bought my gazillion mile K10.
Yesterday I noticed an oil leak coming from the timing chain cover on the Avalon. Apparently a common problem with the Toyota 2GR-FE engine.
I did some Googling and found that my choices are:

1) Have a dealer fix it for ~$2000 which includes 12 hours of labor to remove and reinstall the engine.
2) Attempt the repair myself for about $20 without dropping the engine but having to deal with virtually inaccessible fasteners, bleeding knuckles, and much frustration.
3) Sell the pig.

I'll take a Small Block Chevy over a Toyota 2GR-FE any day.
</rant>

[fitz]

Maybe that's why years ago guys were putting small block Chevy's in Toyota pick ups.

[BBM3]

If I could toss the sideways Toyota motor and replace it with a SBC I would do it in a heartbeat.
I am leaning toward option 3. Sell the PIG

[Stewart G Griffin]

People are looking, and have probably always looked at, cars as being disposable after say 10 years-----so the engineers maybe design them that way?

How fast is it leaking?

i am in the same boat with a northstar engine---leaking oil, water and trans fluid pretty fast.

[Stewart G Griffin]

P.S. 
i got so frustrated working on the truck these past few weeks, thinking i would never get it running,  that i was thinking of going to the dealer and signing on the line;  A new colorado pickup can pretty much do everything my 1/2 ton can do AND get 27mpg.


But i'm glad i stuck with it.

[Dr_Snooz]

Just about any car comes with its frustrations. The doors on our trucks go wonky. The headliners droop. The women in my family can't operate the door handles. The trans indicators are always broken and I can't reach the back of the engine. Japanese cars don't suffer from any of these issues but things are tight and difficult to reach. German cars are so complicated that when things go wrong, no one knows what to do (including the engineers who built them).

I can't speak for Toyota, but Honda's factory service manuals are beyond excellent. If you haven't bought the manual, do it right away. Before any heinous repair, I sit down with the manual and walk through the entire repair in my mind. Then I do the same thing looking at the engine, looking for snags or shortcuts. With some persistence and cleverness, you can usually find a way to do the repair without going to extremes. What you might end up doing is busting off those impossible fasteners with long tools and living without them.

What really matters is your passion for the car. If you love the car, then the frustrations are easier to deal with. If you don't, then the frustrations will be overwhelming. For my part, I won't own any cars from carmakers with a demonstrated history of building cars that kill people, like Ford Pintos, Audi 5000s or... run-away Toyotas. It doesn't sound like you're in love with the car, so send that rascal away and buy something you like.

[pholliday1]

Well put........

[Don5]

My dad, a career Navy vet, always said that Toyota makes theirs cars a certain way for a reason. That reason is because they are still getting revenge from when we beat them in WW2. Just sayin...

[LTZ C20]

Just about any car comes with its frustrations. The doors on our trucks go wonky. The headliners droop. The women in my family can't operate the door handles. The trans indicators are always broken and I can't reach the back of the engine.

This couldn't be closer to the truth. Who's idea was it to put the freaking distributor at the back on engines that go in trucks with front ends that are 5 feet firewall to grille. You can either reach it but can't turn it on one side or you could turn it but can't reach it on the other side. Just one of those small things bout these trucks...

Another small thing, my girlfriend has to try twice with the door handles at least once every time we use the truck.

My original (from what I can tell) trans indicator just stopped working like 1 month ago...lame. Also, I wish the fuse/relay center was at an under the hood location and not under the dash, I always smack my head when I'm checking something under there.

That's just a few things that bug me, I haven't mentioned the others I have yet lol.

[BBM3]

I agree with all that has been said. All vehicles have their unique flaws.
I was speaking specifically to engines though.
Sure the older SBC's have some quirks, finicky rocker cover sealing not withstanding but nothing I am aware of has lead to engine failures in mass due to fundamental design flaw(s).

There are a number of major problems with Toyota engines that are just flat out unacceptable.
The 2GR-FE engine in my Father's Avalon (now mine) was recalled to replace a rubber oil line that had a failure rate of nearly 100% causing the engine to pump all of the oil out of the engine often without warning resulting in catastrophic engine failure. Initially Toyota refused warranty and blamed their customers. It took a slew of lawsuits before Toyota initiated a now expired recall campaign.
I feel the pain for anyone buying a used Toyota with the 2G-FE engine that did not have this recall work performed and is unaware of the ticking time bomb.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-Wgw0xGQag

There is also the chronic oil sludge problem that plagued their 1MZ-FE 3.0 liter V6 for nearly a decade.
Again even with proof of proper maintenance many customers were refused warranty service.




I love every SBC I have ever owned especially the newer all-aluminum LS variants.

[LTZ C20]

Oh that's just nasty.

The engine that was in my truck when I bout it, which was in it for the first 4 years of my ownership and which still sits in my garage, never had the oil properly changed. I never actually changed the oil. On that engine, the rear main seal leaked, both valve covers and the timing cover seeped. The oil pan got resealed once dew to a puking corner but began leaking again about a month later and it burned oil, even after I rebuild the heads, because the rings were no dought worn out. So with leaks and bad seals, every 2 months or so it would start to knock, I would add a quart or two of cheap oreilly brand 10w30 and it was good again for another 2 months so. I never even changed the filter. That engine never made so much as 1 knock during my using it. And only ticked when it was time for 2 more quarts and them stopped soon as you added them, you could actually start it, hear a ticking, add oil and it would stop dead right in front of my face. When I finally pulled the engine for heavily excessive oil and fuel consumption, it had some mild gunking and sludge but nothing major or disgusting. The lord only knows what that engine went thru before i got it, thats why i didnt ever really take care of it, why fix what aint broke? Gotta love small blocks!

Now the new engine, I'm compulsive bout caring for that thing, it's almost scary haha.

[Dr_Snooz]

That oil sludge jazz is unforgiveable. Sludge was never a problem until the automakers set their oil change intervals at 15k miles. Now it's epidemic. I swear these companies WANT to go out of business.

[79_Silverado_Big10]

My 01 4runner with the 3.4L has never given me a problem compared to other japanese/german rigs I've owned.

[roundhouse]

My 01 4runner with the 3.4L has never given me a problem compared to other japanese/german rigs I've owned.

my 3.4 Yota had 310k on it when we sold it
We hardly ever changed the oil and never changed the Trans fluid


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[Stewart G Griffin]

Well, remember Toyota use to use the chevy straight 6 until, i think 1993.   Maybe they should go back to that policy.