Junkyard Engine

[Zelfear]

Well I just bought a junkyard engine. The had 140,000 miles on it. The timimng cover had a sticker on it saying the belt was changed at 135XXX miles. I took cover off and it looks great no wear at all or dry-rot. They only thing is that it says it was done in 2004. Should I replace it?

Next the engine is out of a automatic car. someone told me that there was something you had to take out to be able to put the poilt bearing in but it looks to me that I won't have to take anything out. Is there supposed to be?

Should I think about replacing the oil pump? or headgasket? I'm going to see if the head was torqued down to 70ft-lbs tonight when I get a torque wrench.

I'm looking to get the best MPG's I can. I have the exhaust and intake taken care of but I was thinking about Egr block off's. Im not sure if that will help my gas mileage or what. Someone told me they thought it was bad to block them off when using a USDM ecu. true?

What type of oil should I use? I know that you should use synthic with the GTE's but should I use it in my GE? What weight?

Thanks for all the help.

 

[Zelfear]

Also I'm going to be replacing the thermostat and I was thinking about going with a 170 degree one. Any reason I should or shouldn't go with this one?

 

[RockPaperSwoRD]

synthetic oil is always better. go with mobil 1 5w30 or german castrol 0w30

 

[Mk3runner]

Use stock thermostat.

Get a stock temp rated fail safe. And snip the jiggy valve off LOL. Treat it as a old engine, and replace all maintance items. Maybe new head gasket too

 

[Tanya]

reseal everything.

at the very least the front main, rear main and oil pump seals...

new head gasket highly recommended. and at least take off the oil pan and check everything out in there.

 

[tbcmorris]

tanyas right and so is mk3runner. i lower thermosat is going to keep you out of closed loop operation. engines dont like to be cold, or hot. make sure you check everything. the egr will give you problems if you block it off on a usdm ecu. there is a big thread in the gte section. i dont know if i would run 0-30 german castrol on a 140k engine. i wouldnt do the belt if it looks ok. these are non interferance engines. if it breaks worse case senario is you tow it home.....altough it is much easier to do out of the car.

 

[jdub]

Well I just bought a junkyard engine. The had 140,000 miles on it. The timimng cover had a sticker on it saying the belt was changed at 135XXX miles. I took cover off and it looks great no wear at all or dry-rot. They only thing is that it says it was done in 2004. Should I replace it?

Next the engine is out of a automatic car. someone told me that there was something you had to take out to be able to put the poilt bearing in but it looks to me that I won't have to take anything out. Is there supposed to be?

Should I think about replacing the oil pump? or headgasket? I'm going to see if the head was torqued down to 70ft-lbs tonight when I get a torque wrench.

I'm looking to get the best MPG's I can. I have the exhaust and intake taken care of but I was thinking about Egr block off's. Im not sure if that will help my gas mileage or what. Someone told me they thought it was bad to block them off when using a USDM ecu. true?

What type of oil should I use? I know that you should use synthic with the GTE's but should I use it in my GE? What weight?

Thanks for all the help.

Replace the timing belt. Replace the HG and seals (get a set of cam seals too) as previously recommended. Taking a look at the bearings is also a good idea.
If you use the stock HG bolts, torque to 70-75 ft/lbs. You want to do a re-torque after 5 complete heat/cool down cycles.

The motor should bolt right up to a manual tranny flywheel.

I would remove the pump and make sure it is up to spec per the TSRM at minimum. If this is a GE engine and you are planning to convert to turbo in the future, it would be a wise investment to change the pump to a GTE now. Yes, the GE and GTE pumps are different.

You do not want to remove the EGR, the USDM ECU is tuned for it being there. If anything, the EGR improves gas mileage. I would clean the EGR valve using brake cleaner and make sure the EGR gas path through the intake manifold is clear...a 3/8" steel cable, frayed on the end, in an electric drill makes reaming the manifold channel out easy. I would also replace the EGR cooler gasket and manifold gaskets with Toyota gaskets...really easy with the engine out.

Also I'm going to be replacing the thermostat and I was thinking about going with a 170 degree one. Any reason I should or shouldn't go with this one?

Not a good idea unless you want to stay in warm-up enrichment longer than necessary (and watch your MPG drop). The OEM spec 190 deg stat is what you want...Toyota or a Stant SuperStat. Follow the previous advice on the jiggle valve.

synthetic oil is always better. go with mobil 1 5w30 or german castrol 0w30

German Castrol 0W-30 is an excellent Grp IV PAO synthetic oil. Mobil 1 is a Grp III hydrocracked dino oil they call a "synthetic". If you want a Grp III, use Pennzoil Platinum 5W-30.
If you change all the seals as suggested, you will have no leak issues running a synthetic.

 

[Island_Yota]

tanyas right and so is mk3runner. i lower thermosat is going to keep you out of closed loop operation. engines dont like to be cold, or hot. make sure you check everything. the egr will give you problems if you block it off on a usdm ecu. there is a big thread in the gte section. i dont know if i would run 0-30 german castrol on a 140k engine. i wouldnt do the belt if it looks ok. these are non interferance engines. if it breaks worse case senario is you tow it home.....altough it is much easier to do out of the car.

Seriously? I thought they were interference, if its true that takes a load of stress off my mind, mine has 244,000km's and the original, factory timing belt.

If it was me id do front and rear main seals, oil pan gasket, check out the rod bearings, replace all the hard to get at coolant hoses.. anything thats hard/cant be done with it in the car.

 

[AJ'S 88NA]

You will have to install a pilot bearing since it was a automatic.

 

[Mk3runner]

LOL no big on that part

 

[AJ'S 88NA]

LOL no big on that part

Would be if he bolted up the tranny and didn't use one

 

[SC Rydah]

Replace the timing belt. Replace the HG and seals (get a set of cam seals too) as previously recommended. Taking a look at the bearings is also a good idea.
If you use the stock HG bolts, torque to 70-75 ft/lbs. You want to do a re-torque after 5 complete heat/cool down cycles.

The motor should bolt right up to a manual tranny flywheel.

I would remove the pump and make sure it is up to spec per the TSRM at minimum. If this is a GE engine and you are planning to convert to turbo in the future, it would be a wise investment to change the pump to a GTE now. Yes, the GE and GTE pumps are different.

You do not want to remove the EGR, the USDM ECU is tuned for it being there. If anything, the EGR improves gas mileage. I would clean the EGR valve using brake cleaner and make sure the EGR gas path through the intake manifold is clear...a 3/8" steel cable, frayed on the end, in an electric drill makes reaming the manifold channel out easy. I would also replace the EGR cooler gasket and manifold gaskets with Toyota gaskets...really easy with the engine out.




Not a good idea unless you want to stay in warm-up enrichment longer than necessary (and watch your MPG drop). The OEM spec 190 deg stat is what you want...Toyota or a Stant SuperStat. Follow the previous advice on the jiggle valve.




German Castrol 0W-30 is an excellent Grp IV PAO synthetic oil. Mobil 1 is a Grp III hydrocracked dino oil they call a "synthetic". If you want a Grp III, use Pennzoil Platinum 5W-30.If you change all the seals as suggested, you will have no leak issues running a synthetic.

I concur with all he said, but the underlined, bold faced sentence is what I use. Others on the forum use it, as well. It's a good full synthetic oil.

 

[jdub]

It's a good full synthetic oil.

Nope...Pennzoil Platinum is a Grp III hydrocracked dino oil, same as Mobil 1. It's not a Grp IV (PAO) or Grp V (ester) that are, by definition, a true synthetic. However, Pennzoil has taken the level of their hydrocrack process to the point where there is little difference between it and a PAO. The big difference between it and Mobil 1 is the additive pack...Pennzoil Platinum's formulation is superb.

Rydah - Suggest you read this to get the basics down:
http://www.supramania.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38811

The Motor Oil 101 link in my sig is a must read as well

 

[Zelfear]

Ok Ill be doing all of the above except the head gasket because it looks to be new and the bolts were torqued to 72ft-lbs. I believe it was replaced not to many miles ago.

I plan on going 100 miles then changing the oil. I don't want to have to buy six more quarts of German Castrol that I'm going to be changing in 100 miles anyways. I was wondering if I could use a cheaper oil for the first 100 miles and have no problem switching to the German Castrol.

Also my friends insist that the German Castrol 0W-30 is not enough lubrication for my engine with the number of miles on it and say that the problem won't be with the seals but with the rings. Thoughts?

 

[jdub]

I would run WalMart SuperTech 5W-30 with a SuperTech filter...it's a good idea to use it to flush any crap out of the engine. When you switch to GC, use a Wix or NAPA Gold filter.

So your friends think a thick oil is required for the rings to seal. Think about that
What exactly are your friends basing their theory the GC is not enough lubrication? (considering PAO oils were used as jet engine lubricant before ester became common)

FYI - GC is one of the thickest 30W multigrades at ops temp you can get. It's hot viscosity is getting close to a 40W. Tell your friends to read the Motor oil 101 in my sig too...frankly, they don't know what they are talking about.

If that is a composite HG, I still would seriously think about replacing it since it has already been run/compressed. It would be a shame to do it later because it didn't seal.

 

[Zelfear]

If that is a composite HG, I still would seriously think about replacing it since it has already been run/compressed. It would be a shame to do it later because it didn't seal.

Well it is a composite HG. I have a warranty with the motor if it does go they will replace it. Honestly I'm running close to the end of my buget and I haven't even touched the brakes yet and they aren't working.

My friend has now changed his story some. He says that its not enough lubrication at cold start up. I kinda see his point but I'll just let the car warm up before driving.

 

[jdub]

LOL...that's kinda funny since reality is exactly the opposite. A 0W-30 flows much better cold than a 10W-40 or 15W-50...just stick a bottle of 15W-50 and a bottle of 0W-30 in the freezer for an hour. Pour on a inclined cookie sheet and watch...care to guess which will reach the bottom 1st?

On cold start using a thick oil, the pump is working a lot harder to move a thick, honey like fluid. You are actually depriving the bearings of the oil flow they need.

All of this is in the Motor oil 101 link I suggested you read earlier. Until you read it, you are going to keep believing the various "myths" and misinformation floating around about oil.

 

[Zelfear]

Ok. That makes more sense. I didn't really think of it that way. I didn't really believe what he was saying but I didn't really have any information to dispute it.

I'll read that right now. I'm not sure how much of it I'll actually remember. I have done alot of reading the past week with school and the car.

I probably have a headache but I'm not really sure because my head is numb from all the reading and research I have been doing.

Thank you guys for all the help.

 

[gtsfirefighter]

Assume all used 7M's have a blown HG and rod knock.