Topic: 1989 3.0 automatic questions

[Crawlin4fun]

I am looking at a 1989 longbed pickup that has 186,000 on it, 3" body lift  and 33's the truck doesn't look too bad ( some sub-par bodywork on the bedside and fender but the cab is nice ) anyway it is the 3.0 v6 with an automatic tranny, the current owner just did the timing belt and water pump along with new rear brakes and T-stat. one of the only problems left is the tranny doesn't always shift into overdrive. Could it be a selonoid problem ? He is including another tranny with the sale but I didn't want to swap the entire tranny for a simple problem.

also how many miles have you guys put on these 3.0 liters ? is 186k too high or is there some life left in it? I know alot of it depends on how it was maintained but I don't know that info. just wondering if 250k or so is the norm with these motors or a rarity.

I am looking to replace my 1992 wrangler with it

any opinions or advice would be appreciated

[bigarms23]

both my 4runners have v6s and one has 280k miles and the other has 200k and both still run great

[Crawlin4fun [OP]]

thats good to know....what gear ratios would possibly be in an 89 v6 automatic truck? 

[Snowtoy]

The bottom ends of the 3.0 are s solid as the the 22r(s), good for several 100k providing you do simple maintenance.  I have right close to 190k on mine, and no problems w/the bottom end, comp is still on the high end of oem specs.  My sisters had 225 on her '95 Runner before she ran it low on oil and it developed a knock.  She had a leaking valve cover that she never went back to a dealer for(developed not long after having the valves shimmed), and didn't check the oil level before the light would come on.  I could say typical female driver, but now a days it seems to be more a typical driver behavior issue than gender.

The head gasket has been an issue do to the EPA not allowing asbestos HG's, and Toyota didn't do a re-torque spec for the non-asbestos HG.  There was a recall campaign notice for the 3.0, take the VIN# to a local dealer and see if the HG recall has been done, if not, you may still be able to have it done, providing your block was part of the recall.  On;ly a certain series of engines was involved, and if it has been into the dealer for headwork, it should have already been taken care of.

The other issue w/the 3.0 is the tendency to burn an exhaust vale on the the #5 & #6 cyls.  The oem manifold set-up, plumbs the heat from 1,3 into 5 before dumping into the #6(which also has 2,4 plumbed into it).  The fix appears to be running a set of headers.  I had two burnt valves one in '98, and again in '04.  The first valve job was done by the dealer.  The second time I performed the rebuild and installed a set of Downey headers and had the exhaust valves shimmed a little loser than specs, so far so good. 

The 3" BL will be a blessing if you decide to rune headers, firewall clearance is tight w/the headers, and w/the BL you can do most of the work through the wheel wells.

Gears.
With an auto you really lose what power is available w/the 3.0, so you will want to re-gear it if the PO hasn't already done so.  W/the auto you need to go one gear set higher than you would if it was a 5-spd.  For example, a 5-spd only needs 4.88's to run 33's for oem performance, while and auto needs to run 5.29's.  If you run 35's in the future, you will probably want to do a 5-spd swap, since 5.71 gears usually are recommended for wheeling.  Fortunately you have a truck and not a runner so the performance of the auto may not be as bad.

[Crawlin4fun [OP]]

is the 5 speed swap a big deal? I would rather a 5 speed anyway...my 80 project has a 22r w/5:29's and a 5 speed with 35's ( and dual cases ) but the 89 would be more of a driver

[Snowtoy]

I personally haven't done one, but others have.  It doesn't appear to be all that intensive, a search here, at pirate, 4x4wire or other BBS should turn up the info of what you need.  If you could get a donor truck it would make things a lot easier, since you would have visual reference points of where everything goes, and be able to use the donor truck for the correct measurements.