Bad news. I just had a major engine failure of some kind

[Ron Helmuth]

Schweet

Sure could have been a lot worse. Thanks for posting up what it was so we can learn from it.


I just blew a left rear axle seal and was hoping to catch it as preventative maintenance, time for me to get ahead of the repair curve.

 

[Red_Chili]

Ah, the dreaded 3.4 spark plug kaphlewey. Not the first time it's happened. Your caution ironically was part of the cause!!!

FWIW, after I cleaned up and tweaked my 3.4, Mike Caskey told me the spark plugs were not properly tightened. Funny, I THOUGHT I put them in like I have done every other one for 30 years... Mike saved me a disaster.

Happens easy.

 

[nakman]

.......Oleg, replaced the plug coil and put some kind of double threaded tap in there......

= Helicoil? If so that's a good fix, you should be set for a while.

And glad to year you're back in business without much pain, proper torque on plugs is definitely not something to shortcut, they're too important.

 

[JadeRunner]

Ah, the dreaded 3.4 spark plug kaphlewey. Not the first time it's happened. Your caution ironically was part of the cause!!!

FWIW, after I cleaned up and tweaked my 3.4, Mike Caskey told me the spark plugs were not properly tightened. Funny, I THOUGHT I put them in like I have done every other one for 30 years... Mike saved me a disaster.

Happens easy.

Bill, can you clarify this a little for me. Blue thread lock stuff and a torque wrench to the proper specs is still all i know to do. Or i gues I could do like Oleg does just hand tighten till it's real tight.

 

[subzali]

? I always have just tightened the spark plugs until I feel the crush sleeve yield, and then a bit more ? If they're threaded straight and the socket is straight on the plug then I would think you'd really have to be yarding on the wrench to get the head to strip out...

 

[Red_Chili]

Bill, can you clarify this a little for me. Blue thread lock stuff and a torque wrench to the proper specs is still all i know to do. Or i gues I could do like Oleg does just hand tighten till it's real tight.

BLUE THREAD LOCK on sparkplugs??!?

No way, d00d. Anti-seize where steel threads into aluminum. Otherwise the threads get damaged, or the plug seizes, or both. Anti-seize and a torque wrench.

Mine were loose because I followed Oleg's method without using Oleg's brain and fingers...

 

[Red_Chili]

? I always have just tightened the spark plugs until I feel the crush sleeve yield, and then a bit more ? If they're threaded straight and the socket is straight on the plug then I would think you'd really have to be yarding on the wrench to get the head to strip out...

More than one 3.4 has kaphlewied a spark plug right out of the head. Not sure why. Loose obviously does not help... And cross threading is a lot easier to do than that. Maybe part of the problem is that when the threads start to feel tight you think the spark plug is getting tight, and its not. And the 3.4 plugs are waaaaay down deep in a hole between the cams.

 

[TOTONKA]

My V6 with only 110k has let me down big time. I am so bummed out, I thought my Runner had many more dependable miles on it. WTF!!.

I had 2 engines replaced by toyota under warranty.

I noticed the problem every time i started up the motor (SMOKE), puffy.

The MECH said Radiator fluid was leaking through the seals causing electrolysis.

They took care of it NO PROBLEM.

Toyotas are top quality

 

[Red_Chili]

The MECH said Radiator fluid was leaking through the seals causing electrolysis.

Eh? Would that be a head gasket failure by any other name? TWO motors replaced? What model and year?

 

[Ron Helmuth]

lurking along-I can find in a manual somewheres-what is the proper torque specification please for the 3.4 V6 sparkplugs? I may as well get this handled before I learn the hard way

-I presume all 6 to be the same torque setting but have been wrong before.

 

[Red_Chili]

I use Russian specs usually, modified by my experience with my own 3.4.




Titan Gudenov.

 

[Nay]

I had 2 engines replaced by toyota under warranty.

Toyotas are top quality

A nice illustration of turning lemons into lemonade

 

[Red_Chili]

I'm suspicious. This does not seem quite like reality:

The MECH said Radiator fluid was leaking through the seals causing electrolysis.

What seals? And how would that cause electrolysis? And why would that lead to TWO new motors under warranty? Methinks he is trolling with irony?

Perhaps the headgaskets failed DUE to prefailure electrolysis due to failure to change coolant regularly, but that would hardly be warranty. I could be missing something.

 

[JadeRunner]

I had 2 engines replaced by toyota under warranty.

I noticed the problem every time i started up the motor (SMOKE), puffy.

The MECH said Radiator fluid was leaking through the seals causing electrolysis.

They took care of it NO PROBLEM.

Toyotas are top quality

My problem had nothing to do with your mysterious problem. My problem had to do with my user error and a small quirk with these spark plugs getting tightened correctly.

Toyota's are still the most dependable vehicles out there, I have had excellent luck with them for 20 years now and wouldn't want to depend on any other vehicle.