What is the most Durable/reliable Toyota engine? - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

itainthem · 10-17-2011, 04:46 PM

I have owned 2 pickups with the 22r... 2 camrys with the 3s-fe one lexus es250 with the 2vz-fe and my first toyota ever was a 1971 Toyota Celica ST.. it had an 8-RC in it if I recall correctly. The celica was not the most reliable.... The 22rs were great/bullet proof. The 2vz-fe had some real issues like head gasket.... In my opinion... The 3s-fe 4 cylinder was the best of all... Easy to work on... I fine tuned my first till it got over 40 mpg on the hwy... So, my vote goes to the 3s-fe and the 22r a close 2nd...............

'88 All-Trac · 10-18-2011, 01:00 AM

I have to vote for the diesel that came in some '80s variants of the Hilux.

71Corolla · 10-18-2011, 01:13 AM

^^ good call. That engine is incredibly strong, and it's simple so not much to break. The 3S-FE's will die if you run them low on oil, I've seen a few with holes in the block. But still a great engine, and I like how the engine is tuned it works well with the car. It has good low RPM torque which means a tall final drive ratio, helps gas mileage. The 4 cylinder spins slower than the V6 at 70mph.

'88 All-Trac · 10-18-2011, 01:21 AM

Our Camry made it down to 1.5qt of oil without any adverse effects... But it could just be that they weren't noticeable because it was already knocking. Quite solid engine, though. It's been running strong even with the knock going on 3k miles now. I'm quite impressed.

71Corolla · 10-18-2011, 01:32 AM

When I said low on oil, I meant almost no oil at all, driving with the oil light on, sometimes for hours or even days. I knew a guy that owned a 1978 Corolla, the oil light would flicker when driving and come on at idle. He would just rev the engine up so the light would go out, and add oil when he felt like it. He drove the car like that for about a year until the engine seized solid. Amazingly, after the engine cooled down it ran again.

2TC/3TC was a tough engine.

itainthem · 10-18-2011, 08:28 AM

I never owned a Toyota diesel. I bet they are tough. Makes me want to go out and find one. I imagine they are fairly rare.....

'88 All-Trac · 10-18-2011, 12:18 PM

I don't know that we ever got them here in the states- the tree huggers are terrified of the soot they can dump, even though that stuff just floats around for a while before hitting the dirt and making things grow better. There's even a Ford Focus sold in the UK with a diesel, runs something like 200lb-ft torque and pulls 50mpg... But being a diesel, they can't sell it here.

My low oil pressure light comes on at startup and will remain on until I bump the engine up and down from 1500 to 2k rpm and back a few times... And will remain out for the remainder of the time the engine is running. Bad rod bearings suck.

Edit: This series of videos is my reasoning behind the Hilux diesel...

You Tube

itainthem · 10-18-2011, 03:10 PM

waaaahhhhh! i WANT ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL

***84Cressida*** · 10-18-2011, 07:36 PM

This might be a better thread for the general discussion.

Most of the stuff that's been said I agree with it. 22R-E, 5M-GE, 3S-FE, 1MZ-FE, 5S-FE, any UZ & JZ block, and the 7A-FE, just to name a few are all tough as nails. The VZ engines I never liked, except the 5VZ-FE, which are bulletproof. I've ran the 5M-GE with little oil (not on purpose) and she ran perfectly.

dem2757 · 10-18-2011, 09:00 PM

for the VZ's, honestly i think the 3VZ-FE is the best.

My 2VZ is ticking strong at 294000 miles. i think it has a slight head gasket leak but besides that, it is 21 years old and has done around 260000 highway miles

Camry84 · 10-23-2011, 03:47 AM

22R & 22RE are workhorses ... lug right up those hills and last forever.
That's my vote ... and I'm stickin' to it!

Dave

Tom 2000 · 10-23-2011, 08:11 AM

Edit: This series of videos is my reasoning behind the Hilux diesel...

You Tube

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My dad had a 1984 Toyota Pickup Diesel long bed with the same 2L engine in California. I agree the engine was just about indestructible, got good mileage too, but actually driving that pickup was another story.

2.4L naturally aspirated diesel made 70 HP - that's it. With a granny low 1st and low-end torque, we always started in 2nd gear. Reliability was top notch for the 45K miles we had it, but hated driving that truck as it was slow and the turning radius was terrible, combined with slow manual steering. It was 2WD.

One thing I always though odd was that the 2L had 2 oil filters and each one was unique. The Toyota dealer never seemed to have one of the filters in stock for some reason....

The following year, Toyota offered the 2L-T (turbo-diesel) pickup. Slow seller (forgotten by most as with the earlier 2L), but that was probably a lot better to drive.. Needless to say, Toyota discontinued the diesel in the U.S. market shortly thereafter. Gasoline was pretty cheap at about that time too....

I have been pretty fortunate with Toyota engines and have had the following in various Toyota vehciles - 20R, 3S-FE, 5S-FE, 2GR-FE, 1ZZ-FE, and 1NZ-FXE They all have been reliable, but I've had the 5S-FE Camry the longest (9 years, 110K miles) and that has been the most troublefree (and easiest to work on - oil changes are super easy).

***96paseo*** · 10-26-2011, 07:07 PM

My vote is for the 5S-FE.^_^ I've seen so many posts with people well beyond 250,000 miles and some beyond 300,000. My gen3 just hit 250,000 the other day.

Lets not forget that the A140 trans is pretty unkillable too.

Toyota also took advantage of the MLS headgasket technology that came about in the early 90's, thus increasing the longevity of the HG unlike the graphite/composite based HG's in the 3S-FE that didn't last as long. I've put nearly 200,000 miles on my paseo which has the 5E-FE and its been unkillable. The "black eyes" being the "E" engines love to drink oil thanks to valve stem seal and piston ring longevity issues. The 5E is my close second though.