Reliability of 2.4L engine?

[TRD VVTi]

Originally Posted by etc

I just got a 2002 2.4L 5 speed.
I am fairly paranoid about maintaince and use Mobil 1 every 3-4K miles, and watch my temp. gauge as well as flush the coolant often enough.

There is very little you can do to maintain the engine otherwise. Oil + coolant flush. Am I missing anything? I was under the impression they were experiencing issues even while doing these things.

One trick when buying a used car is hitting the gas while parked in neutral and having someone watch the exhaust... you shouldn't see any white smoke come out of it. If it does, it needs major engine work (like in cases above)

You're overly paranoid.

Relax and enjoy your car.

[Epsilon]

Besides, I doubt you will be abusing this engine.

[CharmCityES]

Originally Posted by etc

I just got a 2002 2.4L 5 speed.
I am fairly paranoid about maintaince and use Mobil 1 every 3-4K miles, and watch my temp. gauge as well as flush the coolant often enough.

There is very little you can do to maintain the engine otherwise. Oil + coolant flush. Am I missing anything? I was under the impression they were experiencing issues even while doing these things.

One trick when buying a used car is hitting the gas while parked in neutral and having someone watch the exhaust... you shouldn't see any white smoke come out of it. If it does, it needs major engine work (like in cases above)

im all about mobil 1 5w30 synthetic
i also reccomend using oem toyota red coolant, oem toyota filters, NGK or denso spark plugs and toyota trans fluid....if you take care of your engien itll last you a long time

[etc]

mobil 1 5w30 synthetic


Good stuff, chimart has it on sale for $20 per can.

[touringcamry]

Originally Posted by Mike Murrell

TRD is correct - aluminum on iron is awful. Ask anyone with the old Datsun Z or older Mercedes cars with 4/6 cyl motors made in the 80s/early 90s.

Overheating will deep-6 any motor.

I have a 2.4 in an '04 Tacoma baseline. Good motor.

The 2.4 in your Tacoma is a different engine than the 2.4 used in Camrys. The Tacoma 2.4 is the 2RZ-FE which is an iron block with an aluminum head. The 2AZ-FE found in Camrys is aluminum block and head.

[marc780]

I hear some reports of head gasket failure if overheating occurs. Is this a more common problem than the old 2.2L?

Any engine you can find is going to have issues if you overheat it badly enough. I blew up the engine on my 1985 Nissan 200sx by overheating from what i think must have been a stuck thermostat. I pulled the head and a piston was BROKEN and the cylinder ruined. The remains were no good even for a core! (That little mistake cost me over $1000 to fix.)

If anything Toyota builds a better 4 cylinder engine than almost anybody else. I know, i work for a fleet and we have cars and trucks from almost anybody you could name. The toyotas are better than any of the others by far.

I guess the answer to your question is maintain the cooling system and keep an eye on the gauge once in a while, just like you would on any other car. And just don't do what i did, if your gauge ever says your engine is too hot, STOP THE CAR NOW and dont restart it except for testing until you find what made it overheat! (in my case for example, if id just shut off the engine and waited a while to cool, and removed the thermostat and drove without it to get home - i probably could have saved myself all that money!)

[etc]

If anything Toyota builds a better 4 cylinder engine than almost anybody else. I know, i work for a fleet and we have cars and trucks from almost anybody you could name. The toyotas are better than any of the others by far

I just got a 2002 2.4L Camry.
This is good to hear, but we shall see... I am crazy about preventive maintenance and always flush coolants, change oil, use synthetics as much as possible... it costs pennies compared to the cost of the vehicle.

[geoff5093]

I can say these engines are pretty reliable, as my dad's '03 I4 has about 120K miles and he only replaces the oil every 5K, and we havent had a single problem with the car other then tires, brakes, oil changes, etc.