Replacement engine options for a 3RZ-FE

[rickypanecatyl Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close rickypanecatyl]

Long story short, we've got a '97 J90 Prado with 350,000 KM on a 2.7L MT engine and have a bunch of $ and time invested in suspension and off road accessories. My wife took it in for a tune up recently and the mechanic noticed their was oil leaking for the oil seal behind the harmonic pulley and replaced it. He probably didn't tighten it back up and by the time my wife got home none of the pulleys were turning and it turned out the harmonic balancer had been spinning on the crank and had totally "melted' the woodruff key into the crank and gouged it out.

I was busy and out of town and we towed it back. Mechanic insisted it wasn't his fault as 1.) it happened because the car was old and 2.) he had a new boy from Myanmar working on it who didn't speak English or Malay (we're in Malaysia) and so if anything - it was his fault but he was now fired. (That's pretty run of the mill responsibility here for a Malaysian Chinese.) He pulled the engine, sent the crank to a machine shop and added a 3rd key slot for a 3rd woodruff key and put it back together. Engine made a funny humming sound at 3-4,000 rpm's he insisted was normal. Lasted another 50 KM or so before it started making horrendous noises coming from the front, shut down and refuses to start and that's where it's at now.

It's looking like the repair costs will be pretty steep and in all honesty even if the engine was running excellent I don't really like it. I wish it had more power - and for being so anemic it doesn't get very good mileage. So my question is what other engine options are there for this model that aren't too complex to install? I know it had a 3.4L petrol option which from the numbers is only slightly down on mileage and a good boost in power. I like the numbers of the 1KD-FTV common rail diesel... does that fit?

[rickypanecatyl Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close rickypanecatyl]

A little bit of background info -

I'm an expat from America (where we don't have the Prado model) living in Malaysia. I'd consider myself a bit "behind the curve" when it comes to all things mechanical - but not a complete dummy. But in addition to that I don't have loads of spare time.

We use the vehicle on some fairly hard core jeep tracks for both work and fun as well as commuting in the city with it and often doing longer freeway style driving on the north south highway here which virtually has no speed limit and is nice to to cruise at 80 mph or so - hence the desire for more power.

[Rusty62 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Rusty62]

Have seen a D4D conversion on a 90 series a while ago. Lots of work, mounts gearbox and ECU and if doing a auto the ECU for that. Not a impossible job but would need a fairly good mechanic and by the sounds of it not the one you used.

Rusty.

[glen_ep Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close glen_ep]

I would suggest replacing with the same engine to avoid creating more issues with compatibility, etc, unless you're really keen for a big modification and have the time/patience/commitment to deal with the post change issues (not to mention a tolerant wife if the vehicle is off the road for a long time).

Then consider replacing the diff ratios to increase power / RPM's, whilst also reducing load on transmission/engine, and reducing offroad crawl speed. The only negative is higher RPM's on high way speeds, which may or may not be an issue for the conditions you drive. With my 3.4L Auto with 33" tyres and 4.88 ratios the RPM's are higher than standard but for the many benefits I don't mind cruising the highways at a slightly slower speed.

[rickypanecatyl Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close rickypanecatyl]

Thanks for the responses guys! I do like the idea of the 3.0L D4D - a bit more power, much more torque, more efficient but probably most important I think it's the most common engine in the region and so getting it worked on/parts should be easier.

My thoughts on replacing the diff ratios is we do do lots of a highway riding where power is an issue. For example, the freeway connecting Singapore and Thailand (about 900 KM long) technically has a speed limit of 120 K/H but in reality cars that can do 140-150 and we need to do the northern half of that route at least once a week. Our off road stretches often have me needing to go from 4H to 4L but 4L has always been more than enough.
I was also considering your engine Glen - the 3.4L V6 as it seems to have a significant jump up in power from the 4 cylinder - 190 vs 150 HP? I know that engine was a stock option for the 1997 J90 Prado here in Malaysia where the D4D wasn't a stock option till later... any thoughts on whether that would make the conversion easier?