Oil Pump Replacement - 3VZ-E

Hi Ben,

It can be a bear. I just did mine (1988 4Runner) while I was taking care of some other stuff and I would have been pretty proud if I could have done it in that amount of time.

The oil pump is bolted to the front of the engine behind the crankshaft timing pulley. As such, the timing belt and the pulley have to be removed. This, of course, involves pulling the radiator, power steering pump, fan pulley assembly, etc. Once you can access the oil pump from the front, it can be unbolted from the engine and oil pan. However, the sump has to be unbolted from the bottom of the engine. This means that the oil pan and baffle have to be removed which, in turn, means that the front differential must be pulled (for 4WD.) Actually, the baffle doesn't have to be removed but I did mine so that it could be cleaned and resealed to the motor to prevent leaks.

Experienced mechanics may have some shortcuts but the above was according to the shop manual for my engine/chassis combination. Also, if someone were to promise me a quick and easy method, my first concern would be the potential for oil leaks. It's probably better to get everything the hell out of the way and do the job right.

Good time to have the water pump, idler pulleys, and timing belt checked. Also, care should be taken that the new oil seal (this is the front crankshaft seal) is installed properly and, specifically, that there are no burrs on the crankshaft. Otherwise, there could be leaks. This is pretty common. I installed a Redi-Sleeve on mine to ensure the oil seal had a nice smooth surface to ride on. Others on this list had recommended that to me.

Obviously, it is also a good time to take care of any leaks from the oil pan.

HTH,

Luther

About right. Maybe even a little light.

Interesting update.. They got the truck torn down, and removed the pump.. The tech said that the machine screws holding the pump cover in place were very loose. (These are on the inside of the pump body, and the cover hold the pump driven gear in place) He speculated that the loose cover might have been the cause of the low oil pressure. Since the truck has 270k miles, they put on a new pump anyway. :) (Might as well since it was all taken apart)..

Ben