Forty minutes into a six hour drive to Crater Lake, the Tacoma lost power and started knocking. Pulled over, called a tow, and had it looked at by a local shop. Their prognosis was total engine failure — rod knock — and they offered to scrap it on the spot.
My dad had a different idea. We trailered it back home and lent me the space to rebuild it myself. I’d never touched an engine before — biggest job I’d done was a power steering pump swap — but it seemed like a better outcome than the scrapyard.
Teardown
Getting the engine out was straightforward and a little tedious. Most difficult part was keeping all the fasteners organized and getting the right angle for a breaker bar. Once it was out cracked open, the damage was clear — multiple crushed bearings and a scored crankshaft. Most likely oil starvation, although this happened the day after an oil change.
The Rebuild
The crankshaft went out for machining — journals turned down to undersize — and came back with matched bearing shells sized to restore proper oil clearance. With the block scrubbed clean and painted, reassembly started from the bottom up.
Pistons went back in with new rings and the blocked honed. Clearances were checked with Plastigauge, feelers, and micrometers at each step before anything got torqued down for good.
Back on the Road
With the engine back in and fired up, got to take the Tacoma back out for some camping.
