High RPMs on freeway. Toyota 4 cylinder longevity

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted By: Ducked
Originally Posted By: BrocLuno
Slow down. Let them go around you. Plenty of trucks out there governed to 62 MPH and you can hook up with one of them. Fast traffic needs to do the work, not the slow guys ...


I have similar concerns, (which MIGHT be a bit more justified by my ancient 3-cyl) so that's what I do.

Caught some flak for it when it came up recently on here, IIRC.

Also sometimes get aggressively tailgaited by trucks that could quite easily pass me, but I dunno if that's likely in the USA.

That's what I do too, since most of our trucks are governed, I stay in the slow lane ~3 truck lengths back for a shorter drive, say under an hour. If we are going 400 miles then I might do 72mph as its 1/2 hour off the trip. The truckers here don't seem to mind. They pass me and the truck ahead if they are ungoverned and carry on.

 

[Zee09]

Originally Posted By: IndyIan
Originally Posted By: Malo83
Originally Posted By: Zee09
My concern is noise.
Back in 1992 I traded in my 1986 Acura Integra for a 1992 GSR version.
It literally drove me nuts on the Interstate with the drone.
I think it was 4K RPM at 70 mph. I unloaded it quickly

Wise decision.

95hp/l 8k redline 25 years ago, but it sure was no Buick on the interstate. I'd love to have one though, make some vtec noise around the cones at autocross.


It was nice-looking etc. It was a 5spd too but you had to stir it to death as it had no torque.
Wore you out in the city and on the Interstate it was like driving a beehive.. Why did I buy it?
I loved my 86 and you just don't know until you live with it. Plus I suspect it had about zero sound insulation.
I had the first Legend too. But in the end I got to drive a Vigor on loan- I loved it. I really loved the 5 cylinder and for an old word it was zippy. I called it fast transit.... great car to drive

 

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted By: Zee09
Originally Posted By: IndyIan
Originally Posted By: Malo83
Originally Posted By: Zee09
My concern is noise.
Back in 1992 I traded in my 1986 Acura Integra for a 1992 GSR version.
It literally drove me nuts on the Interstate with the drone.
I think it was 4K RPM at 70 mph. I unloaded it quickly

Wise decision.

95hp/l 8k redline 25 years ago, but it sure was no Buick on the interstate. I'd love to have one though, make some vtec noise around the cones at autocross.


It was nice-looking etc. It was a 5spd too but you had to stir it to death as it had no torque.
Wore you out in the city and on the Interstate it was like driving a beehive.. Why did I buy it?
I loved my 86 and you just don't know until you live with it. Plus I suspect it had about zero sound insulation.
I had the first Legend too. But in the end I got to drive a Vigor on loan- I loved it. I really loved the 5 cylinder and for an old word it was zippy. I called it fast transit.... great car to drive

Yeah 117 ftlbs at 7k would require some revs! Those years for any Acura were pretty good driving cars. A buddy had a V6 Legend and it was very impressive to me at the time.

 

[shDK]

No problem at all. In Europe the highway speed limits are often higher then at the US. And the tendency to brake those higher speed limits massive. Here Japanese and other high reving engines still last very long.

I had a 95 Nissan almera with 330000 km on the clock. It was a 1.6 GA16DE. I ran it 60 km a day with 140-150 km/h it was 4500-4800 rpms. It was rather noisy though. But never used oil.

 

[nthach]

Originally Posted By: Kurtatron
It’s my camping vehicle. Thankfully for that reason I don’t have to worry about rust. I don’t go camping in the winter. That’s one of the reasons I wonder about the high rpms, because that’s all it sees really.

Look at it this way - you don't drive a VW Vanagon with the 1.9L Wasserboxer - it's horribly underpowered and even a Prius can pass one.

While the non-blown Previa was underpowered compared to the Caravan/Voyager/Windstar with the bigger V6s or even the Quest/Villager of that era, Japanese engines tend to live for higher revs. Even though a Toyota 2TZ engine isn't like say, a Honda B/H engine with a 6.5K-9K redline.

I say keeping your oil level in the safe range is more important than anything else, and especially since Previas use a quirky oiling system that's not exactly a dry sump system but not exactly a wet sump. You don't need to run anything special in a Toyota, but I prefer synthetics in them - countless millions of Toyotas made it to the high 100s/low 200s on the original engine with nothing more than cheap jobber oil. Your Previa would do fine on any good 5W/10W-30 oil.

 

[meep]

What a cool van. I always loved those previas, and the 5 spd is even better. Agree - 5-30 or 10-30 oil, keep the fluids fresh, and don't worry. we had a 4spd vanagon and at 65 mph that thing was around 4k (no tach). It was only rated around 82 HP so it had to rev to move it. While I never had it above 70 (I was driving with my parents when we had it!), we drove it all over the place at 4000 rpm and the mechanicals werent the weak spot for the vehicle. The fuel delivery system is what got it traded in, sadly. Very sadly. anywho, I'd trust the toyota to handle that above the volkswagon. shift to 5th ad enjoy.

 

[skyactiv]

I hate to say it, but it seemed like the Toyota Previa is one of the Toyota's that seemed to go into the junkyard at a much earlier stage in life than other Toyota models.

 

[CR94]

Originally Posted By: zorobabel
Plenty of vehicles run those RPM at freeway speeds (most older VW, Civics just to name a few)
Nearly all imported subcompacts (except the VW Beetle) before circa 1980, and some later ones.

 

[Dorian]

As someone else had mentioned, this engine (2TZ) is an oversquare design. This means that the velocity of the piston will actually be slower than that of an undersquare engine at the same RPM. The engine should be completely fine as long as the cooling system is up to par. My Camry revs around 3K at 80 MPH and it is a slightly undersquare design. As another person mentioned, this van was heavy and big, so the power of the 4 needs to be extracted wisely. Since it is a camper, it probably doesn't see as much winter usage so a 10W30 is a good choice. The Previas were quite rare. I don't think I would say that they were some of the first Toyotas to the junkyard, but it could be true!

 

[red7404]

IMHO run a heaver weight oil. AND an upper lube oil in the gas.

 

[antonmnster]

I had an 84 Toyota Van. LOVED it and its forklift engine. Running the front and rear AC on a hot day meant NOT being able to use 4th gear - there just wasn't enough power to maintain speed, especially if the fan clutch tightened up. Strangely that spun at maybe 2500 at 60-65 as I recall. Much taller gearing.

My 318is BMW spun at around 4000 at 80 mph. It was a bit annoying but doubt it would affect longevity.

 

[CBR.worm]

I had an '84 and then an '86 LE van (with ice maker) and always wanted a previa. The engine was
Solid, the auto transmission caused me some grief.

The NA previa was so much stronger and revvier than mine.

 

[Kurtatron]

So I couldn’t resist. I sent in an oil analysis. Shipped out today. I’ll report this on the forum. I was pleased to see that the engine had burned no noticeable oil whatsoever on the short 1000 mile OCI. This is the first oil change on the JDM engine with unknown miles, (excluding an in initial 200 mile OCI to clean things out after first start from sitting around for 20 years). I am quite excited.

 

[Oldtom]

I have a different take on this: 1) Use any decent synthetic of the proper grade and a decent filter, whatever you pick will work fine (2) Even though you do not drive your car in winter, get it treated with Fluid Film or similar every 2 years or so. You will love Fluid Film if you have to remove a rusty fastener under the car. the stuff creeps into rusty fasteners and loosens them over time. The engine is NOT the weak link in any Toyota I ever owned, rust resistance is. Aside from that, good luck with your awesome vehicle