My 97 vienta 3.0 dohc 3vz-fe overheated and blew something serious. The oil looked like yellow milk. Anyway i bought a Haynes manual, (camry 97 thru 02), mine is 6/1997. Whilst working on the car ive been noticing "my oil filler isn';t there" or "my water reservoir is different". Upon further study, This manual uses a 1mz-fe v6.
I dont know if there is many fundamental differences in the design of these 2 v6's, but it has me worried now. Can anyone fill me in please. I've searched and searched for a manual or 'anything' concerning the 3vz-fe(in a camry), with no luck. Im not a confident mechanic with these newer cars, but i have no choice. Last engine i pulled down was a XF falcon 4L straight 6.lol
thanx from anywhere will be long remembered, and much appreciated.
matt

 

This engine was discontinued in Camry sometime before 94. The Haynes manual for 97-02 would only have info on the 1MZ-FE.

 

thats wierd then,
on the timing belt cover itsays 3vz-fe, and I vr verified it a couple of other ways. Maybe it was installed post production as an upgrade?.
hmmm

 

lol!if that is an upgrade it would work but it turns out it didn't...

 

It was going great, for the last year or more, something went wrong with the cooling system last month. It started overheating. I didnt want to leave it in the part of Sydney i was in. I let it cool down for 90 minutes, drove it home conservatively, and that was enough to crack something evidently. I replaced the coolant which was overdue, drove it round the block for 5 mins, the temp began to rise, I also noticed a lack of torque up hills. Pulled into my garage, it was then I discovered the water in the oil.
i hope it wasnt a contribution to how I drove it over that year or so. I often took advantage of that power i had under my foot, of which i was surprised about after inheriting the Vienta, this power was also the main reason of my conversion from fords/holdens to Toyota.

 

Assume you are correct, the engine is a 3VZ-FE.

The info provided is for US Camry cars. The Camry V6 model was apparently rebadged the "Vienta" for Australia. The 3VZ-FE engine was held over on this model but replaced by the 1MZ-FE in the US.

The Haynes manual be for US cars.

Appears to be a blown head gasket. Not uncommon for this engine. Still it supposed to be a good engine.

This would explain your overheating issues.

If replacing the gasket make sure it is installed correctly, it is possible to flip the gasket around and still install it. The issue is the block/head coolant passages will not be lined up.