Toyota Tacoma ALH Swaparoo!!

My engine is approaching 190,xxx miles. As far as I know other than the balance shaft deleted and new cam the motor has never had any work done to it. I ran an injector balance test because of cold idle smoke when I first got the rig in the road. Now I get a little poof on initial start up and it's gone.

I've had the rig on the road since October so Ive only had a hand full of days where it hit low 80s so far. I am running a short ram intake off the turbo with and added head shield to pickup as much fresh air from the headlight bucket vs engine bay heat. No monitoring of the IAT while driving get. MPGs have not varied much between 300 miles of sub 30 degree temps or 300 miles in the 60 to 70 degree range.


I'm running an aluminum MR2 aftermarket intercooler. I have it mounted on my skid plate. I have a larger intercooler I was hoping to use but between my winch and ac condenser I didn't have room to mount it unless I wanted to run without a grill. It didn't look very good with a fmic in place of a grill. It's not ideal but it's larger than the original Passat fmic and thicker.

The intake and intercooler set up may need upgrading but it will be May or June before it's hot enough to see if the heat will affect my mpgs.

As for tunes it's a Malone stage 2 tune from fast forward automotive. I've ran two different turbo, the one original Garrett and a direct replacement Borg Warner.


I've pondered if the injectors are causing my loss of mpg, I could also swap my ECU from my 5 speed converted Passat which is another stage 2 tune that regularly got me 35-36ish mpgs on the same daily city commute.

Are the ALH engines more economical than the PD motors?

A few shots during the build process

PD engines can be just as efficient, but not with the transmission coupled to the BHW in factory VW installs, they have a lot of frictional and rotational mass losses in the transmissions from what I understand.

In a deleted swap, yes you'll see comparable mpg. Tune it for more power and you may see less if you can't keep your foot out of it of course! The PD's can make more power more easily without hardware upgrades, so that may be where the ALH beats it in mpg. That's splitting hairs though

Because of the large rotating mass on these tires (10 ply at that) it takes some pedal to get this thing going in my rush hour work commutes.

Copy of my injector quantity. This was before the rig was on the road. Maybe after 10 of time at idle. I didn't see anything out of the norm

PD vs VE, all other things equal, is at least 10% less efficient. I would still expect you to be getting at least high twenties.

AndyBees said:

Jimmy, what are your RPMs at 70 MPH?

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Just did an rpm check and at gps 70 mph doing just a hair under 2500 rpm.

My last tank, today’s fillup, was 33.5. Pretty typical for winter with E range 235/85/16 Duratracs

I built an air filter box this morning, insulated it with reflective roofing tape. Built to mimic the OEM air filter box but flipped from drivers to passenger side. She'll suck the air from behind the headlight bucket. I'll monitor the IAT today and see how it reads, it's supposed to get to about 75 degrees. I may also make an adjustment to the torsion value. See if I can squeeze out a few more mpgs without changing driving habits

My base idle IAT at normal running temp, about 74 degrees outside temps is 122. I got a max of 143. At 45 to 50 mph it was 127 to 135 average.


Does anyone have any numbers to compare mine to?

PickleRick said:

My base idle IAT at normal running temp, about 74 degrees outside temps is 122. I got a max of 143. At 45 to 50 mph it was 127 to 135 average.


Does anyone have any numbers to compare mine to?

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My IATs run 20-30 df of ambient almost all the time. Where is your intercooler located? Are you running an EGT gauge?

I am running an egt gauge. My intercooler is located on my skid plate. Under normal running conditions I range from 350 to 450 off the top of my head. The only time I get over 500 is extended highway entry acceleration. Extended enough that it would have led to a ticket should I have passed a cop.

Running my excursion 7.3 and 4unner, both have straight pipe exhaust, in the same work commute the egts on them are within 50degrees of each other with normal driving conditions. I don't have an egt gauge on my Passat to compare it to nor did I ever check out the IAT. Probably should have as I have no base line to start from.

PickleRick said:

I am running an egt gauge. My intercooler is located on my skid plate. Under normal running conditions I range from 350 to 450 off the top of my head. The only time I get over 500 is extended highway entry acceleration. Extended enough that it would have led to a ticket should I have passed a cop.

Running my excursion 7.3 and 4unner, both have straight pipe exhaust, in the same work commute the egts on them are within 50degrees of each other with normal driving conditions. I don't have an egt gauge on my Passat to compare it to nor did I ever check out the IAT. Probably should have as I have no base line to start from.

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Those are super low EGT readings. Either your probe is situated downstream of the turbine or the gauge is faulty.

It's installed properly, that reading is in Celsius. A 4 inch probe, installed at a slight angle, will reach the turbo mounting flange very well on a B5.5 manifold via the EGR block off plate.

PickleRick said:

It's installed properly, that reading is in Celsius. A 4 inch probe, installed at a slight angle, will reach the turbo mounting flange very well on a B5.5 manifold via the EGR block off plate.

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Ok, I feel dumb now.

You're not Canadian, we have no need for Celsius but that's what my gauge reads.

That does seem like poor fuel economy for the setup. I average around 24mpg in mixed driving, have gotten as much as 29mpg at 55mph. Given that my rig likely weighs at least 1000lbs more and has higher wind resistance, I would expect at least high 20's average from a 4Runner.

Out of curiosity, what tire pressure do you run on the highway?

I run 65 psi on my tires.

I suspect 55 mph would be a better speed limit range for mpgs but highways around here are 65-70. The secondary roads and city roads are 35-45.

Filled up yesterday, 23 mpg and some change on the last tank. I ran the rig at idle about an hour getting the ac pressure dialed in so I may have hit 24 if it wasn't for that. This will be my first full tank on the new "cold" air intake

There is so much room for activities! Hi guys! So my 2tr is going in my 08 Tacoma and I'm definitely not getting rid of the truck. If I need a new engine why not a tdi?! I've never done an engine swap but I'm sure I can do a majority of the work. They also make a adapter for my 5 speed transmission already. I need to know what to look for when I go looking for and alh engine though. Any imput.will be appreciated.

ginger-vitus said:

There is so much room for activities! Hi guys! So my 2tr is going in my 08 Tacoma and I'm definitely not getting rid of the truck. If I need a new engine why not a tdi?! I've never done an engine swap but I'm sure I can do a majority of the work. They also make a adapter for my 5 speed transmission already. I need to know what to look for when I go looking for and alh engine though. Any imput.will be appreciated.

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Might want to start your own thread.

jimbote said:

basically i went with the BHW/ALH because i picked the short block up for dirt cheap.... as far as engine management this combination requires exaxtly the same harness/ecm as the ALH... it does however require swapping the crank position wheel to the four slot ALH unit (among a few other mods)

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The ALH ecm whill fit in

jimbote said:

basically i went with the BHW/ALH because i picked the short block up for dirt cheap.... as far as engine management this combination requires exaxtly the same harness/ecm as the ALH... it does however require swapping the crank position wheel to the four slot ALH unit (among a few other mods)

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The alh ecu, can work in jeep patriot harness , with vw engine ,2.0bwd, pd? If the answer is yes , then i whant to do an alh head swap on it , many thanks in advance!!!

jeeppatriot-alh said:

The ALH ecm whill fit in
The alh ecu, can work in jeep patriot harness , with vw engine ,2.0bwd, pd? If the answer is yes , then i whant to do an alh head swap on it , many thanks in advance!!!

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I don't know what a BWD is. Also harnesses should be standalone so would work with any 12v vehicle system. Your other questions require your own research.

Still going strong. Flipped 400k on the way back from picking up this toyota 14B-T destined for a 93' fjz80.

Thats awesome. You still on the same pump?

Motohead1 said:

Thats awesome. You still on the same pump?

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The 12 quit on me a few years ago in the bank drive through so I just slapped on an 11 I had sitting around. I haven't opened up the original but may use the head on the 14B-T.