Toyota Repair: Rebuilding a 22RE, mileage engines, salvage yard

Question
Ted,

Vehicle:93' Toyota 4X4

My 22R-E Has an internal leak of some kind. The oil & anti-freeze are mixing, and the vehicle has a major loss of power. I have been doing some internet research, and found several horror stories of people rebuilding these motors with with unsatisfactory results.( They chatter & run rough, dont seem to run as they did when new, and run ok for a few weeks, and then have some major internal catastrophy) I suspect, that these could simply be cases where someone simply didnt do a complete rebuild, or perhaps didnt properly degree the cam/crank. In any case, my question is what is your opinion on rebuilding these motors?

I could buy a used motor from a salvage yard with approx 90to100k mi for around $700 to $900 which sounds kind of steep to me, or go with a rebuild kit for around $200 to $300, and of course have a machine shop inspect & repair the block/head, which I would guess could run anywhere from $165 up. Or buy an already rebuilt motor for around $1200.00 to $1600.00.

Is there any truth to Toyota motors not being worth rebuilding, or at least typical that they never quite run as well after doing so?

I realize that alot of this decision making depends on what my actual problem is. At this time, I just pulled the motor out, so I can more easily work on it, although I havent yet pulled the head to inspect. Any suggestions of do's and dont's before I go tearing into this motor would be welcome.

Thank you.

Answer
If done correctly these engines can be rebuilt with very good results and have done so many times a few years ago, not recently, the reason they are still fairly expensive even in used form is that this engine was not used in Japan so there are not many available as used engines like many other toyota engines which are available as low mileage engines from Japan, these are bought up by large salvage yards and then sold to the public.
There a couple of reasons for the oil/antifreeze to mix, the headgasket is leaking,there is a crack in the head or the timing chain has worn through the timing cover into the water jacket.
I would remove the cylinder head for inspection, check the headgasket if it shows no sign of leaking suspect the cylinder head has a crack, you can have a machine shop check it, even if the head is usable a complete valve job and resurfacing should be done, inspect the pistons and cylinder walls for scoring and wear, if there is deep scoring of the cylinder walls the block will have to be rebored and oversize pistons installed, of course, the timing chain and gears and tensioner need to be replaced also,if it looks like it will need all of the items mentioned it may be more cost effective to go with the rebuilt motor, I would not spend $900 on a used motor with 100k miles because it may need some repairs in the near future.
I suggest you make a list of all the parts costs and all the machine work needed/possible head replacement and then make a decision based on that.