What to do with my unwell 3.0 hilux?

Dont know what your noise would be Paul, but I would get a second opinion. As far as getting another motor goes there are motor importers in Brisbane selling 5L 3.0 for $4,400, find them in 4X4 Trader.
Cheers Bruce.

Hey Mate

My brother just got a reconditioned engine for his lux for around $3500. But his is the 2.8 and is a older model..but that sounds a bit high.

Why not just fix the broken bit if it's a piston or gudgeon, depends of course on what damage has been done to the block.
Probably best not to drive it if taking this course to minimise damage.

the 3.0 ltrs do have an issue with piston slap at around the 100000k mark. its reasonably common, more so if you have bolted a turbo to it. $6500-$7000 sounds about right as far as price goes, but it doesn't make it any easier to deal with. how many k's has it done. toyota may come to the party and cover some costs. i know of one case where a 80 series cruiser with 140000km spun a big end brg ( diesel ). the guy who owned it was a mechanic and had stripped it down. spoke to toyota and the towed the car to their workshop with all the bits in the back and rebuilt it. even payed him for his time pulling it down. good luck

You shouldn't be asking for quotes on a new engine until you pull the heads off the old one, unless off course you want to pre-empt the possibilities. The ticking could be a valve. Was the exhaust manifold ruled out..? I can't remember is your rig diesel or petrol, diesel 3.0 I presume. Rebuilding a bottom end isn't going to cost you more than $3k I wouldn't have thought, I could be wrong.

How many kms has it done?

All sounds a bit exxy to me paul,
Had my 6cyl deisel ticking a few years ago, and it was a cracked ring bouncing up and down making a hole in the piston. Everybody that heard it, like me, would have sworn it was a crook tappet.
Pulled it all down and had it bored and the 2 damaged ones sleeved and all other normal reco stuff done $2400 and the head reconditioned $600, and a few bits and peices, clutch, injectors etc, about $4000 all up
I did all the work myself but surely a couple grand should cover that if you cant do your own,, not that big a deal to remove and replace.
I would be getting it out and stripped down and then assess it b4 making any decisions.
Have you a good "down the road mechanic" who will do as you wont not as his pocket dictates??? hard to find I know.
Good hunting mate , its worth rebuilding the old faithful ones.

Cheers Pesty