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Head gaskets and much more

H2oman7.62mm

H2oman7.62mm

Super Member
I rolled the dice when I bought this truck for $5k back in 2017 with 270,000 undocumented miles on it, the rust free 2WD 2007 Toyota Tundra SR5 TRD Sport truck went another 45,000 miles before the head gasket in the 5.7L V8 failed. No engine swap for this low production Unicorn, just OEM Toyota parts and work performed by my Toyota Master mechanic. The failure was caused by neglectful previous owner(s) running it hard and not maintaining it properly, OR gasket material that wasn't built to last. I am blessed that the failure occurred right here in my driveway during a cold start up.

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Updates will be posted with pictures once the tear down begins, and I hope to have it back on the road by Independence Day.
 
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I had a 1995 Toyota SR5 4x4 pickup and blew the headgasket at 64K. There was a recall on similar year Toyotas for blown headgaskets due to dissimilar metals being used from the engine block and water jacketing, but my Toyota fell outside of the recall by 6 months.

I complained to the dealership where I bought my truck new and got a 'consolation' deal: the dealership would pay for a rebuilt engine if I paid the labor.

And that was just the biggest issue I had with that POS truck.

I feel your pain.
 
Erik Tracy said:
I had a 1995 Toyota SR5 4x4 pickup and blew the headgasket at 64K. There was a recall on similar year Toyotas for blown headgaskets due to dissimilar metals being used from the engine block and water jacketing, but my Toyota fell outside of the recall by 6 months.

I complained to the dealership where I bought my truck new and got a 'consolation' deal: the dealership would pay for a rebuilt engine if I paid the labor.

And that was just the biggest issue I had with that POS truck.

I feel your pain.
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Ford screwed me over on a late model windstar yrs ago, such a piece of junk couldn’t even trade it off no dealer would take. It ! I said never again ! But never say never ,wife got a like new ford fiesta 20 k miles on it for next to nothing from a friend for 2 yrs no issue ! I thought maybe I was a little hard on ford after all all the company’s have lemons from time to time ! But bought a new vehicle so we could sell this cheap to our son so he would have a dependable car and at 50 k the transmission went out ! Found out all the fiestas had junk transmissions and the class action law suite only went back 10 yrs regardless of miles ! This is why I will not have another ford and now a lot of the ecoboost motors are failing , it’s so bad their called ecoboom !
 
Ford isn’t bad. You just need to look at what they do best. Same holds true for other makes. With turbos all bets are off though.

BMW = in-line 6
Japanese makers 3-4 cyl.
US makers V-8
Porsche flat 4&6 cyl.
Volvo 4-5 cyl.
Mercedes used to be diesels

@ernieb1536 had you bought a sienna or odyssey and replaced timing belts when due for service you would likely still be driving it assuming your not in the rust belt! But I get it. You were likely lured into ford with $$$ off msrp where imports were likely sold at sticker…
 
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Over the past decades my overall experience with the large number of personal and family owned Toyota vehicles has been much, much better than with any other brand. No brand is perfect, but Toyota does seem to hold up better than the others that I or family & friends have owned. Following the manufacturers scheduled maintenance requirements for your particular driving conditions is a must, and if you plan to keep a vehicle 10, 15, 20 years it's a good idea to research common failures and plan for that eventuality.

And with very few exceptions, you should change your oil and filter at least every 5,000 miles... oil & filters are cheap, engines are expensive.
 
nolasally said:
Ford isn’t bad. You just need to look at what they do best. Same holds true for other makes. With turbos all bets are off though.

BMW = in-line 6
Japanese makers 3-4 cyl.
US makers V-8
Porsche flat 4&6 cyl.
Volvo 4-5 cyl.
Mercedes used to be diesels
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The only ford I ever had that was good was my 1979 ford bronco with factory off round package with a modified 400 and a top loading 4 speed with 4:11front and rear end it was a beast ! But my only complaint was 6 mpg on a good day !
 
ernieb1536 said:
The only ford I ever had that was good was my 1979 ford bronco with factory off round package with a modified 400 and a top loading 4 speed with 4:11front and rear end it was a beast ! But my only complaint was 6 mpg on a good day !
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Off road $&@: spell check !!! Or I guess it could be a senior moment lol
 
H2OMAN7.62MM said:
Over the past decades my overall experience with the large number of personal and family owned Toyota vehicles has been much, much better than with any other brand. No brand is perfect, but Toyota does seem to hold up better than the others that I or family & friends have owned. Following the manufacturers scheduled maintenance requirements for your particular driving conditions is a must, and if you plan to keep a vehicle 10, 15, 20 years it's a good idea to research common failures and plan for that eventuality.

And with very few exceptions, you should change your oil and filter at least every 5,000 miles... oil & filters are cheap, engines are expensive.
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My business partner still has a 1998 Lexus LX470, with IIRC, the 2UZ v8. Over 250K on it, and I don't think the valve covers have ever been off the motor. Runs like a champ.

Yeah,, there's the occasional minor issue (had to have the AC fixed, and something in the fueling/venting system makes it hard to fill it up over 3/4 tank quickly), but it's been a trooper.

Regards,
Gordon.
 
GordonW said:
My business partner still has a 1998 Lexus LX470, with IIRC, the 2UZ v8. Over 250K on it, and I don't think the valve covers have ever been off the motor. Runs like a champ.

Yeah,, there's the occasional minor issue (had to have the AC fixed, and something in the fueling/venting system makes it hard to fill it up over 3/4 tank quickly), but it's been a trooper.

Regards,
Gordon.
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My 4WD 2002 Tundra 'work truck' has the awesome 4.7L 2UZ-FE engine and it's about to hit 200,000 miles. I parked on an un-shaded concrete pad for a decade and the intense summer heat shortened the life of rubber parts including the valve cover gaskets, so I replaced them last year. You can see where oil had dripped down onto the exhaust header...

IMG_0216.JPGIMG_0214.JPG
The same master mechanic that is replacing the head gaskets in my 2007 at his home shop replaced the VCG's while he was still at the dealership, he and his fellow mechanics marveled at how clean everything was when he removed the VC. I use regular oil and Toyota filter... they get changed every 5,000 or sooner. He will perform the timing belt service on this one when I hit 200k or so.
 
H2OMAN7.62MM said:
My 4WD 2002 Tundra 'work truck' has the awesome 4.7L 2UZ-FE engine and it's about to hit 200,000 miles. I parked on an un-shaded concrete pad for a decade and the intense summer heat shortened the life of rubber parts including the valve cover gaskets, so I replaced them last year. You can see where oil had dripped down onto the exhaust header...

View attachment 3232828View attachment 3232829
The same master mechanic that is replacing the head gaskets in my 2007 at his home shop replaced the VCG's while he was still at the dealership, he and his fellow mechanics marveled at how clean everything was when he removed the VC. I use regular oil and Toyota filter... they get changed every 5,000 or sooner. He will perform the timing belt service on this one when I hit 200k or so.
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Other than some surface rust on the headers, the normal little bit of grime that would be expected, and some surface corrosion and discoloration on the exterior of some aluminum parts- there's very little in that picture, to give away that this is not a new or nearly new engine. I don't see any obvious sign of internal wear, there...

Regards,
Gordon.
 
GordonW said:
My business partner still has a 1998 Lexus LX470, with IIRC, the 2UZ v8. Over 250K on it, and I don't think the valve covers have ever been off the motor. Runs like a champ.

Yeah,, there's the occasional minor issue (had to have the AC fixed, and something in the fueling/venting system makes it hard to fill it up over 3/4 tank quickly), but it's been a trooper.

Regards,
Gordon.
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My other vehicle is 1993 k-5 Blazer 160k still running and driving great after owning it for 20 yrs!
 
When it rains, it pours.

Once the heads were off it was easy to see that the head gasket failed in cylinder #7, unfortunately for me it was also easy to determine the previous owners ran this engine low on oil enough to cause overheating... the vertical grooves and scratches in cylinder #8 confirm this.

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Since there are no local machine shops that are skilled, experienced or competent enough to rebuild this engine and the fact that there could be additional damage, I was forced to buy a low mileage pre-owned engine... I'm currently awaiting shipping and delivery notification. I will sell my old engine to a Florida company that rebuilds them as purpose built heavy duty high dollar supercharged race engines.
 
This 3UR-FE endured 270,000 miles of abuse and still went another 45,000 miles before failure. True happiness will come from replacing the old heart with a healthy low mileage Toyota 3UR-FE.

R.I.P. old friend.

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I'd have considered running conditions before the head gasket failure and probably just put a new set on if it wasn't eating oil.
 
gadget73 said:
I'd have considered running conditions before the head gasket failure and probably just put a new set on if it wasn't eating oil.
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I dunno. With that kind of scoring, I would have wanted to see the rod bearings. And by the time you do that, you have likely put enough labor in, that you might as well rebuild it. Replacing with a solid-history low-mileage motor will likely be cheaper than the labor to dismantle the bottom end of old one to verify condition, much less to rebuild it afterward.

If it was a hobby job in someone's own garage, without having to pay someone else labor, it might have been worthwhile to take time and check it all out, top and bottom- but paying a mechanic, it's very likely a lot cheaper just to swap it out...

Regards,
Gordon.
 
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