Blown Head Gasket? (1 Viewer)

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Joined
May 19, 2017
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Location
San Diego
Posting this from the waiting room of Mossy Toyota in San Diego. 2013 LC with 125k miles. Maintained at the dealership. I got a check engine light, 4-lo blinking, and trac off on the dash last night. Scanned with basic OBDII scanner - got P0301, misfire cyl 1. Brought it to the dealer (just a few minutes from home). 6 hours later they are saying the head gasket is blown, liquid in cyl, engine needs to be rebuilt or replaced. $8k for the "cheap" way to fix it. I have an extended warranty from ASI / Smart AutoCare - we'll see how that goes.

Additional context:
  1. This is my daily driver and I don't do anything unusual with it, I take very good care of it.
  2. I brought the LC in a week and half ago for an oil change. A couple days after that I got the same CEL & dash lights. Brought it back to the dealer got new plugs and a new ignition coil on cyl 1. It worked great - actually ran fantastic, noticeably better, for a few days until now.
I searched the forum but not seeing much of anything on 200 series head gasket problems, but maybe I am searching wrong.

This seems crazy, has anyone heard of this before? I bought this LC thinking I would drive it forever.

I will keep forum updated on outcome.

TIA,
Jim
 
Did you own it from new or bought used? If so how long ago and at what mileage?
 
Hey there! I had a head gasket leak on my 2014 at 55k miles… however it because of an undisclosed front end collision from the previous owner. Radiator was compromised during the accident and most likely overheated. I had the same symptoms you did. I will say, go get another opinion from a Toyota specialist (dealer or not). Replace your plugs and see if the issue comes back.

I ended up at $6500 out the door for my top end rebuild and heads refinished. I’m 25k miles on from the work and have had 5 oil analysis done… all have come back perfect.

Hope this helps, please reach out if you have anymore questions.
 

Here’s my thread on the manner.
 
Did you own it from new or bought used? If so how long ago and at what mileage?
I bought it used, as a certified vehicle from a Toyota dealership, with a Toyota warranty. It had about 70k miles on it when I bought it. That was in July of 2017.
 

Here’s my thread on the manner.
jeep2cruiser,

Just finished reading your thread, thanks for sharing. Glad to hear you got your ride back on the road.

I have driven about 55k miles on my cruiser since I bought it, and it has worked flawlessly - no issues. I did get new spark plugs installed at the dealership just a couple days ago (misfire obviously came back). I've worked in the auto industry about 17 years now, sounds like you do too. I am confident the extended warranty provider will send an inspector to confirm the dealership's diagnosis before agreeing to proceed. The service advisor has been at this dealership for 10 years. He said he's never seen this on a Land Cruiser, and only rarely, if ever, on a high mileage Tundra.
 
Hmmmm........so far this sequence bugs me. A perfectly running LC starts to have problems shortly after a dealer service, then after another dealer service and repair fails with a problem that is almost unheard of in the 5.7L engine. Makes me wonder if the initial problem was just a bad coil pack and something got screwed up in the plug change. Noticeable liquid in the cylinder would cause catastrophic damage, but I suppose they could have scoped it and found some moisture? Anyway, I hope the warranty will cover it.
 
Hmmmm........so far this sequence bugs me. A perfectly running LC starts to have problems shortly after a dealer service, then after another dealer service and repair fails with a problem that is almost unheard of in the 5.7L engine. Makes me wonder if the initial problem was just a bad coil pack and something got screwed up in the plug change. Noticeable liquid in the cylinder would cause catastrophic damage, but I suppose they could have scoped it and found some moisture? Anyway, I hope the warranty will cover it.
Sandroad,

Agreed. I'm trying not point fingers, but the timing is incredible. But what could possibly happen (go wrong) during a routine oil change that would lead to a blown head gasket and/or liquid in the cylinder a few days later?
 
A head gasket failure should be pretty easy to discern. There will be water in the oil and oil in the coolant. If you have that then I won't try to guess at why but yes it would require replacement. If they're going off codes but there's no water/oil mix then I suspect something else is wrong.
 
Sounds odd.
 
A head gasket failure should be pretty easy to discern. There will be water in the oil and oil in the coolant. If you have that then I won't try to guess at why but yes it would require replacement. If they're going off codes but there's no water/oil mix then I suspect something else is wrong.
linuxgod,

They used a borescope to diagnose. The oil was changed by the dealer on 7/9, they did not report anything unusual about the oil service.
 
linuxgod,

They used a borescope to diagnose. The oil was changed by the dealer on 7/9, they did not report anything unusual about the oil service.
This whole thing stinks like fish. Head gasket failures on these trucks are super rare. Combine an oil change and spark plugs service a week before it fails and i’m betting it’s dealer error.
 
linuxgod,

They used a borescope to diagnose. The oil was changed by the dealer on 7/9, they did not report anything unusual about the oil service.
If the head gasket is blown when you pull the dipstick out it will have water on it. No borescope needed. If it doesn't, I'd highly doubt that assessment myself. The vehicle will also consume coolant (but whether it's immediately noticeable depends on how far you've driven) and you'll get white smoke from the exhaust even once warmed up
 
Do you often check the fluid levels? Coolant bottle empty at all?

Ask them if there is evidence of the valley plate coolant leak. That isn’t uncommon and can definitely lead to low coolant and eventual HG issues.

Unless I’m reading things wrong you got a misfire out of the blue and that was the first evidence of issues?

Head gasket leaks can be very subtle, and depending on which part of the gasket goes it can actually control coolant ingress into the crank case. Even if there was evidence most oil change level techs wouldn’t even look. And now that the oil has been changed..

The one thing that may make it past an oil change is the goop under the fill cap. IF much of it is getting into the crank case.
 
Do you often check the fluid levels? Coolant bottle empty at all?

Ask them if there is evidence of the valley plate coolant leak. That isn’t uncommon and can definitely lead to low coolant and eventual HG issues.

Unless I’m reading things wrong you got a misfire out of the blue and that was the first evidence of issues?

Head gasket leaks can be very subtle, and depending on which part of the gasket goes it can actually control coolant ingress into the crank case. Even if there was evidence most oil change level techs wouldn’t even look. And now that the oil has been changed..

The one thing that may make it past an oil change is the goop under the fill cap. IF much of it is getting into the crank case.

bloc,

No, I do not check fluid levels often on my Cruiser. I've mostly been relying on the "inspections" performed at the dealer when the vehicle is serviced, and I occasionally check myself - like before a road-trip, or when I am cleaning or working on the cruiser, or adding wiper fluid. The inspection report from 7/9/22 was all good, no low fluid levels reported. I will ask the service advisor about the valley plate coolant leak (I experienced this on my IS-F).

You are reading it right. LC was running and riving normally. On 7/9/22 went to dealership for regular oil change service, drove home, and maybe put 100 miles on it over the next couple days, all good. Noticed rough idle at start up on 7/12. Got CEL on 7/13, scanner showed P0301 (only, no other codes). Back to dealership service dept. on 7/14 for new spark plugs and an a new ignition coil on cyl 1. LC ran excellent after that, put maybe another hundred miles on it. Night of 7/19, CEL came back, scanner showed P0301. Back to dealership for diagnosis. Service advisor broke the news, showed me a photo from the borescope, and took me back to the service garage to take a look at it. The Cruiser is sitting in the service department now. I'm pretty sure the extended warranty company will send an independent inspector to confirm the diagnosis.

I appreciate the feedback from everyone, thanks.
 
I hope they take care of you, and please keep us posted on what they find, as rare as problems with these are any information is valuable for the knowledge base.
 
If the head gasket is blown when you pull the dipstick out it will have water on it. ...and you'll get white smoke from the exhaust even once warmed up
Not always. You can't count on these symptoms. I've replaced many HG (not on this engine of course) and the symptoms are always different.

Best way i found to diagnose and/or confirm is to perform a leak down test.
 
I spoke with the warranty company adjuster today. They are sending an inspector out to confirm the dealer's diagnosis. I am attaching an image from the borescope here:

IMG_0127001.jpg
 
Bummer, that sure looks like coolant sitting on top of the piston to me. While these types of failures are really rare, most part failures follow a normal bell curve, and the tails are out there somewhere. And for every well maintained truck that has an early failure (not that 125k for most vehicles is all that early), there always seems to be one that has poor maintenance and lasts forever. Not that that helps if you're the unexplained "early" failure. I hope the warranty company takes care of you.
 
A head gasket failure should be pretty easy to discern. There will be water in the oil and oil in the coolant. If you have that then I won't try to guess at why but yes it would require replacement. If they're going off codes but there's no water/oil mix then I suspect something else is wrong.
What you said is 100% correct. You do not need to pull codes. If a head gasket is blown there will be coolant in the oil and oil in the coolant. That aint rocket science. A blown head gasket is very obvious. If you don't have both mixing someone is pulling the wool over your eyes or trying to. This is basic mechanics. You don't need a specialist to tell you this. Much luck but careful with who ever your dealing with...
 

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