LC200 Engine swap options? (1 Viewer)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

Joined
Oct 3, 2022
Threads
1
Messages
9
Location
Southern California
The purpose of this thread is to determine non-Toyota engine swap options for the LC200 platform.

Hi I am new to this forum. I live in the USA and own a 2008 LC200 with the 3UR-FE.
Approximately 1 month ago while on a trip to the beach with my family the cruiser broke down. While driving on the freeway, the 4low light came on, along with the flashing check engine light followed by engine vibration. After exiting the freeway and parking, the engine would barely idle and it was clear that at least one cylinder was misfiring. After having the LC towed to my trustworthy mechanic, it was determined that the head gasket blew between two cylinders on the passenger side and I had three bent/hanging valves in one of the effected cylinders.

After much consultation between my mechanic and reputable Toyota experts, it was determined that the recommended practice is to never rebuild UR heads. In fact, he tried to consult several machine shops that he uses and they all refused.
I opted to go for a used engine swap and the new (used) 3UR-FE is currently being installed. I’ve been doing some research on my own and have found Toyota master mechanics who talk about this issue with the 3UR-FE. The 2007/2008 3UR-FEs break valve springs. The issue happens rarely 2009+.

This event has led me to question the reliability of the 3UR-FE. Mine had ~125k miles on it, never even got close to being hot. The used oil was always in great shape after changes. Oil pressure was always consistent at ~1/4.

If this happens again I will be looking to swap for a 6.2 LS. Has anyone done a similar swap?
 
Without answering your question, seems reliability wise Toyota stands out from the crowd, despite your misery. Did you own your vehicle from new?
 
Last edited:
Talks about reliability - proposes a GM motor.

All kidding aside, there's more to reliability than just parts. The integration, verificaiton, and validation are huge parts of a reliable system. There's no way a one-off will ever achieve what Toyota has spent millions in developing. A Land Cruiser no less.

Sorry to hear of your misfortune. Even if it's a statistical anomaly, things happen, and I'm sorry it happened to the OPs vehicle. Get her back together enjoy the ride.
 
Not a non Toyota replacement but may interest you.

 
Non Toyota engine swap ideas likely won't get much traction on here or anywhere else for the 200 Land Cruiser. Despite rare failures that are catastrophic, it's an extraordinarily reliable engine. Non-Toyota replacements would be a HUGE task because of all the integrated electronic functions with the rest of the vehicle.
 
I can’t speak to the specific damage of your engine, but the LC 3UR-FE was designed to be rebuilt 3 times in its life. Many shops may not want to try to recondition a damaged head, which I get, but they are in fact rebuildable under normal circumstances.
 
If one has the tools, skills and/or money to put an LS in a LC200, one should be able to fix or replace a broken engine! Anything is possible, it's just bolts, wires, and money. I vote Cummins 12 valve, nv4500, might as well do a solid front axle swap. Think of all the money you can make selling modules on eBay and recycling copper wire. Throw in a new head unit that has apple car play.

Oh wait, you were serious?
 
Wondering if there was a vin# range for the possible early defective motors?
 
If one has the tools, skills and/or money to put an LS in a LC200, one should be able to fix or replace a broken engine! Anything is possible, it's just bolts, wires, and money. I vote Cummins 12 valve, nv4500, might as well do a solid front axle swap. Think of all the money you can make selling modules on eBay and recycling copper wire. Throw in a new head unit that has apple car play.

Oh wait, you were serious?
LX600 is an option
 
I can’t speak to the specific damage of your engine, but the LC 3UR-FE was designed to be rebuilt 3 times in its life. Many shops may not want to try to recondition a damaged head, which I get, but they are in fact rebuildable under normal circumstances.
Have you rebuilt one? I’m genuinely interested.
 
Best swap would be Tesla running gear and batteries. All the cool kids are doing it.
 
A very big factor to any engine being shoehorned into this engine bay will be making the oil pan/crank case play nice with the front differential. I had trouble with this when doing the L92 into my 80-series.

Not to mention integration of all the electronics.

So I'm with others here.. I get that you are sour on this engine family, but unless you want to shell out huge amounts of money and time for that sourness, it's best to just run a 3UR and assume your newer engine will be like the vast majority out there that don't have these problems.
 
Lots of 6bt cummins 200 series land cruisers running around here. 40+ mpg to boot.
 
Have you rebuilt one? I’m genuinely interested.
I have not. Last (and first) engine I rebuilt was a Ford 302.

I can't find the article referencing this, but I'm sure I saw it around the time the 300-series was announced. Might've been in a lengthy "marketing" video. If I can find it I'll re-post, but the first rebuild was just swapping rings, bearings, etc then the second one just honed the block and the third bored it maybe 0.010 over. That said I would assume those rebuilds would be at a chosen interval once the engine was burning oil or what have you rather than after a failure. So in your case it may be possible to rebuild, but if the head or block got damaged when the valves dropped all bets are off.

Personally I'd vote if you can find a relatively low mileage engine (<100k) from a wrecked vehicle for a reasonable price ($5k) I'd just swap that in, unless you're patient and willing to find a shop that will take it on. I might be able to suggest one in Chicago but nothing in SoCal unfortunately
 
Seems like it is just a cylinder head and some valves and valve springs that need replaced.. I'd probably do the other head as well just to be safe..
as long as the damage was just bent valves and not catastrophic the 3UR-FE can be rebuilt like any other motor..


Jegs has complete 3UR-FE heads for $772/ea.. for instance...

The head gasket is a separate issue... blowing through between the cylinders will result in a loss of compression basically, and cause misfires etc (since the mix is no longer correct.) but not use coolant since it is not a blow out to a part of the block cooling system..

It might have caused the bent valves but probably not..
If you engine was feeling underpowered before all this happened then that is why.
 
I have not. Last (and first) engine I rebuilt was a Ford 302.

I can't find the article referencing this, but I'm sure I saw it around the time the 300-series was announced. Might've been in a lengthy "marketing" video. If I can find it I'll re-post, but the first rebuild was just swapping rings, bearings, etc then the second one just honed the block and the third bored it maybe 0.010 over. That said I would assume those rebuilds would be at a chosen interval once the engine was burning oil or what have you rather than after a failure. So in your case it may be possible to rebuild, but if the head or block got damaged when the valves dropped all bets are off.

Personally I'd vote if you can find a relatively low mileage engine (<100k) from a wrecked vehicle for a reasonable price ($5k) I'd just swap that in, unless you're patient and willing to find a shop that will take it on. I might be able to suggest one in Chicago but nothing in SoCal ‘
As stated in the original post, I’m in the middle of swapping for a used 3UR-FE…. It’s a 2010 with 63k miles
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom