'08 Engine Problems - Options

[BajaCruiser94]

Here we go...

Found what a good deal on a '08 Cruiser 2500mi away from me last December; less than 100K on the odometer, faded paint on hood, some interior wear and bumper rashes, nothing severe, price was less than 10K.
Driven all the way home with no issues; until a week ago; while passing a slower car @ 25% throttle, the cruiser felt like it misfired and knocked bad for a split of a second, then cleared up and accelerated; leaving behind a huge cloud of smoke; drove it to the shop to have it checked, no engine noise, no codes; just smoking bad.

- Shop found a significant amount of oil on intake plenum.
- Oil coming out and burning from exhaust
- No compression on #7; the rest ~220psi...??
- All spark plugs with oil on them, #5 & #7 soaked.
- Water contaminated oil
- Lower oilpan had shavings, chunks and metal pieces.
- Oil pick up mesh clogged with thick mud and shavings
- Damage to the upper oilpain sidewall, leaking oil.

Seems the cruiser was badly abused and poorly maintained in its past life; it was used as a rental in Cancun for a while; then was used by the rental owners (so they say); it was sold as is; I expected some work to be done but... man!...ha!

Options moving forward.
1.- Disassemble engine and rebuild if block is not damaged.
2.- Replace engine with a local '16 Tundra 5.7 engine with low miles and a great price ~1.5K, Can anyone comment on Fitment/Compatibility issues?

Thoughts and ideas welcomed.

Thanks.
-Emerson

Some pictures from my disaster...

Intake Plenum highly contaminated with oil

More metal chunks - If im not mistaken, the bent tube in the pic is one of the Piston Oil Jets

Big Metal chunk...

Nasty Milkshake in lower oilpan...

Engine with intake out; waiting for the next step...

 

[Markuson]

Ugh.
Rented by drunk partiers in Cancun sounds like a really bad recipe... I’ll be curious to see where this goes. I’m in a 2008 with similar miles, but never had anything like that. Does not sound good.

 

[TonyP]

The block is definitely hosed.
Interested in seeing a full taredown.

 

[bloc]

That chunk of aluminum could have come from the upper oil pan.. and I agree with TonyP, very likely hosed block and probably much more.

I doubt many people are putting '16 tundra engines into cruisers. You may not get a good answer on this without trying it yourself. One potential for information is to research whether a later model tundra engine will bolt into an earlier model tundra. For me that question being answered yes would be enough to try that engine.

 

[TeCKis300]

She's done. No point trying to salvage anything internal.

Buy that tundra motor. Swap over ancillary stuff that's different (if any). Drop in motor. Way cheaper and you'll wind up with a more reliable motor in the end.

 

[TonyP]

You can go through Partsouq and cross reference part numbers vs the Tundra.

The fact that the Tundra is IFS may change a few things like oil pan and whatnot but overall I'd assume it's similar enough to get you going.

 

[RCBS08]

https://dieseltoys.com/landcruiser-200-diesel

 

[BajaCruiser94]

I agree, block has little to no chance on being salvaged.

I read Tundra engines have slightly different heads and lower oilpan - Seems all sensor connections are similar.
So in the worse case I can swap the LC heads into the Tundra Block together with the lower oilpan.

 

[TonyP]

I'd be surprised if those heads aren't jacked up too. Possible, but it depends on what actually went wrong. Especially if it was aan oiling issue. If they look OK, definitely have them checked over by a competent machine shop.

 

[linuxgod]

I think the ECU on the Tundra is different than the LC. So even if all the harnesses are plug-and-play, you might end up throwing codes or with a poor engine tune. Definitely check into that first. @bjowett or the Canguro Racing guys might know more

 

[TeCKis300]

I wouldn't worry that the tune is different, and I would expect it to be. The differences likely account model tailorings, rather than engine hardware differences.

Speculation, but I'm familiar with a lot of mixing and matching ECU's with actual engine variants in my Honda and Lexus engine swapping days. For the Tundra/Sequoia/LC, there's been almost nothing to suggest that they are anything other than the same engine. Other than manufactured at different plants.

With the oil looking like that, there's nothing to be salvaged internally that will be good. You can't R&R internals of a motor for anything less than the $1500 of that '16 motor you sourced. And likely nowhere near as reliable as there's very few engine builders I'd actually trust to get all the tolerances and assembly anywhere close to what comes out of the factory, for long term reliability.

@BajaCruiser94, can you cite where you found information on head differences? I'm curious. I've heard of at least a couple cases of Tundra motors swapped in to LC's in the past. No suggestion that the heads were any different, but there wasn't much detail provided.

Your plan is sound and is the path I would take. Swapping ancillary components is going to be far easier than any internal rebuilding.

 

[BajaCruiser94]

@TeCKis300 - Here we go Link

Well, seems this will be a first; Ill purchase the engine and start working on engine comparison and swap logistic.

-Emerson

 

[BajaCruiser94]

I was mistaken on the donor engine year; its a rolled '17 Tundra 4x4 with 27K miles; its on its way to the shop now; to be inspected and then purchased if everything checks up.
Wish me luck; don't really want to tear engines apart to make it compatible with my '08.

 

[ZenCruiser]

Good luck. Engine looks nice & clean.

 

[stiffarm]

Screaming deal of a low mile engine at that price. Go for it!

 

[BajaCruiser94]

Update.

Its all 97% plug an play.

• The '08 LC harness is all compatible with the '17 engine; everything plugs in except the oil level sensor in the upper oilpan; the tundra engine did not have the sensor available - we bypassed to avoid a code or warning light.
• In the accessory side; I ended up using the LC Starter, Alternator, Compressor, PS Pump and oil cooler; Tundra starter is smaller and did not fit the transmission, Alternator amp rating was also lower on the tundra one; and AC Compressor is different, so we used the LC one.
• Oil dipstick is different; it ended up located close to the coolant reservoir; not the best location, but its functional.

Everything else was fully compatible; engine fired right up, no codes, nothing wrong so far.

I'll do extended testing this weekend; but seems we got really lucky on the compatibility side and on sourcing a super low mile engine at that price; so far so good...

-Emerson.

 

[Cruisin911]

Id love to see pictures of this whole process if you have any....

 

[TeCKis300]

Great news Emerson! Glad you got it sorted out and are back up and running! With a new low mileage heart!

While there are not many 200-series engine issues. This is still great information as the model carries on into its later years. There a huge supply of Tundra/Sequoia motors to keep our beasts running for many years to some.

Interesting that the starter did not fit? A new smaller starter has superseded the original larger LC/5.7 starter when I replaced my late last year. Wonder what the detail difference was.