🔧 3UR-FE Engine Failure? Help Track Common Issues (Head Gasket, Valve Spring, etc) — [Survey Link Inside] (1 Viewer)

[xeuxaz]

I’m working on a project to collect factual data about engine failures in the Land Cruiser 200 Series equipped with the 5.7L V8 3UR-FE. As these vehicles age, specific failure patterns are becoming more common across the community, especially:

Focused Failure Types:​

• Head Gasket Failure
• Valve Spring Failure
• Timing Chain Tensioner Issues
• Other stuff?

The goal is to build a data-driven understanding of these problems, such as mileage at failure, symptoms, maintenance history, and repair outcomes. This isn’t about speculation or opinions. I’m strictly collecting verifiable, real-world data to help identify trends and provide valuable insights for other owners.

If you’ve experienced one of these failures (or a related engine issue), I’d appreciate it if you took a few minutes to complete this survey: Owner & Vehicle Information - https://forms.gle/rusCpvZGj86Zyp5i8

Please stick to facts only:

• Confirmed diagnoses (e.g., mechanic/dealer findings)
• Actual mileage at time of failure
• Specific symptoms you observed
• Details of the repair (what was done, cost, timeframe)
• Any supporting documents or photos (optional but helpful)

This effort is intended to benefit the community by identifying when, why, and how these failures occur, without the noise of assumptions or anecdotal guesses. Feel free to share the link with other 3UR-FE owners (LC200, Tundra, Sequoia, etc.) who’ve dealt with similar issues.

Important Note:
This survey is not intended to suggest that the 3UR-FE is an unreliable engine. There are numerous examples of these motors exceeding 300,000 miles, and a few Tundras equipped with this engine have reportedly surpassed 1 million miles. The purpose here is to understand the failures that have occurred and identify any patterns or lessons that can help current and future owners.

Survey Responses

Survey Questions for Reference:
Owner and Vehicle Information
- iH8mud Username
- Vehicle Year
- VIN (Optional)
- Location
- Original Owner or Not

Engine and Maintenance Background
- Has the engine been modified?
- Type of Oil Used
- Oil Change Interval
- Vehicle Use (Heavy Duty/Offroad/Towing)
- Engine repairs prior to failure?

Failure Details
- What type of failure was experienced? (Head gasket, valve spring, etc.)
- At what Mileage did the failure occur?
- How was the failure diagnosed?
- Symptoms leading up to failure?
- Did the failure result in engine shutdown?

Repair and Outcome
- What was the resolution?
- Total estimated cost
- How long did it take?

Optional Comments/Documentation
- Photos and Documentation to share
- Advice for other owners

If you have any questions about the survey or are unsure whether your experience is a good fit, please comment below.

 

[2001LC]

Blown engine. 2011 Land Cruiser, build date 11/11 (missing link). 216K miles.

Cause yet TBD. Will edit, when more info available.
Morning drive after heavy mountain snowfall.
Coolant was found to still be in radiator (full) and reservoir (1/2).
Chunks of oil pan aluminium along with piston oil ring, wrist pin snap ring, lower cylinder oiler tube and more YTBID found in skid plate.

Hole in lower end of 3UR engines upper oil pan.

Busted out upper oil pan.

Metals & oil found lying in skids (undershielding)

Recovered from skids & engine. Once oil and sand washed away.

Shock picture, to aid in identification of parts.

Snap ring, oil ring and more.

 

[2001LC]

Same 2011 blown engine, as post above. Hard to see. Nut may be a busted connect rod came through oil baffle and upper oil pan. Using borescope to look around.



Other thread of engine issue. Like blown head gasket, timing chain tension, valve spring. That may or may not have been caught in time, to save engine.

Blown Head Gasket?

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...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[bloc]

Great thread, I love data.

But, a personal appeal to everyone: PLEASE minimize the chit-chat in this thread. That wasn't really present in this section for most of my time here, but lately has added huge amounts of noise to the signal in many threads. There is a forum section for that, and clearly other threads in this section that have devolved, but with the goal of this thread to be a central location on the major issues our engines face, this all works better if it isn't done here.

 

[2021 LC200]

Edited – Given the data set which the OP is trying to gather and the number of 3UR-FE engines on the road (US & Canada around 1.75 million vehicles between Sequioa, Tundra and the 200 series) you need at least 380 participants with the same issue and have no other contributing factors (e.g. not the first owner, irregular or lack off maintenance, many short drives/cold starts etc) for it to be an actual design or manufacturing issue. Otherwise the data will be speculation and opinions formed based on thin air, like unfortunately many internet and social media sources these days.

Given the high mile examples out there and issues presented at IH8MUD with typically contributing factors, I would claim that the 3UR-FE is a great engine and amongst the best Mr T has made to date. Seems to me putting energy in explaining your issue and getting input around options to repair as is common on IH8MUD is very valuable. Also to know that Toyota’s do need oil changes/maintenance and popping the hood to check things (fluids do need topping off...) is recommended.

 

[doru]

The data is fine but useless IMO. The many 3UR-FE's used in the Tundra, Sequioa and 200 series have no fundamental issue and have 500k miles + capability with 5k oil changes, OEM filter use, OEM or good quality oil and other fluid changes at 50 or 100k intervals. The cases reported here are the exception and however sad to the owner are unique and in most cases related to non consistent maintenance from previous owners (any second hand vehicle by definition has the risk of having been poorly maintained). They also end up in disproportional amounts on forums or in front of youtubers like the Car Care Nut (note I have no issue with CCN and he is in fact go to when you want a quality repair done).

The 3UR-FE is simply one of the best engines around together with some other legendary products from Mr T. This effort is not going to reveal a fundamental issue (i.e. be statistically significant), just a handful of cases over hundred thousands of vehicles driving around with the same engine.

And if you still wish to gather the data, please add without a doubt:
- What mileage the vehicle was purchased? Any second hand is by default suspect (many folk belief Toyota's do not even need oil changes...) and is automatically irrelevant.
- In case you are the first owner whether consistent maintenance has been done from new?

This would be my only reply on this thread as I do NOT have a failure.

This thread was expressly intended for people that did have a failure and for them to give facts not opinions. Your comments even well intended are not welcomed.
Suggestions for improvement should be given after actually filling up the form. Based on your suggestions I concluded you do not know what is in the form.

IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A FAILURE DO NOT POST HERE! There are plenty of threads about this on mud and Inet to add your opinion to.

@admin - please delete my post in a few days. Thank you!

 

[shajbot]

This is a great thread. Thank you for putting this together. I'd ask if you would post the actual table on your first post so everyone can view.

Here's the link to my original post Blown Head Gasket? - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/blown-head-gasket.1289422/post-15891972

Type: head gasket, valley plate

Symptoms: Coolant reservoir needed to be topped off. The leak into the cylinder from the coolant passage across the trouble head gasket started very very small and eventually result in a larger leak. When the leak was small, there was no noticeable noise or different in performance. The first ever indication of an issue was a slight stumbling at start-up due to coolant getting compressed in the cylinder. That eventually turned to large stumble at start-up resulted from the misfire and the ECM shut off the injector for the cylinder (flashing CEL and 4LO) and needed to restart to clear (cylinder emptied and ECM resumes injector).

Other symptoms including bubbles in the reservoir after a long drive and straight exhaust smell from coolant radiator/reservoir opening. If I had the system tested for exhaust gas, it would have pop positive.

Why I don't think overheating was the problem: There was a period of about 6 months where I was really busy and didn't check on the car and I believe the coolant level got empty in the reservoir. I would started to hear flow noises from behind the dash which later confirmed to be the heater core just filled with bubble and large air volume. The temperature gage stayed dead in the middle the whole time the car was driving normally. I believe the coolant got lower than full in the radiator which was still fine as long as you have proper flow (both air flow and coolant flow). The only time when I see the needle moving up towards H was when I was sitting idling and with the nose of the car up high on an incline/driveway. I immediately knew trouble and turned off the car and checked the reservoir and radiator. I had to fill about 3/4 of a gallon toyota 50/50 pink coolant bottle to get the radiator full and reservoir to F mark. The flow noises behind the dash disappeared right at this time too. I believe the coolant thermocouple became uncovered while I was sitting idling with the nose up and it was measuring air/steam. Due to the thermocouple RTD design, when exposed to air/steam the temperature read out is bias'ed high. Based on how much I had to fill the radiator and the reservoir, I believe the coolant system still has a few gallons of coolant left and the coolant pump was able to circulate and maintained adequate cooling. I believe this emptying of the reservoir and lowering than full of the radiator resulted from the coolant leak into cylinder that caused this close-call, not the other way around.

 

[2021 LC200]

This is a great thread. Thank you for putting this together. I'd ask if you would post the actual table on your first post so everyone can view.

Here's the link to my original post Blown Head Gasket? - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/blown-head-gasket.1289422/post-15891972

Type: head gasket, valley plate

Symptoms: Coolant reservoir needed to be topped off. The leak into the cylinder from the coolant passage across the trouble head gasket started very very small and eventually result in a larger leak. When the leak was small, there was no noticeable noise or different in performance. The first ever indication of an issue was a slight stumbling at start-up due to coolant getting compressed in the cylinder. That eventually turned to large stumble at start-up resulted from the misfire and the ECM shut off the injector for the cylinder (flashing CEL and 4LO) and needed to restart to clear (cylinder emptied and ECM resumes injector).

Other symptoms including bubbles in the reservoir after a long drive and straight exhaust smell from coolant radiator/reservoir opening. If I had the system tested for exhaust gas, it would have pop positive.

Why I don't think overheating was the problem: There was a period of about 6 months where I was really busy and didn't check on the car and I believe the coolant level got empty in the reservoir. I would started to hear flow noises from behind the dash which later confirmed to be the heater core just filled with bubble and large air volume. The temperature gage stayed dead in the middle the whole time the car was driving normally. I believe the coolant got lower than full in the radiator which was still fine as long as you have proper flow (both air flow and coolant flow). The only time when I see the needle moving up towards H was when I was sitting idling and with the nose of the car up high on an incline/driveway. I immediately knew trouble and turned off the car and checked the reservoir and radiator. I had to fill about 3/4 of a gallon toyota 50/50 pink coolant bottle to get the radiator full and reservoir to F mark. The flow noises behind the dash disappeared right at this time too. I believe the coolant thermocouple became uncovered while I was sitting idling with the nose up and it was measuring air/steam. Due to the thermocouple RTD design, when exposed to air/steam the temperature read out is bias'ed high. Based on how much I had to fill the radiator and the reservoir, I believe the coolant system still has a few gallons of coolant left and the coolant pump was able to circulate and maintained adequate cooling. I believe this emptying of the reservoir and lowering than full of the radiator resulted from the coolant leak into cylinder that caused this close-call, not the other way around.

Sorry to hear you are having big issues. Reading carefully your points I do believe your coolant situation is the root cause of your HG issue. Non proper fill of coolant in internal combustion engines (i.e. local air pockets), even with radiator reservoirs showing full, is known to lead to overheating. In light alloy engines this is very detrimental. In that 6 month period were you towing or letting the car idle in high outside temp conditions? My learning from this is to check your fluid levels monthly or at least pop the hood every now and then and scan for issues.

 

[2001LC]

This is a great thread. Thank you for putting this together. I'd ask if you would post the actual table on your first post so everyone can view.

Here's the link to my original post Blown Head Gasket? - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/blown-head-gasket.1289422/post-15891972

Type: head gasket, valley plate

Symptoms: Coolant reservoir needed to be topped off. The leak into the cylinder from the coolant passage across the trouble head gasket started very very small and eventually result in a larger leak. When the leak was small, there was no noticeable noise or different in performance. The first ever indication of an issue was a slight stumbling at start-up due to coolant getting compressed in the cylinder. That eventually turned to large stumble at start-up resulted from the misfire and the ECM shut off the injector for the cylinder (flashing CEL and 4LO) and needed to restart to clear (cylinder emptied and ECM resumes injector).

Other symptoms including bubbles in the reservoir after a long drive and straight exhaust smell from coolant radiator/reservoir opening. If I had the system tested for exhaust gas, it would have pop positive.

I couldn't call this HG failure, a defect in parts.

I'm not picking on you. Just looking at this as mechanic.

You bought with crack radiator and valley leak. So, running hot and or overheating, can't be ruled out.

Copy and paste from link you provided, you stated in blown Head Gasket forum:
"Count me in this club, 13' LX570 160k miles, owned since 100K. coolant in #7 cylinder, misfire, stumble on restart. Happened out of nowhere, only driven long distance, oil change religiously, coolant replaced at 100K in conjunction with replacing cracked radiator (sounds familiar?). $7K out the door at a local shop in San Diego that includes resealing the valley plate and cam towers. It's a tough pill to swallow as I have own multiple Lexus/Toyota (LS400, SC300/400, RX330, GX460) some around 180K-250K miles range never have issues with coolant system let alone head gaskets."

Why I don't think overheating was the problem: There was a period of about 6 months where I was really busy and didn't check on the car and I believe the coolant level got empty in the reservoir. I would started to hear flow noises from behind the dash which later confirmed to be the heater core just filled with bubble and large air volume. The temperature gage stayed dead in the middle the whole time the car was driving normally. I believe the coolant got lower than full in the radiator which was still fine as long as you have proper flow (both air flow and coolant flow). The only time when I see the needle moving up towards H was when I was sitting idling and with the nose of the car up high on an incline/driveway. I immediately knew trouble and turned off the car and checked the reservoir and radiator. I had to fill about 3/4 of a gallon toyota 50/50 pink coolant bottle to get the radiator full and reservoir to F mark. The flow noises behind the dash disappeared right at this time too. I believe the coolant thermocouple became uncovered while I was sitting idling with the nose up and it was measuring air/steam. Due to the thermocouple RTD design, when exposed to air/steam the temperature read out is bias'ed high. Based on how much I had to fill the radiator and the reservoir, I believe the coolant system still has a few gallons of coolant left and the coolant pump was able to circulate and maintained adequate cooling. I believe this emptying of the reservoir and lowering than full of the radiator resulted from the coolant leak into cylinder that caused this close-call, not the other way around.

I've never measure how many qts low, before coolant level below Engine Coolant Temp (ECT) sensor. But it not much. Typically if we look in radiator, and see no coolant on top of fins. Then coolant level, is below ECT sensor. ECT sensor is near top of coolant system. In the front water bypass joint. When coolant below (blue line) ECT sensor, water temp gauge or even when read ECT through tech stream. Will read lower, than actual coolant temp is in the block.
Blue line is crossing ECT sensor.

If we turn cabin heat full hot, after engine run time when we'd expect it at operating temp ~187F. If air feels only warm or even cool. Coolant is to low to get too heater cores. You can bet, it also below ECT sensor. Water temp (ECT) will read low. Until coolant expand and reaches ECT sensor. Then gauge shoots up. NOT GOOD.

 

[WildYoats]

Paging the rest of the exclusive blown-head-gasket-club I now belong to. (Please add your info to the database above)

@surfingpl 2013
@jeep2cruiser 2014
@vincentdevries 2011
@shajbot 2013
@comox 2013
@YellowG 2014
@TTO5 2010
@alexvallorosi 2009
@bentonrover 2008
@570lemur 2008
@fountainhead 2010
@Bryanmc 2010
@RTK 2013
@bohdi11 2011
@lcgeek 2008
@RCCKY 2014
@art5519 2009
@Atwalz 2013
@KyleLyle17 2014
@AeroAggie 2010
@jmw101

 

[xeuxaz]

The original post has been updated with the Survey Questions and a link to the responses. I also added a note clarifying that this survey is not meant to suggest the 3UR is an unreliable engine.

Interestingly enough, the first two responses are both 2013 MY.