I have been lurking the forums for a while, we bought the LC about 1.5yrs ago with 170K on the clock. Fell in love with it more than I ever thought, same will all members of the family, the quiet and comfortable ride is hard to beat. Vehicle is basically bone stock, just high miles. Vehicle has been dealer serviced every 5K miles before my ownership in Iowa. We put on a lot of miles as we live in South Dakota and everything is far away, I wanted to put the Land Cruiser to the test.
A few months back at about 190K, an engine misfire (PO304) occurred on a road trip, the vehicle surprisingly snapped out of the missfire and we drove home ~200miles without any hiccups and the code went away for a bit. The code (P0304) came back soon after and then I replaced all spark plugs, Cylinder #4 very fouled. We put about 2-3K miles on with no issues or codes, the same code came back at 194K or so. I then put all new ignition coils in, no change and misfire was still present, cylinder #4 spark plug did no look fouled, I knew I was in over my head, so it was time to send her off to a mechanic...
The first mechanic scoped cylinder #4 and found coolant, but did not want to take on the job (no labor/help). Long story short, it was hard to find a mechanic that wanted to take on a head gasket and engine rebuild, but I was able to find a shop about 45min away that would take on the job. We have larger cities about 1.5hrs away that have Toyota Dealerships, but didn't want to go that route if I did not have to. This shop I chose checked all the boxes and he was not afraid of the work, he also had access to a Toyota Master Tech, so that was a bonus in my eyes.
Upon tear down the old head gasket did show a small passage where the gasket deteriorated and allowed coolant to slip by, nothing else abnormal that that. Total timeline from drop off to pickup was 6 weeks as it took 3 weeks for the heads to be reconditioned at a nearby machine shop. The heads were reconditioned with valves and seat grinding and the heads were milled flat. While everything was tore apart I opted to purchase and install a new Radiator, Water Pump, Starter, Belts, Intake Cam Phaser Gears and Exhaust Cam Phaser gears. The Cam phaser gear replacements came at the recommendation of the Toyota Master Tech. Timing Chains and tensioners were inspected, the master tech did not seem concerned with reusing them.
All in it was a $8,500 repair, the added parts did not help the bill, but I am hoping to keep this thing out of the shop for a long time now. I just wanted to share my experience as from what I have seen head gasket failure is rare. A little history of what it takes to get the 3UR-FE back into action couldn't hurt I figured.
Hoping to replenish the budget soon to put a lift and some other aftermarket goodies on the LC and continue enjoying the ride while hauling kids around to activities and vacations.
A few months back at about 190K, an engine misfire (PO304) occurred on a road trip, the vehicle surprisingly snapped out of the missfire and we drove home ~200miles without any hiccups and the code went away for a bit. The code (P0304) came back soon after and then I replaced all spark plugs, Cylinder #4 very fouled. We put about 2-3K miles on with no issues or codes, the same code came back at 194K or so. I then put all new ignition coils in, no change and misfire was still present, cylinder #4 spark plug did no look fouled, I knew I was in over my head, so it was time to send her off to a mechanic...
The first mechanic scoped cylinder #4 and found coolant, but did not want to take on the job (no labor/help). Long story short, it was hard to find a mechanic that wanted to take on a head gasket and engine rebuild, but I was able to find a shop about 45min away that would take on the job. We have larger cities about 1.5hrs away that have Toyota Dealerships, but didn't want to go that route if I did not have to. This shop I chose checked all the boxes and he was not afraid of the work, he also had access to a Toyota Master Tech, so that was a bonus in my eyes.
Upon tear down the old head gasket did show a small passage where the gasket deteriorated and allowed coolant to slip by, nothing else abnormal that that. Total timeline from drop off to pickup was 6 weeks as it took 3 weeks for the heads to be reconditioned at a nearby machine shop. The heads were reconditioned with valves and seat grinding and the heads were milled flat. While everything was tore apart I opted to purchase and install a new Radiator, Water Pump, Starter, Belts, Intake Cam Phaser Gears and Exhaust Cam Phaser gears. The Cam phaser gear replacements came at the recommendation of the Toyota Master Tech. Timing Chains and tensioners were inspected, the master tech did not seem concerned with reusing them.
All in it was a $8,500 repair, the added parts did not help the bill, but I am hoping to keep this thing out of the shop for a long time now. I just wanted to share my experience as from what I have seen head gasket failure is rare. A little history of what it takes to get the 3UR-FE back into action couldn't hurt I figured.
Hoping to replenish the budget soon to put a lift and some other aftermarket goodies on the LC and continue enjoying the ride while hauling kids around to activities and vacations.
