Change your coolant! (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter BigSwede
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Uh oh. Thankfully I've had my system flushed three times in 55k miles. But this might be a ticking time bomb for examples with a lot of miles. That's not something easily checked other than service history. So the 134k miles before I got it likely only had just the 100k mile coolant service.
*edit*
Just checked my service history and didn't see it changed at 90~100k. So now I'm wondering if it was ever changed since I got it at 134k.
*edit*
Just checked my service history and didn't see it changed at 90~100k. So now I'm wondering if it was ever changed since I got it at 134k.
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Mine’s had (2) full coolant changes and one partial at this point in the 87k miles on my ‘12
With the last gen tundras outselling the GX and LX/LC, have those folks been noticing an uptick on head gasket failures?
I dont mean to downplay the lack of maintenance leading to failure, but knowing UR owners, if this was a trend, every forum would be having long drawn out threads about the lack of reliability etc?
I dont mean to downplay the lack of maintenance leading to failure, but knowing UR owners, if this was a trend, every forum would be having long drawn out threads about the lack of reliability etc?
I haven’t seen this reported widely as a large problem. Certainly there are posts here and there over the years but I wouldn’t personally call it epidemic either because as we all know problems are more often reported more prominently.
It seems like a majority of the head gasket failures and there really aren’t that many reports in forums or FB on the 1UR-FE in GX 460 have a tie in with a coolant valley leak and associated coolant loss there. Owner has seemingly only noticed too late they have been losing coolant and eventually reach engine overheat condition that results in head gasket failure. I have heard of a few that don’t have a coolant valley leak as well but they are even rarer.
Car Care Nut is fairly high profile now with community posted videos and perhaps as it known he is meticulous and knowledgeable certain work (in this case head gasket failures) are being funneled to him as he has a strong knowledge of Toyota repair procedures
There is a 3UR-FE report here
forum.ih8mud.com
Coolant valley leaks threads are relatively easy to find… head gasket failures.. not really in the Googlespace
Just my $.02 and opinions
It seems like a majority of the head gasket failures and there really aren’t that many reports in forums or FB on the 1UR-FE in GX 460 have a tie in with a coolant valley leak and associated coolant loss there. Owner has seemingly only noticed too late they have been losing coolant and eventually reach engine overheat condition that results in head gasket failure. I have heard of a few that don’t have a coolant valley leak as well but they are even rarer.
Car Care Nut is fairly high profile now with community posted videos and perhaps as it known he is meticulous and knowledgeable certain work (in this case head gasket failures) are being funneled to him as he has a strong knowledge of Toyota repair procedures
There is a 3UR-FE report here
3UR-FE Rebuild - Head Gasket Failure
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...
forum.ih8mud.com
Coolant valley leaks threads are relatively easy to find… head gasket failures.. not really in the Googlespace
Just my $.02 and opinions
+1, which is why I'm doing drain and fills every ~30k. I just had one done along with the filter change and my mechanic said the old fluid and filter looked great.
I am a little concerned about the head gasket thing but only because I do not know if the coolant was changed prior to me buying it at 134k miles. I should do a compression check just for the hell of it.
On the AT front that is why I am passionate about fluid maintenance.
I have yet to hear anyone report a failure on a vehicle that since new had 30-60K mile full fluid swaps or drain and fills
I have yet to hear anyone report a failure on a vehicle that since new had 30-60K mile full fluid swaps or drain and fills
On the car care nut video, did he mention that the LC in question ever had a coolant change in its 200k mile life?
re_guderian
SILVER Star
From a data and statistics standpoint, there are also a TON of rigs out there with perfectly functioning transmissions and absolutely zero fluid maintenance. Accurate data is so hard to come by. There is also tons of data on failures WITH fluid changes.
I tried to do an analysis on 100 Series tranny failures, and Toyota is really the only entity with enough real data to know what's going on.
BTW, BS/MS in statistics here with 35 years experience, including reliability stats analysis.
re_guderian
SILVER Star
For some perspective, there's almost 2 million 3UR running around the US. While I respect the car care nut's technical ability as way above mine, he says "it's a really good engine, for the most part...It's 'decent'. Not perfect, but 'decent'." and then starts to talk about "trends".
We need some context here about actual failure RATES.
Yes, no engine is perfect, and it sucks when the low failure occurrence is YOURS, but really...
Is this an issue, or is this the latest video from a content creator who monetizes the production of videos for their channel???
We need some context here about actual failure RATES.
Yes, no engine is perfect, and it sucks when the low failure occurrence is YOURS, but really...
Is this an issue, or is this the latest video from a content creator who monetizes the production of videos for their channel???
r2m
Richard
Agree...
I like the CCN videos in general, but notice that he often catastrophizes about certain failure modes, use of non-Toyota fluids, modifications to the vehicle, etc. If we all listened to the CCN we'd be stuck with 100% stock, un-modified vehicles that can't handle anything rougher than a forest service road. Perhaps I should drive my GX up to Chicago and let him rip it to shreds over the numerous modifications - particularly to the mechanical and electrical systems - so he can get a few more clicks. In general, I take his videos with a grain of salt.
In all seriousness, it's very easy to check coolant pH with some litmus paper. The coolant in my UZ is now hitting around 50K but has a perfect pH of 7. I'll still change it early next year as part of proactive radiator replacement.
Anecdotally, coming form the Subaru world, this is a very common failure mode where slightly acidic coolant would eat the coating off the factory head gaskets on the EJ25 engine. It didn't matter how often the coolant was or was not changed, the coating was still eaten. Subaru supposedly "fixed" this problem with the later FB engine; from having one of those it also ended up seeping oil out of the head gaskets by 120K despite religious 30K coolant flushes (with OE Subaru coolant) and 4K oil changes. That's a 100% design issue and not a maintenance issue.
- Thread starter
- #18
Me too... but I can actually (partially) blame the CCN for a fiasco I experienced a month ago... I had bought a metal oil filter housing, but went back to the plastic one on his recommendation for OEM parts. Well, I changed the oil before a trip to Colorado, and managed to cross-thread the plastic housing in the process, and I didn't check to ensure it was threaded all the way on (I blame the skid plate
). What a mess, oil everywhere. Fortunately I had the metal housing laying around and was able to complete the oil change properly.
No way I'd go back to that plastic cap either. I've been running the metal one for over 7 years now.
