Dark day for my Land Cruiser 200..help

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Aug 7, 2019
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Philadelphia
This is painful to write. Today my son pulled over in my LC due to smoke. LC got towed and the dealer gave us grim, depressing news. They told us the hose going to the heater core broke, prob due to age. It should have been replaced and a coolant flush performed. Now the dealer said the engine is baked. They also say it’s likely the transmission is done too. They’re quoting me a crazy amount to get this 2008 LC back on the road. It has excellent service records so what the heck? I don’t know what to do. Any helpful advice is appreciated. I’m the original owner and it’s coming into 300k. Thanks!
 
Wow I'm really sorry to hear about this. Others will have better advice than me, but I bet there's gonna be a lot of those T's ordered now for replacement.
 
Ugh, that is indeed rough news. The only avenue I can think of is verifying at what point those items should have been replaced during a service interval (if at all) and cross referencing with your service records. If it seems like a service was charged and not provided then follow up with that service center. You could escalate to Toyota if it seems like there was some kind of negligence.

Otherwise, I imagine a replacement engine and transmission to run 15-25k when it’s all said and done. Dang.
 
Ouch....if the price is really 15-25K....perhaps you should move up to a newer model? Tough call.
 
This is painful to write. Today my son pulled over in my LC due to smoke. LC got towed and the dealer gave us grim, depressing news. They told us the hose going to the heater core broke, prob due to age. It should have been replaced and a coolant flush performed. Now the dealer said the engine is baked. They also say it’s likely the transmission is done too. They’re quoting me a crazy amount to get this 2008 LC back on the road. It has excellent service records so what the heck? I don’t know what to do. Any helpful advice is appreciated. I’m the original owner and it’s coming into 300k. Thanks!
Wow, sorry man. I hope it works out for you. If nothing else, it’s good for others to know about. Best luck!
 
It's LandCruiserGirl.....not a man
 
Used tundra engine/transmission would likely save a lot of money.

As for heater Ts.. I pulled mine at 120k and they looked factory new, and better constructed than the OEM replacements I had bought, so I put the originals back in.
 
Rough first post! Not many on here start off with a ruined engine; what a bummer. Unless you completely trust the dealer, I suggest a second opinion. These things are tough and although there are certainly cases of 5.7L failures due to overheating, some survive. Most overheating problems have come from a leaking radiator, not bad hoses. And, was it the heater core hose or a plastic “T” that failed.

Edit: Agree with @CJ3Flyer something sounds off.
 
Hi @Landcrsrgirl . Sorry to hear this on your first post. Looks like the car has been with you a long time and has served well. Not all is lost! You've come to the right place. There are reasonable options out there.

I don't know the extent of the overheating event. It's wholly possible that your son caught the issue in time. The car can loose a lot of coolant and steam, before truly overheating and distorting/destroying the motor. Was this at city speeds or on the freeway?

I would strongly suggest you not let them rebuild the engine if it requires opening up the motors head/headgasket and machining the deck. If it overheated to this degree (they might be lying if it happened on surface streets), then it's time to consider other options. While possible, I doubt it impacted the transmission.

Checkout this thread:

I would also encourage you to checkout car-parts.com. You can find complete whole motors ("engine") on that site from Tundras or Sequoia. You can be whole again for likely less than half of their quoted costs.
 
from experience on different cars besides my trusty 1HD-T, if you totally run out of coolant, and the engine stops by itself, then major problems...if you put fresh water to try to reach a place, bigger problems...most probably you only need to replace the T or hose, fill with coolant and be on your way...transmission has cooling lines running thru radiator (some models not sure 200) but it doesnt mean it will damage transmission, at least AT Temp light will light up...better get a second most veracious opinion...if you dont want it, send it over, I will take it as is...
 
Ok
Rough first post! Not many on here start off with a ruined engine; what a bummer. Unless you completely trust the dealer, I suggest a second opinion. These things are tough and although there are certainly cases of 5.7L failures due to overheating, some survive. Most overheating problems have come from a leaking radiator, not bad hoses. And, was it the heater core hose or a plastic “T” that failed.

Edit: Agree with @CJ3Flyer something sounds off.
Ok, I’m
 
I would get a second opinion. As others said look at Tundra engines. They are way more common.
 
from experience on different cars besides my trusty 1HD-T, if you totally run out of coolant, and the engine stops by itself, then major problems...if you put fresh water to try to reach a place, bigger problems...most probably you only need to replace the T or hose, fill with coolant and be on your way...transmission has cooling lines running thru radiator (some models not sure 200) but it doesnt mean it will damage transmission, at least AT Temp light will light up...better get a second most veracious opinion...if you dont want it, send it over, I will take it as is...
Thanks for your response. I am getting a 2nd opinion. I’ll keep this thread posted!
 
Related but unrelated question: Don’t these engines have overheat protection (cylinder deactivation/limp mode)? It just seems as if Landcrsrgirl’s son pulled off at the first sign of trouble and wasn’t towing a big trailer there should be zero or near zero damage, right?

Also the transmission thing, what??? Only a radiator/heat exchanger failure (mixing antifreeze and transmission fluid) would trash the transmission in my mind...
 

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