Death of a 3UR (1 Viewer)

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His closing remarks are what I have been wrestling with. Should there be a valve spring PM, or what did I miss? My focus now is getting back on the road but I have some thoughts for later.
I understand this situation stings and the statistics don’t help pay the bill, but over all it is a rare failure. I think I’ve read about two maybe three in four years and hundreds if not thousands of 200 owners posting.

Also, the work to change them very invasive.. it’s one step short of pulling the head, if you pressurize the cylinder to hold the valves up. Some would argue to just pull the head.

So I’d argue that it isn’t reasonable to have this as PM, but that’s up to the owner and how risk-averse they are.
 
I have a LS460. A recall was done on the 1UR-FSE like a decade ago to replace the valve springs. There is no doubt that valve springs have been seen as an issue on 1UR, and thus 3UR probably has some sort of the same issue due to it being in the same engine family, it just has never been acknowledged by Toyota.
 
I have a LS460. A recall was done on the 1UR-FSE like a decade ago to replace the valve springs. There is no doubt that valve springs have been seen as an issue on 1UR, and thus 3UR probably has some sort of the same issue due to it being in the same engine family, it just has never been acknowledged by Toyota.
They definitely know about it, it just wasn’t deemed common enough early in the vehicle’s life to address it on a large scale. And for the record even outside of warranty they do care, depending on the percentage of units that have the issue.

I vaguely remember seeing some kind of metallurgical analysis of one of the broken springs from the previous thread like this.. the analysis seemed pretty official. And still, it’s very rare here.
 
Waiting continues. Still in line to pull the engine and the replacement was sent to the wrong place for a scenic journey but is back on track now.
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I got a transmission from a yard in Houston that used the gasoline from the tanks of the incoming cars, then somehow ran that through some kind of pressure washer setup to clean parts before shipping. In terms of evaporative emissions and ozone holes, it was about as bad as it gets.. not to mention the health of the workers. But those parts were very, very clean.

Not that that’s necessarily what they used here. Just an example of the ingenuity at some of these places.

Edit: looking closer.. they painted the one above silver. If the installing tech has any attention to detail he has his work cutout removing the paint from the oil cooler ports, VVT module ports if they didn’t plug them, etc.
 
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I got a transmission from a yard in Houston that used the gasoline from the tanks of the incoming cars, then somehow ran that through some kind of pressure washer setup to clean parts before shipping. In terms of evaporative emissions and ozone holes, it was about as bad as it gets.. not to mention the health of the workers. But those parts were very, very clean.

Not that that’s necessarily what they used here. Just an example of the ingenuity at some of these places.

Edit: looking closer.. they painted the one above silver. If the installing tech has any attention to detail he has his work cutout removing the paint from the oil cooler ports, VVT module ports if they didn’t plug them, etc.
It came from Houston, so maybe same place. Yes, painted too. The place says that they get comments all the time about it. From the closeups I have seen, I think we are okay from paint in ports.
 
It came from Houston, so maybe same place. Yes, painted too. The place says that they get comments all the time about it. From the closeups I have seen, I think we are okay from paint in ports.
Houston is an enormous hub of salvage yards, so it’s possible it was the same place but I’d say unlikely. I also have trouble believing what I saw would be allowed on a wide scale with Houston having been in trouble with TCEQ. I’ve been to a fair number of these yards from my engine and transmission swap projects over the years and was surprised by this setup..
 
Next step is parts list now that we have it. Still haven't dug into the broken motor to confirm cylinder damage but with a broken piston/rod and one destroyed head it may not be worth it beyond curiosity

Radiator, water pump, thermostat refresh
V Belt (not available from Toyota right now) and tensioner/idler pulley

Seals is where it seems to get tricky. Could order the engine overhaul seal kit from Toyota but there is a lot in there that I won't need (head gaskets, valve guides, etc inside) and I am not certain what it is missing for all the other components around the engine for $500.
 
I can't promise this list is complete, but judging by the picture of the engine I see that you will need: coolant pipe o-ring x2(for timing cover to valley cover), plenum gasket x2, exhaust manifold gasket x2, manifold to cat gasket x2, manifold to cat exhaust nut x6(they don't like to go back on, chase the threads on the studs and replace the nuts), dipstick tube o-ring, oil filter bracket o-ring x2, crossover pipe gasket x2, FIPG 103 for valley cover, oil drain plug gasket, lower injector o-ring x8, OCV o-ring x4, air injection gaskets x4, oil filler neck gasket. I would also add a rear crank seal and housing re-seal as the engine is currently out of the vehicle. Cam sensor o-rings are not available separately from cam sensors.
 
I can't promise this list is complete, but judging by the picture of the engine I see that you will need: coolant pipe o-ring x2(for timing cover to valley cover), plenum gasket x2, exhaust manifold gasket x2, manifold to cat gasket x2, manifold to cat exhaust nut x6(they don't like to go back on, chase the threads on the studs and replace the nuts), dipstick tube o-ring, oil filter bracket o-ring x2, crossover pipe gasket x2, FIPG 103 for valley cover, oil drain plug gasket, lower injector o-ring x8, OCV o-ring x4, air injection gaskets x4, oil filler neck gasket. I would also add a rear crank seal and housing re-seal as the engine is currently out of the vehicle. Cam sensor o-rings are not available separately from cam sensors.
Helpful, thanks. Tracks with my growing list but forgot about the oil filler neck. Already have a fresh dipstick tube oring (it's the little things in life 😀 )
 
... I would also add a rear crank seal and housing re-seal as the engine is currently out of the vehicle. ...
Further to this point. I think it is mostly a 1UR problem but its worth paying attention to. Some motors got locating dowels on the rear main seal housing that were a tiny bit too long and impede the housing from getting properly tightened. Eventually it leaks.
 
Were you running 90 octane in the engine when it did its thing?
 

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