My Buddy's LX Needs a Rebuild in Los Angeles....

[82SC]

So my kids friend's dad LX motor had radiator failure and catastrophic engine failure.
He's not mechanically inclined but sounded like Cyl 8 was not holding compression.
Trying to get more details....but think another reason all LX owners should take the plastic cover off the engine so they can see any early radiator failure.

So he is super bummed. He shopped it around to a couple places and sounds like 10K range for a rebuild.

Anyone have a good LC mechanic in LA that might specialize in engine rebuilds?
He's tried RPM in Monrovia and RS in La Crescenta.

Think he'd rather fix then replace with Tundra or wrecked car motor....

MJ

 

[TeCKis300]

Sorry but don't have any leads in LA.

I'd encourage him to replace with a salvage low mileage Tundra or Sequoia motor. Maybe that sounds questionable, but in my mind, there's more certainty to a factory sealed motor than relying on 3rd party skill to get it right with a rebuild. Lots of good shops, but just as many bad shops. There's no guarantees but possibly get on the road quicker, cheaper, and with more reliability having a shop drop in a whole motor.

Separately, the engine covers on the LX are not just for dress-up. The forward section in particular is important to guide airflow and prevent recirculation of hot air, especially when crawling.

 

[bicycleagent003]

I realize it's not my truck, but when presented with the question of whether to get a known/blown engine rebuilt or buy an engine out of a wrecked rig I would lean very heavily toward getting the engine from a wrecked rig. If Bubba rebuilds the engine, will it be all OEM parts, built in a clean room type environment, by guys who have been building the same engines continuously and are overseen by exacting quality control supervisors? No, it won't be. A local rebuild will almost undoubtedly be done by someone who has rebuilt a bunch of engines, but never a 3UR-FE, and certainly not in the same sanitary and quality ensuring, clean environment. I just don't think it's a close call. I'd always go with a low miles engine from a vehicle that was catastrophically rear ended or T-boned. Just my two cents. I keep my cars for 10+ years, so that bias is built into my thinking, too.
I realize your question was about finding an engine rebuilder. Sorry to go slightly off topic.

 

[bloc]

I’ll 3rd the advice to drop in a used engine instead of rebuild.

 

[82SC]

Nope. All advice welcome as he nor I have ever had to make this decision.

 

[bloc]

While they are addressing the radiator have them use a genuine Toyota part, which can be sourced pretty cheap online. It has been updated to correct the issue that most likely caused his failure, and outside of that it is very difficult if not impossible to beat the quality of these parts.

 

[TheGrrrrr]

Not sure what I would choose to do, but when these topics come up and everyone points to an engine swap (and they are probably right) I can’t help but think about the fact that the 5.7 is designed to be rebuilt 2-3 times. That seems to indicate that even a decent quality shop should be able to rebuild to a satisfactory level of reliability on the first rebuild. Is my logic sound? I have no idea, but it sounds logical to me.

 

[bloc]

even a decent quality shop should be able to

Therein lies the issue.

From what I've seen in many, many years working on these things, I'd take a 75-100k never-damaged toyota-built engine that looks good with the valve covers off over the risk I'd be taking with a shop rebuild of an engine that had been damaged. The closer I can get to 50k just sweetens the deal.

 

[TeCKis300]

Perhaps something to consider in the calculus is not just the rebuild, but the damage itself that required a rebuild. . Part of the variability is the skill level of the tech to not just assemble, but to identify and remedy the damage itself. In an overheat situation, there is going to distorted parts. Did the tech identify and remedy every part to factory tolerances? The block can be decked but will they account for other tolerances? Some of which may not be accounted for or impossible to fully correct. A rebuild could be a compromised build of less than factory perfect parts.

 

[bloc]

A rebuild could be a compromised build of less than factory perfect parts.

Exactly. Even if they really did know what they were doing, most of the operations to rehab an imperfect block and/or head will change some of the important parameters that the engine was built to in the first place. A good shop will know what to do here, but that might mean needing new heads, pistons, all kinds of things that really bring the price up.. on top of the premium you'll pay to get a quality engine builder to do a simple rebuild. Many of the shops with the attention to detail I'd require are busy building performance engines for people that will pay that money.

Meanwhile there are toyota-built engines only 1/4 way through their lifespan sitting in warehouses that can easily be dropped in to vehicles that need them.

 

[Moby]

Having been through a rebuild of my 3FE and a 2FE build without great results I concur with the above - a swap makes the most sense unless you want to do something special or different, like drop the compression and beef up the bottom end for serious boost. There are lots of great builders and machinists but you have to find them. And to do that you need a reasonable amount of engine building knowledge.

 

[82SC]

Went the rebuilt route. Guess it was the dreaded valley leak. With head gasket failure.



What years and models did the valley leak affect the most?