Too late.
So long for now….. (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Lou Gill
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sad fact
Smart people do not pay $65k for 10 year old Toyota trucks or $120k for 25 year old Toyota sportscars
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Wealthy people doSmart people do not pay $65k for 10 year old Toyota trucks or $120k for 25 year old Toyota sportscars
I believe the news of these issues is greatly exaggerated, at least based on my experience and those of my friends. Other than the radiator needing replacement occasionally (which is not an issue - every car has this ‘issue’ if you keep it a while), these don’t seem to be widespread problems.
I second your thoughts here - Mine has almost 80k miles (and although just breaking it in), it has zero coolant leaks (valley plate was inspected), no radiator issues, etc. Not a single drop of fluid on the garage floor and has been problem free. Once we get into the high 6-digits, sure, maybe... but every single manufacturer has their own set of issues and you always here the "problems" rather than owners who are problem-free.
I think these rigs start to show their age in the 200k-mile range if not before. Which is great. They seem to have coolant valley issues at a higher rate than Tundras and Sequoias, and letting the radiator design flaw run for 10 years before fixing it is a real head scratcher from Toyota.
Keep anything long enough, and certain things become wear items.
The alternator being on the bottom of the engine isn’t doing us any favors. The starter is a serious PITA as well. I agree that the cam tower seepage and timing chain rattle are just things that annoy people and are not real issues for 99%.
I have a new alternator on the way. I can’t figure out why my voltage surges and burns my headlight bulbs out (yes, seriously) randomly while driving. I’m going to try digging the fusible link out of the fuse box as well and see if it is corroded.
It’s not that I don’t think these are reliable rigs. There are just common issues you are all but guaranteed to have to deal with. And spending a lot of time here and on the Tundra forum, it seems that issues are more common here.
Is that factually true?
huge issue in the Tundra community
Lots of $$$ for these common big issues
BMWs don't have coolant leaks till 80k miles either. That is hardly a metric for reliablity.
In my experience Toyota’s cooling systems are the least reliable of all the different brands I’ve owned. 80k is a milestone
To expect a radiator to last forever is unrealistic and a consistent failure point of every vehicle out there.
In other brands they fail much earlier. In my 60, the radiator lasted almost 200k miles even with hard use on corrugated roads. My 100’s radiator lasted to almost 300k. My 200 has almost 160k - zero issues.
I think the life of a Land Cruiser radiator is directly related to how often the coolant is changed (note - change often) and the amount of harsh vibration or impacts the vehicle has experienced.
My wife’s
My wife’s 2020 BMW X5M radiator failed at less than 40k miles. May be a one off but still.In my experience Toyota’s cooling systems are the least reliable of all the different brands I’ve owned. 80k is a milestone
Lots of Land Cruiser enthusiast here who bought second hand. Also an active community so things get shared. Issues get raised as there is typically helpful feedback on things to check or consider. This is certainly not a representative ownership picture, like the car care nut who has a good work ethic so gets the more severe cases.
For me Nissan is not the same anymore since the 2001 merger with Renault. If the OP had issues with his top of the range Lexus designed two decades ago when Toyota was on top of its game and clear about its goals I think it is either bad luck or buying problems from a previous careless owner or both. Also IMO naive to think another product will be more reliable, one can always get lucky of course.
For me Nissan is not the same anymore since the 2001 merger with Renault. If the OP had issues with his top of the range Lexus designed two decades ago when Toyota was on top of its game and clear about its goals I think it is either bad luck or buying problems from a previous careless owner or both. Also IMO naive to think another product will be more reliable, one can always get lucky of course.
Now we're excusing the radiator situation? There is nothing even semi-normal about the 200 radiators. There's a known manufacturing defect, making them prone to crack, leak, and eventually explode. It took 10+ years to be redesigned.
You also have folks blaming the head gasket failures on (unnoticeable) overheating events, and/or cooling systems that may have encountered an "unhealthy" state at some point. With the radiator situation affecting the majority of units produced, the valley plate leaks and water pump leaks which are also common, and long coolant change intervals there's a non-insignificant chance that any older higher mileage 200 on the used market may have previously encountered one or more or all of these cooling system issues. So the cherry on top of all of this is waiting to see if a head gasket failure may haunt you down the road as a result.
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I am only looking to get 100-125,000 miles, not interested in anything over 125,000. I took perfect care of my LX, all scheduled service and only Lexus parts, it was a good truck, but the rattling started at 145,000….which is a good run. I wanted a 2020 or 2021, but I could not deal with the ridiculous mouse pad for the entertainment system and it’s not a good value for money, miles and year
Yep, i am fully excusing the radiator ‘issue’. Absolutely. They last longer than almost any other manufacturer’s radiators. And yes, I have experience with Land Cruisers over the long haul. They are all I have driven since 1986 and that has been a grand total of 3 Land Cruisers ( and one LX570 for less than 1 year). My long term experience tells me it is not really an issue over reasonable time periods.
But that’s just me. Worry about whatever you want. I’ll be driving another 5000 miles round trip to Mexico in my old 200 over the next month with zero worries.
The cam tower seepage is a non-issue for nearly every 3UR vehicle that has it. It doesn’t drip on the driveway or change the dipstick oil reading between changes. People are annoyed because they expect perfection, especially from the platform that has multiple million mile specimens.
Both sides are wet on my 570. And my Tundra is dry. Granted I have a lot more miles on my 570…
The issue that I see all over this forum and hardly anyone dealing with in a Tundra or Sequoia is the coolant valley leak. I think the 200s just run hotter. Tundras and Sequoias also don’t vent boiling fuel…
I don’t expect a radiator to last forever, but I would’ve expected Toyota to immediately correct a known and obvious design flaw instead of running it for 10 years on their top platform.
I love both of our rigs, but I’d be lying if I said the LX voltage issue wasn’t frustrating.
I never said I’m a metric for reliability, but you’re proving my point. So if I were to post in contrast and say I have leaks, you would use that to your evidence for failures (to prove your point, right)?
As I said, there are a lot of cruisers out there running just fine without any leaks or “common problems” that the negative reviews suggest. People posting their issues and people searching and finding and just to proving their confirmation bias. What’s the percentage of failures here? Enough to cause a recall?
I don’t think anyone is dismissing there are some failures and yes, some issues with coolant leaks etc. but it’s a small minority and not the majority. And all cars have their fair share of issues after some extensive use.
interesting… i would say the oppositeIn my experience Toyota’s cooling systems are the least reliable of all the different brands I’ve owned. 80k is a milestone
