2018 Tacoma 60k miles. blown cylinder and cracked head

It doesn’t. Just trying to get a measure of whether or not this is an excessive number of failures compared to previous generations.

A 61k failure is to be expected on occasion, shit happens. But if it’s a pattern, then this gets much more interesting.

 

First year for second gens was 04/05 was this site even up? if so how many users did it even have?

 

I’m pretty sure it did. Someone correct me if I’m wrong.

 

Looks like the oldest first gen thread is from 06, even so I don't think you could compare it because I'm sure the are way more users now.

 

Yeah good point. Looks like we had 288 users in Nov 2006

328000 now

 

Maybe water pumps are failing slowly over time, causing the engines to run a bit hot without the owner noticing? Or something else is causing less than optimal cooling? A 2GR also could be more stressed in a heavy Tacoma with big tires vs a lightweight Camry, so perhaps that contributes.

With these engines I think regular coolant flushes are critical, and ideally temps should be monitored with a gauge that shows the actual temperature. But then a lot of service manuals recommend a coolant flush every 60k miles, and this one failed right at that interval.

I thought modern engines shut themselves off when overheating to protect the engine from catastrophic damage, but I could be wrong there.

In any case I’m puzzled by this thread since I was under the impression the 3.5 had a very solid reliability reputation as long as the maintenance is kept up. They’ve been using it for many years after all.

 

Anyway OP I’m sorry this happened to you and I hope you’re able to resolve it without having to pay too much out of pocket. I assume you never noticed any overheating or issues leading up to this? I might consider taking it to a reputable independent shop for a second opinion as it seems strange for this to just happen out of the blue.

 

Because it should not have failed THIS soon. It couldn’t be simpler. Why would you NOT want a fellow Tacoma enthusiast to get taken care of by a giant company that has the financial means to do so?

 

Riiiight.

Well that sucks.

 

Having spent a few short years in management (I am more of a wrench turner and a lot less of an adult babysitter) I have personally gotten dozens of our customers accommodated outside of warranty. And these are situations that the customer got themselves into through neglect of the product. Ultimately they got their product replaced sometimes worth $15,000 or more on the dime of the manufacturer where the only stipulation to us as the dealer is to give the customer a strong coaching so that they take better care of their stuff in the future.

Toyota can and should do this. Especially when these failures are not caused by misuse or neglect. I could just as easily be advocating for the people that are saying these out of warranty folks should just grab their ankles and pay for this when the reality is they spent more than enough money a few short years ago to expect none of these issues happening ever.

 

Yep saw that. I can only describe that horseshit as deeply disappointing. Pretty sure you can get a track day with some level of purchase of a GR86 so I do not understand how this is all of a sudden grounds for warranty dismissal. This sounds like various warranty claims being denied if you take your Off Road Tacoma actually off the road. So if/when we buy purpose built vehicles and then use them for that purpose….we’re screwed?

There is a disconnect there that needs to be pointed out at every single opportunity by the rightfully upset customers. Be upset firmly and with the right amount of respect to get the outcome you deserve. Which is not paying a god damn cent for these early failures.

 

One of the reasons I bought a new 2022 model vs older 3rd gen was the thought that Toyota had seven model years to work out the bugs. Some are design flaws that won’t get remedied but lots of little ones hopefully have.

My guess is that based on past performance, the first few years of 4th gen Tacomas will have plenty of issues. I also over-maintain my cars on fluid changes and the like, which has resulted in many hundreds of thousands of relatively trouble-free miles.

 

Eh, GM told me they weren't fixing my truck despite it being in the powertrain warranty when first reported plus a secret warranty (that I found in less than 5 minutes but the dealer somehow "didn't know") after almost 5 years and 70K gently driven miles..but I see your point.

Well said sir. I know in my example above I did all I could that way (among others) to tell people about the screwjob.

2005..and IIRC the 05 V6 had premature head gasket issues, maybe some/all 06s?

 

Agreed.

 

I'll bet at least $4k for a short block.

 

The searching of the customers social media is really creepy to me. WTF!

 

The 2GR-FKS exhaust valves and seats are used on 1/2 a dozen+ different engines, including some very reliable units, like the UR series V8. So there is a machining issue, or a cooling issue.

My thoughts/hypothesis.... The cooling system on the 3.5l 2GR-FKS is run a full 10 degrees hotter than normal. This is called a "hot"engine, Toyota doesn't produce many engine models of this type. It also has lean burn direct injection, which burns hot enough that coolant passages were added to the heads to cool the exhaust gas (so the converters don't overheat). Toyota is meeting cafe, emissions, and budget targets, but losing reliability.

 

Just looked a week ago $2800-3200.

 

could you swap to a cooler Tstat or would that throw a code?