Toyota Tacoma 2.4L I-Force Turbo Engine - FULL Engine Review & Breakdown from Diesel Mechanic

Wife's 2014 4Runner has 123,000 miles. Thermostat housing isn't leaking. Same 1GR engine in the 2012 Tacoma I traded in earlier this year never had any problems either.

 

The coolant crossover on the 3rd gen never was metal. It was plastic the entire run and did fail in statistically low numbers. 3rd gens also had a plastic thermostat housing that I don't ever recall hearing fail.

I'm talking out of my ass here but I think the crossover failing was likely fatigue from joining the two heads together and them moving around slightly differently. This housing shouldn't see that stress.

 

can you show us any reports of Toyota coolant valves failing in significant numbers?

 

Dude, everything can fail. Your fuel pump could fail tomorrow, leaving you stranded. You could have a tire blow out and cause the vehicle to flip over killing everyone inside. A fuel line could burst open and start a fire. A ignition coil could go bad and send raw fuel down into the converter which would destroy it.

I'm not saying plastic never fails, I'm saying they fail less on Toyotas than other manufacturers.

How many cars do you look at on a daily basis?

If you're that worried then walk or take the bus

 

I've never seen a 1GR-FE with a leaking thermostat housing.
I have seen the metal coolant crossover pipe leak.

The 2TR-FE coolant pipe, yes. Plastic, it leaks.
The fix was was switching to a metal pipe.

To say plastic fails more is false.
Plastic doesn't rust or corrode. If used correctly, it will far out live a metal component.
Location, design, and use are the biggest factors as to when and where to use meta lor plastic.

 

We don't know yet as it's relatively new. I think it's new for the T24A-FTS. It's an electronically controlled valve, so it's got a motor of some sort in it that could fail along with the usual materials choices concerns. On top of that, it's bathed in coolant, so there's the possibility of issues from coolant contamination, scale and the like.

We do know that Toyota traditionally is better at keeping the beancounters from forcing compromises with materials choices to save pennies and that the Japanese are better in general at electomotive stuff, so I'm less worried than I would be if it were, say, something German.

I can say that I plan to keep on top of my coolant change intervals primarily because of this valve, though.

 

3rd gen owner here.

Over 103,000 miles - 2017MY bought in Sept 2016 - no issues with coolant or anything else.

 

Yes.

It was plastic for some years. IIRC, Toyota swapped to plastic, then back to metal.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/3rd-generation-coolant-bypass-leak.797196/

Toyota TSB: https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2022/MC-10224166-9999.pdf

1GR's had enough issues with the thermostat housing that a billet alu housing was manufactured and sold by a 3rd party. I helped a member on here replace his and gave him cr*p about his plastic engine (when I had a 1st gen). It wasn't a failure of the plastic, but the housing would warp and the o-ring would leak. Its a common enough issue.

You can argue with the data all you want. I'm not saying its for sure, but the data shows what the data shows. I'm not happy Toyota uses plastic and I think its a fail item.

Nobody has shown anything to make me believe otherwise. And before you go on about "there's no data" "he's just watching too much youtube" go ahead and search for yourselves. Camry, leak. Corolla, leak. Rav4, leak. 4Runner, leak. 2nd/3rd gen Tacoma, leak. Tundra 5.7L, leak.

Look guys, I love this truck and I very much like Toyota. However, I don't like the idea of a Turbo charged open deck engine and plastic coolant pipes and housing. I don't care how many miles you or your wife has on their vehicle, I've seen the statistics. Plastic sucks. Open deck blocks and turbos... we'll see.

 

Driving around worrying that much sounds exhausting

 

I'm not sure what your argument is here?
There is an argument to be made both ways.
And there's no way to resolve an argument that's being "argued" from two prospectives at once.

Therefor, I'm done here.

 

I not arguing. I said these were a concern of mine. Then everyone jumped on the "Toyota is infallible" bandwagon. I'm honestly surprised so many people aren't aware of this issue. Just google it. Practically every manufacture has either a TSB, recall, extended warranty, and/or class action lawsuit for leaky plastic coolant housings.

 

Thank you for bringing it to our attention. You're acting like nobody else has ever heard of plastic stuff breaking or something

We aren't disagreeing with the existence of the problem. We're disagreeing with the prevalence of the problem.

 

Your welcome for further elucidating on the prevalence of the problem.

 

To be fair, I understand your reluctance to embrace plastic technology. I started shooting 1911s in the 70s and still do but after carrying a plastic gun for duty, that is what I would choose if I only had one gun. I can still shoot the 1911 faster and it's more accurate at longer ranges, but the other gun would still get the nod.

 

Just a spectator here, where was the data?

Oh nevermind. I see whats going on here. Opinions, data, its all the same I guess

Where can one find this research study?

 

Elucidate is a cool word. But you still haven't shown anything that compares Toyota's rate of failure compared to other manufacturers

 

OK so if the plastic thermostat dohickey breaks, is it hard to replace? If it's a couple hour job, not a big deal.

 

Umm, no, that's not what you said.

Broad categorical claims contrary to people's lived experiences will generate pushback.

Did you actually read the TSB?

The procedure is to recenter the water outlet pipe, not to replace it.

 

I was waiting for this one. I'm glad others can read.

 

The devil is in the details.

I've liked this example of why it's important to read past the headline...

Study 'Proves' Parachutes Don't Save People Who Fall Out of Airplanes