Random engine misfire? On a 2018 Trd sport

Anddddddd another one. I've been preaching here for a long time these 3.5 engines don't last in the Tacomas. Some of them fail early, enough of them to be alarming to me. Usually head/valve failures.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2gr-fks-engine-problem-failure.774579/

 

Sorry you have this to deal with , please let us know what they determine once they do the tear down , very curious what led to the cylinder scoring , Toyota CPO is pretty good , hopefully they absorb it all .

 

Sorry OP for this. Hope the warranty serves you well and its covered 100%!!!

 

You aren’t paying for the plugs and coils right?

 

Toyota wants a precise point of failure yet they want you to pay for it?

 

I'm telling them I won't pay for it considering the issue is deeper with an engine malfunction. However the dealership keeps saying plugs are part of maintenance and they can't cover it but I will bring up that I need corporate to cover lab fees and plugs considering its all related to an engine failure.

 

If the plugs had never been done at your current mileage you were due for them anyway , if that’s all you end up paying for it’ll be like hitting the lottery

 

After very little help from Toyota Corporate I authorized the tear down of the engine to see what caused the issue. It will get looked at on Monday since the lead tech is away. Wish me luck, could use all the positivity. Thanks for all the help so far. This has been a major headache

 

I’d be SO fn done. Shit. Good luck.

 

If you have done the maintenance (engine oil changes) and the engine is not modded, Toyota should be paying the bill. I can't see how they could get out of that under warranty. Could have a broken piston ring or land causing that cylinder scoring.

 

Hey @tacofanboy8 , any updates??

 

Interested too! Let us know what happened?

 

TLDR: hairline crack and improper seating of exhaust valve in cylinder 2 caused misfire and engine failure

Hello all, sorry didn't mean to give anyone blue balls there. Here is the update..
After two months at the dealership and going back and forth I finally got my truck back. Here is the saga, after my last update above
1. After getting the truck towed to toyota and hearing back that my cylinder walls were scored with failed compression test due to low compression and taking the engine apart, going back and forth on authorizing the teardown with the labor costs and IF the toyota extended warranty would cover repairs if it was a manufacturer problem.... I didn't sleep for a week up to the decision researching the engine, looking up information, etc. Also mind you this is after they replaced ALL spark plugs and ruled out the coils. I am an engineer, and while I am not a mechanic and admit where my expertise stops, I wasn't pleased with them not finding a point of failure, I mean cylinders score some sure, but not to the degree they were telling me especially at 77k miles. So after all my research and this forum (thank you all so much) along with many others I thought, okay if it comes down to essentially 2 reasons (piston ring failure or valve failure), I had to make a decision and bite the bullet to move in a direction so I authorized the teardown to get back to some mode of transportation.

2. They said I had oil sludge everywhere and the cylinder 2 was so bad I surely would need a new engine, they sent pictures to Toyota and thank god it would be covered. Ideal sitation was to get a long block engine (easier on everyone and assembled), but Toyota no longer is making the 6 cylinder 2GRFKS?? I asked why the hell not and got back that since they are moving to the 4 cylinder twin turbo in the 4th gen they stopped making long blocks. So they ordered a short block and would reuse parts that were still good. Okay at this point I just wanted my truck back and we had been calling every day, I kept reiterating are they looking at the exhaust valve, piston rings, there must be a point of failure here. They said it would be another 2 weeks at this point ( a month total in the dealership).

3. They put in the short block and reassembled everything, I got a call that there was a misfire in cylinder 2 again and the short block did not fix the issue. I once again asked if they check the exhaust valves...I was reassured that 2 master technicians were working on the truck and were trying to figure out the issue. I will say by this point the tech was coming in really early and leaving really late to figure it out as they are losing money with an immovable truck in their engine bay. So while I was really frustrated I could tell they were trying their best.

4. This led to another call to the Toyota warranty dept that by this point was upset the problem wasn't solved. The dealership had to take the engine out for a second time and Toyota wanted more in depth pictures and information.

5. The dealership finally called me back and profusely apologized that they found the exhaust valve in cylinder 2 was improperly seated and there was a hairline crack in the valve.....just as I and you all in the forum have been hinting at. They said the tech could not have seen the hairline crack or misaligned seating with all he did but I am not sure about that. I kept my patience but I was fucking furious. At this point, they ordered a new cylinder head for me and because they had been through so much they advocated for toyota to thrown in the passenger side new cylinder head too. Okay at this point the engine is being taken out for a third time and I have new spark plugs, new cylinder heads, and a new short block....

Here is what I will say, while my truck was gone for 2 months, it was a crazy long time. I am incredibly frustrated they didn't see the crack in the valve and the improper seating. In the call where they found it I was furious as I thought there are multiple diagnostics to figure this out. I mean why would you just be okay with putting in a new engine chalked up to cylinder scoring in only ONE cylinder for an unknown reason...so a ton of time was lost here. In fact, I feel like because I live in Upstate NY and they kept saying they have never seen this issue before in a Toyota Tacoma ( a good thing I guess just bad for my situation) , I think it could have been solved much quicker with a dealership who just sees more volume. BUT the Certified Pre Owned Toyota Warranty is fuckign Gold. Timing was everything, and my heart goes out to the people who have been fucked without a warranty or just over the 100k powertrain extended. I did like that the warranty matched the out of factory warranty and only allowed for strictly new parts, so that was a relief. I didn't like that they kept telling me I could not get a loaner because Toyota doesn't give out loaners, feels like BS. Thank god I was able to carpool, to put that burden of car rental on someone because of their manufacturing problem is insane. At the end of the day I paid 300 bucks, the CPO warranty covered all engine related components minus the spark plugs charge at which because of my frustration they only charged me for one spark plug + labor. At that point I just wanted my independence back adn to be on the road and paid it.

Thank again all, happy to answer questions


6. Ahhh and my favorite part, in the midst of trying to figure out the valve issue, they called and told me during the night, not sure how it happened, if it was cleaning staff or a tech, something dropped on my hood, smashing/ denting it. The service manager was incredibly apologetic and said he would make it right and I would not be able to tell. I said I better get a brand new hood including the matte black decal I had on the hood scoop. He ordered me a new hood and sent it off to the paint department, they put all the out of factory paint protection etc...so it all worked out. Just felt like the icing on the cake. At this point I also said I will not be paying for the "oil changes" that are part of the engine rebuild or the spark plug charge considering they replaced all of them without fixing the root of the issue.

I stayed calm and collected and I feel like they appreciated it despite seeing that I was fucking pissed. In all honesty, I had some family health issues that out a lot into perspective. Was this the worst timing ever and the engine issue was driving me insane absolutely, this is my dream car. BUT everyone was okay health wise in the end and if I had to walk or bike places to get to work, my family grew up with nothing and I would figure it out. As much as this issue should never happen because it severely stresses people financially, I am glad it worked out. I picked up the truck and I am bringing it back to get re-checked as per their recommendation to make sure all is well. It drives good to date. I have 20k miles left of the powertrain so I am thinking of keeping it at this point. But given that this happened I also want to call toyota warranty and ask to the extended platinum warranty for FREE to give me peace of mind for a longer period given all this. Thank god for this forum, the amount of gaslighting I got from saying these engines mostly only fail because of the exhaust valves was infuriating. Thanks for all the help on this one guys, you kept me in the best state of mind possible though it all. Toyota had my back in the end but only because of the timing and because I bought it CPO, its absolute dog shit that other people are left stranded.

Thank again!

 

I’m happy you got it resolved. But I’ll be honest I have an extended warranty as well, but I’m really considering selling the truck once it ends.

 

Sorry for what you went through, glad it's resolved. The whole gambling on teardown/diagnosis stuff drives me nuts. It totally pressures people into either not getting things fixes or stressing about something they should not have to stress about. They did the same to me about my driveshaft which had the center support bearing go bad. They kept saying "if" it's under warranty, when I'm well below 5 years and was still 13K shy of 60K, which is the powertrain. Kept talking about if it isn't warranty, then I'd have to pay diagnosis fees, even though I told them what was wrong and I knew for sure I was still in warranty. But anyways.

I did want to touch on the quote I quoted above. Toyota has not and does not offer long blocks, at least for this engine anyways. They only sell short blocks, cylinder heads, timing components, etc. You can not buy a long block 2GR-FKS. Has nothing to do with the 3rd gen being discontinued, they simply only sell short blocks.

 

Glad you got it resolved and it just wasn’t AM/PM bad gas.

 

Extended warranties are a gamble when it comes to catastrophic engine failures....and 2GR-FKS is a gamble when it comes to catastrophic engine failure.

Double gamble

 

Did they give you a brand new rear coolant bypass pipe while they were at it? Did you inquire about a proper replacement for that disaster? Like a metal component? For a bit of piece of mind after all you've been through?

 

Thanks for the well wishes! I am going to think on it since I have time, but I am leaning in the same direction. Are you giving the tacoma another chance with the 4th gen out of curiosity? I love the tacomas but I have a sour taste in my mouth

 

They don’t make a metal pipe that fits the Tacoma application, so that one would be a no.