Broken Down 2.7l

Hello, New to the forum here.

I have a 2014 2.7L 4x4 Regular Cab Tacoma. Several months ago while driving on the Highway my check engine light flashed on, the temp gage spiked up and within 60 seconds I lost all power and was stuck on the side of the road with coolant dripping out of the engine bay. Never had any issues with the coolant system before this incident.

I got a tow home and my local shop diagnosed the truck as needing a new engine after checking the cylinders with some sort of fluid pressure test. All 4 cylinders instantly filled up with liquid they said.

Quote for a used engine (175K) installed and new cooling system was over 10K!

My truck had about 130K on it when this happened.

I'm considering diving into the problem my self to see if I can salvage the current engine and if not I will source and install a working engine myself.

I haven't done anything this involved on a truck before but I am a machinist by trade so I can at least turn a wrench and understand this will be a big project potentially. I have a garage and space to pull the engine at home.

Any advice on where to start, links, thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I really want to save this truck and get back on the road.

 

Shit. That sucks.

 

Engine swaps really are not all that difficult. I recently lost the motor in my 2014 f350 tow pig and swapped in a used motor i sourced out of a wrecked truck. If your mechanical limits are capped at oil changes, I would recommend getting some help. Truck are nothing but nuts, bolts, and plastic clips.

I only found one other person on the internet that had swapped the motor in my specific truck and had zero internet resources. Tacomaworld is a mega-resource with bottomless knowledge about these trucks. I had access to a forklift for the swap I did but harbor freight is your friend for a project like this if your tools are limited.

Realistically, you should be able to start with a front end tear down. Cooling package, lights, grill, etc.

Then disconnect everything, drop the bellhousing bolts, support the transmission, drop the motor mounts and lift the old motor out. Just go slow, take your time, and label everything if your worried about hooking it back up. Take your time with the plastic clips. If you brake one on accident, rock auto typically has everything you need to splice in new connectors.

If your truck is an automatic, make sure you mount the torque converter back onto the transmission before putting a new engine in. I failed to do this and had to pull everything out of my truck a second time once it was start ready. I had about 35 man hours in my truck but mind you I did it twice, worked only weekdays after my full time job, and did it a ton of other deferred maintained at the same time (trans, cooling upgrades, all fluids, etc.)

 

Dang sorry to hear about the engine. Truck looks nice otherwise so can understand the desire to save it. Going the DIY route is quite a job but you'll save a ton on cost as most of the shop's quote is probably labor.

In addition to what taco52 said above, I'll offer one suggestion: Buy some quart and gallon size Ziploc bags, and as you remove bolts or parts, put them in bags and LABEL EVERYTHING. You will thank yourself later during reassembly when you can't remember which bolts go where.

As you are starting your disassembly and removal start shopping for a used engine. Check junkyards, car-part.com is a good resource. Generally I think these go for a couple hundred to a couple grand depending on age/mileage/condition. Sometimes a bit of a gamble but take your time and look for something good that hasn't been in a front end collision.

Good luck on the project!

 

Your limited info suggests a blown head gasket.

But the diagnosis does not include why it overheated and coolant was everywhere. What failed? Hoses? Radiator? Other?

BTW, your description would cause me to distrust the shop. They are either sketchy or the story is incomplete for some reason.

I'll bet your running again at a fraction of their quote.

 

I’d pull the head and take a look. Those 2.7s are tough. May just need a surface of the head and a new headgasket

 

doing this for 32 years...
I cant give you resources on where to find instructions but break it up in sections...
lots of bolt buckets to keep things separate & not overwhelm you...
bottom end stuff, tranmission bell housing torque conv nuts, starter bolts, lower end ground straps, engine mount nuts, all in 1 bucket...
or break it down even further, just dont throw every nut & bolt in 1 bucket....
Also pay attention to different length bell housing bolts, you can even #1 the bolt & position on the bell housing...

separate bolt bucket for radiator, fan shroud, stuff you take off at the front of the engine if you decide you need to to get it out....

When allowed, I try & leave things as whole as possible & tear it down / transfer everything after you get the engine out, but that only comes with experience....
I cant help you there, I havent swapped any Toyota engines, I was a ford eng mechanic....

also when you remove something strategically place it furthest away from where your storing your parts with the bolts with that part..
Next part is closer, next part is even closer, & so on…
So when you put it back together, you grant the parts closest to you…
That’s how you fool proof reassembly if you’re not familiar or if it turns into a 1 month project…
So if you have this implemented, if you forget, and you remember how you positioned everything, you can’t screw it up or you’re not scratching your head. What do I do first, where is this, where is that…?
Putting everything in a big giant pile and worrying about it later is not the right approach, that’s how things get put back together incorrectly…


do you have a any repituble machine shops / engine rebuilders in your area? Sometimes they have a crew that will do the r&r work along with the rebuild, maybe you can save $5k, do your DD....

Another avenue, theres wrecking yards out hear in San Diego that also do swaps, can also save a grip of money going that route...

dont do anything without sourcing a new quality radiator, all coolant hoses, both engine mounts, etc....
Theres a few bolts even with an engine swap that should be replaced & not re-used, that takes publications to know & extent of teardown & what youre sourcing....

you can price a rebuilt engine through jasper as a start...
see what good rebuilders would want to rebuild yours & their warranty, compare your options & pricing to see which orange you want to squeeze...

 

This, some shops just want to do the pull and drop instead of doing some labor, you can replace the assembly or take the head block for inspection. You’ve got this you’re a machinist.

 

Thanks all for the advice so far.

A bit more info about the shop. They advertise as toyota truck specialists and were very professional and seemed honest. They told me they didn't want to waste my money by tearing apart the engine because of how quickly the cylinders leaked and were able to extract some temperature history data and told me it was the highest they had seen in this motor (2.7L 2trfe). They didn't seem comfortable trying to save the engine and the options were replace or send away for remachining/rebuild.

 

If the vehicle cranks & no longer starts, it went nuclear.....
waste of money in attempt to resurrect....
it got so cooked, lost compression...
assuming, but will make sense from what youre saying & shop not wanting o throw good money at bad..
rebuild yours, buy a rebuilt, or source used, need to look at available options & cost comparison for what you get.

 

So your torque converter came off with the motor
I just bought used motor today and glad I seen comment you made about this as I’ll be tackling this project soon. So all I need to do is supports the trans and take bolts holding trans to engine out and motors will come out fine
Was wondering if was best to pull granny all the way out
Mines a 07 Tacoma automatic 2.7
Thanks

 

Correct. When I pulled the motor on my F350 (6.2l Boss V8) the torque converter was mounted to the flexplate. I did not pull the trans inspection cover to remove bolts. In hindsight, i should have prior to pulling the motor. You could pull the trans out with the motor and disassemble/reassemble as one unit on the ground but due to packaging you may have issue getting the motor and trans out as a single unit. In my opinion is is more unnecessary disassembly but not too bad. You would have to disconnect drive shafts, transmission cross member additional wiring harnesses for trans and transferase, and im sure more misc. components. If I were you, i would try to separate the trans before engine removal and try to leave the trans in the truck. There is no right or wrong answer here though. Motor swaps can be completed either way.

Some transmissions do not have inspection/access covers. I am not sure on an 07 Tacoma with the 2.7l and auto specifically but someone should be able to chime in.

As you can see in the photo below, the torque converter came out with the old motor. I had to re-mount the converter to the engine (and make sure it was fully seated by twisting/aligning everything while pushing it on) before dropping the new motor in. Cant stress this enough.

 

yup, remove torque converter nuts prior to removing engine..
loosen 2 trans mount nuts & slide trans back away from the engine, the crossmember is slotted so trans will slide back..
snug 1 trans mount nut so it stays..

 

Way easier to just order a long block from somewhere like LKQ, they'll verify that its compatible and pretty much plug and play. They don't guarantee any sensors to work but do warranty against DOA or other issues for a short period. I used them for a honda SI k series and think i got the whole engine for under $1000 including shipping to the local terminal.
On these trucks for a first timer with a hoist and tools its a 2 weekend job, get a good helper and maybe full swap in 2 days.
buy a used hoist on market place and sell it when you're done. Grab a couple extra jack stands.... the rest is all basic tools.
Do not try and stab the trans into the torque converter with it mounted on the engine, it will break the pump if you don't get it fully seated and you have to feel/hear it seat.

 

Mounted back to the transmission you mean not the motor and turn it to get the three clicks seated in. Very good info that’s what my plan is to just leave the transmission in place. It is a 2 Wheel Dr. so I don’t have no transfer cases to mess with. I am fixing to pull it up on some ramps in a few minutes so I will see how everything looks as far as access plates. Maybe just pull this transmission out

 

I gotcha on ur original post you stated
“If your truck is an automatic, make sure you mount the torque converter back onto the transmission before putting a new engine in. I failed to do this and had to pull everything out of my truck a second time once it was start ready. I had about 35 man hours in my truck but mind you I did it twice, worked only weekdays after my full time job, and did it a ton of other deferred maintained at the same time (trans, cooling upgrades, all fluids, etc.)” now you are saying you mounted it to the engine that’s why I am confused

 

Are you asking me? Because I was stating that someone above was saying to put the converter on then slip the trans on with would be a fantastic failure.

 

did the coolant bypass piping rupture on you where you got coolant dripping out of engine bay?
i read these bypass pipe made of plastic can crack after time and if you not on top of it and notice it can just weep out until it overheats

 

2014 came with the new stainless steel bypass pipe from the factory.