Broken Valve-Spring Club -- New Member Here

'Morning All,

I had previously posted an initial summary of a portion of my experience in one of the other low mileage failed valve-spring threads, but figured I'd make my own thread for my experience to share with you all.

Failure: One "cracked" exhaust valve-spring on #2 cylinder

This occurred while coasting down-hill on my way to work. They stated it was cracked during diagnostics, but when removed it fell apart into two pieces as shown in the attached photo. This occurred right at one month of ownership, and 1800 miles on the odometer. I purchased the truck new of course, with 10 miles on the clock.

Symptoms: As others have mentioned, symptoms are pretty obvious. Harsh bucking with throttle input. The more throttle percentage you give, the harsher the bucking. My truck went into "limp mode" relatively quickly. I was able to limp into a parking lot, where the truck died immediately. I observed several fault messages such as;

- "High transmission temp"
- "low fuel pressure"
- "low oil pressure"
- "electronic control module failure"

and others. I was barely able to restart it, with a rough, stumbling idle. Left it be and called a tow to the dealership for assessment and warranty repair.

Prior to purchasing my Tacoma, I became aware of this increasingly common issue so I ensured proper break-in while following recommended break-in procedures to minimize the likelihood of occurrence. It appearance that made little difference.

Experience with our local dealer at Prime Toyota in Portland, ME has been ok overall. Professional interaction for the most-part, and conducted the repair in two weeks with a nearly equivalent loaner. Considering the limited resources right now with COVID and the Winter, I think they did good with the loaner.

Repair Applied: Replacement of all six valve-springs in #2 cylinder.

Would rather they had taken a more modular approach such as replacing the head for cylinders 2, 4 and 6 to minimize potential human error and allow quicker turn-around, but was not the case. I am requesting an extended warranty from Toyota given the method of repair taken.

Picked the truck up on the 23rd. So far it is driving great with no issues.

 

Sorry to hear about your valve spring issue, it sounds like you have been very reasonable. In my experience if you are reasonable, but persistent, they will work with you on the warranty issue. Good luck, hopefully this will end it and you can move on to enjoy your new truck.

 

They won't replace a cylinder head for a bad valve spring issue. Let us know what they say.

 

Sorry about your issue. Hopefully you get the warranty for added peace of mind. Good luck

 

you have 40k + more miles on the current powertrain warranty.... what would the extended warranty prove

 

Hmmmm, pattern developing?

 

You were lucky. My '89 Toyota pickup broke a valve spring - and then the valve dropped down into the cylinder and rode up & down on the piston, gouging the cylinder wall. I was about 5K beyond the 36K warranty. No help from Toyota (at that time I had little experience at applying pressure on corporate). Rebuilt cost vs new (NOT used) short block was about equal, so I went with the short block. Fluke experience? Perhaps. The truck went on for well over 100K and 9 years.
-

 

Not sure I would call it a pattern. Toyota has sold probably 1 million of these and a handful of issues does not exactly dictate a pattern. Not like the 3.0 that pretty much every one experienced a head gasket failure. Every motor has a weak spot. This one could be a valve spring. If 100 or so out of 100,000,000 have an issue, I would call the motor a success.

 

This is not Toyota's first rodeo with valve springs. They performed a full on safety recall 10 years ago with some Lexus vehicles. Could be material or bad manufacturing... hard to tell much by examining the above picture. Maybe they skipped the shot peening.... LOL! Lexus claimed bad material years back...

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2010/RCMN-10V309-1264.pdf

 

First 2 vehicles on that list come with 3.5L Last one comes with 4.6 which im guessing uses the same springs

 

Yes, all these engine use the same architecture... bore spacing is the same. Valves, cam followers, springs, etc, are interchangeable.... though may be different depending on application. We should be able to use the Titanium valves from the 5.0 V8 in the 3.5.

 

Two years ago, Toyota and Subaru recalled the FRS/86/BRZ for springs.

 

I had the same issue with less then 500 miles on my truck. They did end up extending my factory warranty after repeated polite complaints. My dealership claimed that the valve spring retainer was not properly seated when the valve train was assembled.

 

Bunch of Tundra 5.7 owners have had it happen as well. Seems to be rare after 2010 though. And you can replace the springs without pulling the cams on it.

 

The 6.2 GM v-8 is having valves spring problems also. Some manufacturer has blown it on the metal of some valve springs.....

 

Or the torque value could of been wrong on that valve. All the valve springs are the same.

 

Good point -- one of many potential causes I think. So maybe it is a quality control or quality assurance issue with manufacturing, or steps are being skips to reduce costs. Either potentially being results of effects on manufacturing from COVID.

 

The assemblers mask was adjusted during torque.

 

My new Tocoma was diagnosed with a broken valve spring on Friday. I only had 500 miles on the truck. Still on the trucks second tank of gas. I have to say I am quite disappointed, this being my first Toyota. Have not heard when it will be fixed but concerned.