My P11EE CEL at 41k miles on 2018 OR

Reading this forum on this problem sounds like the same 'burnt valve' symptoms. Its very concerning! I'm in the unfortunate position to be in the 6th year since the truck was new, so I've just missed that 5 yr/50k mile warranty period. I am the 2nd owner and had it since 21k miles.

I was just driving around town this evening and noticed the CEL come on about 10 minutes into my errand. I stopped in to the Autozone and checked the code, they said 'oh, it says new head gasket, thats expensive' I cleared the code, and it came back about 10 miles later.

Thing is the engine is running like normal. I've been getting around 17/21 mpg with no problems. Last weekend I took a road trip and it was running well. The only thing I've done is ran about 9 gallons of cheap gas with a bottle Techron through the fuel system last week, and then filled up with 92 octane on Friday to see if I noticed any mileage differences on the road trip. So my optimistic side is thinking maybe somehow this code was related to the techron and premium gas (which I've never done either on this truck in the 2+ years I've had it...) and not the valve seat issue.

I'm going to take it in to the dealership where it was originally purchased from, and see if they can diagnose it and rule out a valve issue. maybe get the fuel pump replaced on the recall. It was a corporate truck before I bought it, and it was always serviced at a dealership so maybe they'll show some mercy on me if it's a major repair.

Okay thanks for reading, I will post the results when I know more.

 

Damn these threads are disconcerting. Hope it works out for you.

 

They should have an extended warranty campaign for this issue for those who are out of warranty. People buy the tacomas for reliability for these things not to happen. I’ve seen people post where the bill to do this job could reach $10000.

 

Sorry to hear. Fingers crossed, though I have never seen this issue NOT be replaced with a new cylinder head and new valves on the affected ones. What is your driving style? Automatic trans I assume?

 

Yes an AT. I would have gotten manual if it were available on the 4 door model. (The reason I traded my 1st gen is because I needed a 4 door for the family.) Driving style is usually pretty conservative, but I have been flooring it recently with the techron tank.. italian tuneup style.

 

clear the code and trade it in.

 

UPDATE- I dropped it off at the dealership. Its going to take a couple of days to diagnose. $189. (I'm 9 months out of the 5-year warranty.)

They asked me if I had brought it there before, maybe checking if I'm loyal. It is the original dealership that sold my truck to the previous owner. They had last seen it in 2021 just before I bought it. But I never needed service so never brought it there. The oil changes at the dealership are double the price and take a lot longer than my local lube shop that I've been going to... I think they were asking to see if I am loyal but obviously I'm not. He checked my gas cap though and said it was fine...

 

BEJEEZUS !!

 

Finally got the results of the leak down test. Cylinder 3 is 140-145 PSI, compared to 200 psi for Cylinder 1. So I have like a V-5 and 3/4 instead of a V-6 now?

They wanted to open it up and inspect the injector or valve, but I needed the truck back it's my only vehicle. I'm going to keep driving it and hope maybe some carbon is just stuck in the valve seat and will work its way out... and if not I'll try and get a big trade in credit from a dealership and get another truck. The service center said their next step would likely be a new cylinder head.

 

<--- this 2017 had the same with cylinder #1 at 35,000 and 2.5 years into ownership. Might as well bite the bullet. They had mine for 3 weeks so maybe you could find a month long rental. Good luck.

 

Great you were in warranty, I'm 8 months out of it. Lot harder to bite that bullet.

 

If they aren’t gonna help with the cost at all I’d run it & install an engine out of a wrecked truck if it ever fails catastrophically.

I’ve put over 100k miles on mine since my first p11ed code, still runs.

 

If you live anywhere near Chicago call up the car care nut. Bonus if you have AAA you can just have it towed to his shop if you are within 200 miles.

 

This is the first I've read of this issue, but it sounds like it might be prevalent. If so, I would call Toyota corporate and ask for relief for the repair.

They may not cover it all, but they might pony up something. I got over half of a $2500 transmission repair from Subaru just for taking the time to report and ask them to take care of an issue that was pretty prevalent across the make, model and year of my son's car. The car was 1 month and 10,000 miles out of the extended warranty and they paid up.

Worth the effort before you pawn off a problem to some unknowing schmuck.

 

If you do not ask you shall not receive. The worst they can say is no. I agree, worth a phone call.

 

So I cleared the code and have ran through the rest of my gas and a new tank of 87 octane, and the light has stayed off about 500 miles so far. Haven't done a new leak down so I don't know about the cylinder. knock on wood it was just a fluke.

 

Great news!

 

The code came back today, after 500 miles of being off, as I was putting around town. So this isn't solved. Just wanted to put that out there for future reference.

 

I didn't want to be the one to post that it would, but it seems like there is no way this issue will go away with clearing a code, not with those compression numbers. Good luck.