A Look Inside a 200,000 Mile Toyota V6 Engine For a Common Head Gasket Leak

hello and welcome to the Car Care on our Channel and welcome to another 2grfe video If you're not familiar with what the 2gr is it's the Toyota and Lexus is 3.5 liter V6 in many many models it's such a popular engine such a good engine actually but it does have a few problems today we're going to talk about one of the bigger ones head gasket leaks but not the normal head gasket leak that you're used to let's roll the video and you'll see what I'm talking about so this grfe alternate part down its cylinder heads are out the EXE the Pistons the reason for that is the 2gr is known to develop a condition where it leaks coolant from the head gasket externally not really into the cylinder not really mixing oil with with coolant no it just leaks coolant on the outside here's a short clip for that actually looks like this is such a common thing with these but there's actually a reason for it and we're gonna slightly investigate it so you can see why it is happening perhaps you can prevent it in your car let's look at that same spot that I showed you in the video so you can see we kind of start our investigation from here so this is Bank two this is the front Bank this is a spot you saw in the video you see the coolant Trail right here so it was leaking right from this area right here pretty interesting because when you look here there's actually nothing that's just how 2grs are and you notice how clean the Pistons are these are not Vapor wash folks this is just an engine that is extremely clean because if we go around and look on the other side they're exactly the same and this is this is the part where 2grs always run clean look how clean this piston is this by the way a 2007 Toyota Camry V6 look how clean that is that's how the 2grs are they always run this clean but to really see the reason why this happened we gotta look at the cylinder head and specifically this one right here this is a cylinder head that was leaking I'm going to turn it around so you guys can see it this is the exact corner you see the coolant residue this is the exact Corner that was leaking and we took this out just for you to see it on video and we left the gasket on so this is the corner that is leaking right right here right in this area all this is just overspilled from it so our problem is right here this area so the first thing is this area you notice the appearance of this area it just looks off the reason for that is we have corrosion this is a metal head gasket folks and salt actually got in it but that alone is not the only reason this head gasket leak let's peel it off and then we'll look at the other side of this head gasket if you look here look at this this is extremely corroded this section but wait every single car gets corrosion why does this one leak and here is why if we put this gasket back and it's original spot we're going to scan this area and what we have here if you if we come and look in this area we have actually a little coolant jet this this passage has a coolant jet in it so you have a very tiny little area here where corrosion is eating at the gasket slowly on the outside and this jet is blasting that gasket right in this area right here this is where the coolant passage is and that little hole that is sideways it's blasting cool in this way you got acidic coolant you got corrosion from the outside you got this blasting action going on they always leak from the same spot I mean you're always going to get your leak here here or here and sometimes you actually get it from the other side this is really what causes the 2gr Fe head gasket to leak so few things for you if you own one and you watch this video and if you're looking at this massive operation here how do you prevent this in some cases you can't this is just if you live in the Rust Belt and you got salt it's very hard however regular engine washes help regular coolant replacement helps folks coolant becomes acidic and it starts attacking metal and it literally chews up this head gasket from the inside out that's what happened here because when we look at the other head gasket I'm going to pull it right here it does not have that same appearance doesn't have that corrosion in this area you see even this one is bowed up this one is flat so this is what caused this failure now this failure can happen in any bank at any point Without Really any Rhyme or Reason if we look at this cylinder head the other one let's look at the back of it this cylinder head does not have the oxidation that this one does like if you compare them side to side look at this area where it's pieces of the gasket stayed and you have all this oxidation all over the place this one does not have it as much it does have it a little bit here which is starting but not as much this is corrosion folks and this is the thing about these now here are in case you already have the leak life is about to be over which by the way it's not over I mean this can be fixed it's not the end of the world yes it is costly yes all that but if you have this issue there is something you need to know about these engines because I see people making this mistake and then you have Phantom problems or ghosts is what I call them what you will never do is take the cylinder head send it to a machine shop oh we gotta clean all the surface never do that remember this is a vvti engine this is a timing chain engine you surface so much of this and I've seen the the worst mistake people will surface the cylinder head and surface the block and then we really have problems because here's what happens when you surface your block now your block deck is lower and your cylinder head is smaller so the top of the cylinder head and the button the bottom will be closer to each other effectively your crank will be closer to your cam which effectively means you jump timing be careful with this folks I will never forget the first one I've seen that the engine was machined and the shop was puzzled as to why this engine throws timing codes when it's perfectly on time it does that because they machine the block and the cylinder head these engines do not allow for that folks timing chain engines and vbti engines do not allow for Machining of the surfaces you can do it it might run but it will be taking a huge risk so here's what successfully I have done in the past and many Toyota technicians have done in the past you clean the surface not with power tools this is very important remember this is a perfectly machined surface a very finely machined surface you take the most you will use on this is going to be Scotch Brite just to clean up anything sticking up from the old gasket material and that's it you're not doing anything else Toyota did at some point and it's really hard to tell you I'd love to give you this information so you know but at some point right around 2014-15 they updated the head gaskets to a better material that doesn't do this but it's really hard to give you the rear range of cars because sometimes they went further until we got the big update in 17 where this problem is completely done there's a big difference between the 2gr Fe and 2gr FKS completely almost completely two different engines which that one did have this Azure resolved 100 I cannot emphasize how important that you do not surface these heads or the block if this overheats and you have warpage this cylinder head is garbage you need a new one machine shop will tell you everything folks do not get yourself into this situation where you put this engine back together a week later you have all kinds of mysterious timing codes that never will go away don't make this mistake while we are here we have a 2gr torn apart it's one of our favorite engines right I've only been inside a few hundred if not thousands of them let's take a little tour and look at the fine engineering stuff in this engine see this timing chain is one of three timing chains you have the big timing chain right here this is the main one it goes from the cam from the intake cam to the crank and then you have a little chain that connects the intake cam to the exhaust cam very simple but here is the little stuff if you look if I turn this they gave you a little cutout in the cam gear so you can remove your chain so this cutout will be right here and you'll be able to remove your chain but there's more these gears are actually the same here and here so how do you time them well actually if you look here they have multiple timing marks it depends which bank you are correlates to which marks you're going to use which makes the timing of this engine a little bit tricky but that's how these are another thing about this engine it's not just the way it's built it's how well it is built so this engine has 190 000 miles most people will say well this car is ready for the junkyard is it is it really because this engine runs perfectly fine other than that little leak which we're gonna fix it'll probably go another 190 000. let's look at the valve guides this is plastic BMW this is the point where you got to pay attention this valve guide has 190 000 miles the engine has never been apart it is perfectly fine and then let's look at another guide this guide uh 190 000 miles perfectly fine so BMW if you are watching it can be done just for the record now the other best part is and everybody else in the automotive industry this chain has to almost 200 000 miles on it guess where this chain is going after a week we put this engine back together right back into service because remember what we said about the paint marks I can see these paint marks from a mile away so I think we are good on this chain it's not getting replaced this is the beauty of Toyota engines they just keep going you take care of them basic maintenance this car has really been taken care of fortunately we do have this leak that's why the owner got to a point was like the body of the car is clean Transmission Service shifts perfectly fine we're going to put the money in this car we're going to fix it and life is good it's exactly what we're doing let's look at more stuff with the 2gr so the way the cam situation lives so this is the bottom part this is a cylinder head itself you see the valves right here and then we have the cam cradle which has the cams in it very simple these cams by the way just look at these look at these lobes perfect not a single scratch nothing and that's how it should be this is the hydraulic lifter this hydraulic lifter sits right here and then we have a little tiny cap that sits on top of the valve just to not mushroom the head of the valve then we have this rocker which is a roller actually is a pretty pretty nice very smooth rollers here that sits right here and then the cam lobe is going to push on this which pushes the valve and the hydraulic lifter will lift and come down as a car it warms up cools down and whatnot very very basic design and the best part is all these lifters they're basically Problem free for the most part you get bad oil maintenance history they could get clogged and they don't want to pump up when they're cold and make all kinds of clatter but otherwise that's very it's basic people will see this oh my God this whole engine is torn apart it's actually basic this is basic because Toyota does not want to over complicate this where now you need 17 special tools to put the chain you don't need any special toast about this chain and that's the beauty of it this is a well-engineered engine very very simple then we go to the block itself let's look at our Pistons right here so something about the two GRS that they love to do it's gonna be hard to show you but this piston actually hear that see that movement folks some engine guys and they will be right except here they will see this here you can even hear it they will say this is no good this engine is trashed but actually here we go the 2gr is like that it is such a tight tolerance engine that they had to make the Piston a little smaller a little too smaller because when it warms up it's going to actually be perfect size hence why the 2gr has another common thing especially this is an early 2gr they clatter when they're cold and this is exactly what that clatter is people call it a piston slap and it's exactly what it is that is normal for these engines folks I have seen some people go down the kind of the dark path of oh my God this is no good we gotta redo the whole thing and as soon as they're done redoing the whole thing two specifications I hope they do this and it's like huh well it does the same thing so I guess all that was for nothing be careful with this stuff now the 2gr has one it's very small engineering kind of mishap this is where they did not do this well let's say you want to remove this crossover pipe this pipe right here very simple pipe sits in between the two Banks very innocent looking pipe the problem is when your cylinder heads are here if you notice the cylinder head has this protrusion for your intake if you come on the side and show it you have this protrusion for the for the intake and then when I put the other cylinder head right next to it that protrusion gives you very little space in between them so should you have this pipe for whatever reason corrode break whatever the case may be you actually can't remove this pipe with the cylinder heads in place you have to pull one cylinder head to remove this pipe that is the only part that they allotted a certain German engineer to do probably from BMW BMW loves to do that you have to remove half the engine to replace something so silly same thing here that's probably the only thing but hey at least it's a pipe if you go to the 1gr like in the FJ Cruiser the knock sensors sit underneath it so you can't get to them so you have to remove one cylinder head to do knock sensors that is not a good idea but this one doesn't have that folks this is such a simple engine you look at this it looks like a massive operation it is actually not not a DIY job of course this requires experience and it is there is delicate parts to it but it's not as complicated as other engines because it doesn't need to be one more one last thing about this engine do you see this idler right here which by the way is perfectly fine bearing is fine there's nothing wrong with it but this idler has one cool feature if you look really close at it do you see how the chain in prints in it if you're ever inside one of these engines make sure because you can reuse this probably the whole Coral rod and this idler will still be fine if you replace the chain you must replace it and these imprints when you go install your chain if you actually don't match them up the chain will jump been there seen that got burned by that before very first 2gr we've done long time ago be careful with this see these are the little stuff and they don't tell you in the book by the way this is not a repair manual you have to match the chain imprints on on this rubber piece otherwise we have all kinds of problems 2gr is one last thing about 2gr is they're not known for oil consumption at all I mean here's an example with almost 200 000 miles let's look at that cylinder wall that's cylinder wall looks pristine is the word we're going to get you a little video of it on the side I mean you will not find many engines out there with this many miles that show this perfect crosshatch I mean this is perfect crosshatch there's absolutely nothing wrong with it there's absolutely no reason to do anything else with this but clean it's all in their heads and put the updated head gaskets and we're done and folks for those who are wondering what is the part number for the updated head guys if you go buy a head gasket set from Toyota right now which just looks like this foreign this specific one happens to be for this car if you just go by that overhaul kit or valve grind kit overhaul kits for a whole engine valve grind kit is only for cylinder head that's what Toyota calls it in their manual it will already come with the updated head gasket there's no special part number or special kit now these kits will be different for each engine but they're exact there they will have the updated head gasket this job looks intimidating you do need a lift the only reason is can you pull this engine out of the car without pulling the whole cradle yes you can actually but you will be struggling for such a long time you will damage so many things and it'll take you seven times more more time to do it than to do this this car was designed to come like that you'd be surprised if you have a lift how easy it and you have that cradle that it's sitting on I'll leave that part number for that for those who are interested you'll be shocked how easy it is to drop this cradle down with every with the whole powertrain on it on these cars because that's how they were assembled with the factory it's very very simple I love working on 2grs they're truly a pleasure to work on they're seem difficult but I've done so many that it just becomes like second nature you know every problem and you know every mistake that can happen because you've already done it and been gotten burned by it so working on a 2gr if you take the time you do the cleaning right so another common thing with these is the front timing cover leaking and we have a full video showing you the exact process but in case you want to see it here's the front timing cover on this engine it is massive and it does have the oil pump built into it here's the oil pump and they love to leak right in this area where the where the cylinder head meets the block that's the area they love to leak at but this one actually two hundred thousand miles it was not leaking so that's there is that for you folks we're pretty much going to wrap this thing up we're gonna start cleaning we're going to put everything back together and there will be another head guys good job done and life is good keep up the maintenance on this engine try to clean the engine bay try to get the salt off from the outside but more importantly change your colon every 50 000 miles five years I know Toyota has said multiple things about that the recommendations all over play it safe 50 000 miles five years change that coolant and life is wonderful folks I hope this video was helpful informative I hope you learned something new if you like it consider giving it a thumbs up if you're not a subscriber consider subscribing to the channel check out some other videos until the next video folks may the Lord bless you and keep you and you have yourself a wonderful day

Channel: The Car Care Nut

Views: 172,038

Keywords: 200000 mile toyota v6 engine, toyota v6 engine reliability, toyota v6 engine teardown, toyota v6 engine reliablity, toyota 3.5 v6 engine reliability, toyota 3.5 v6 engine reliablity, toyota v6 engine problems, 2gr-fe, toyota v6, toyota engine, toyota head gasket, head gasket, head gasket leak, high mileage toyota, toyota, lexus, lexus v6, toyota reliability, toyota repair, lexus engine, the car care nut, car care nut, tccn automotive, should you buy a toyota, car wizard

Id: BCtjmRUGnAk

Length: 22min 6sec (1326 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 22 2023