Any +150K mileage 5th gens?

M

Monkeydad

New member
Looking for any +150K or at least +100K mileage 5th gens for a reliability report.

We have a 165K 4th gen V6 that needs head work, and we are looking for either a V8 4th gen or maybe a 5th gen if Toyota made any engine improvements besides VVTi and power.

Previous gen 4Runners are seeing 300K with no issues, and my dad has a 4cyl from the late 80's that has almost 500K on the same engine with no problems.
 
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As far as a I know, the 5th gen just has dual VVT-i compared to the 4th gen V6. Both are extremely reliable, there is a 2004 V6 with well over 400k miles, original engine, transmission, etc. The most reliable out of the 3 you mentioned would be the 2UZ-FE V8 in the 4th gens. One of the, if not the best engine Toyota ever put out there. I only say that because of its proven durability and reliability throughout the years. The V6 in the 4th gen is also extremely reliable, however throw in some headgasket failures into the mix and it doesn't quite stack up to the V8. All 3 are great motors though.
 
White Shadow said:
I doubt anyone here has a 5th gen with 150K on it yet. That would be a lot of driving in a short amount of time.

For what it's worth, there are plenty of V6 4th gens that have far exceeded 165K miles without any kind of major engine work, including head work. And all 4th gen 4Runners with the V6 engine have had VVTi since they came out in 2003. I haven't heard of anyone complaining that these engines are problematic at all.
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I see quite a few in the 4th gen pages, and from 2 Toyota dealers (service reps and mechs) and an independent shop I trust. Engine changes, heads warping, blocks warping, the thin liners failing. This kind of thing used to NEVER happen to Toyota's, especially trucks. There are untold many of older Toyota trucks with over 300K on them. This V6 was a new aluminum design going from an iron block.

I have been on "research overload" the last two weeks trying to decide how to handle my expensive fix. Trade in as is, or fix and drive. For trade-in I'll get squat.... Anyway, I miss the old days of Toyota when they focused on bulletproof engines instead of toppling GM and being #1.... but I digress.....and, no, I don't think 100K qualifies an engine as "bulletproof". 100K will get the first owner through trouble free, but what about the 2nd? Our 4Runner is original to us, and we drive a lot. We were hoping for at least 250K.

As to VVTi, Toyota put it on both the intake and exhaust cams to boost power.

You are right, a 100+ 5th gen would be a lot, but some people do drive that much, and I was hoping to see what this same engine is capable of in a truck 300-600 pounds heavier than the previous generation making more hp (more stress) than the original version of V6.
 
with a full cast iron block for the V8, its a difficult motor to kill.

toyota's 2jz is also a cast iron block iirc.

the new v6 motors (1gr-fe) are aluminum block with cast iron cylinder sleeves i believe. i havent read of people having too many problems with these motors but i would imagine failures are more likely compared to the v8 which is simply a full cast iron block.


you should be alright in terms of durability with the v6 motor.

may i ask what kind of trouble you're having with the motor? my understanding is that you're having issues with the header?
 
White Shadow said:
I just realized that the problem you're dealing with is a blown head gasket. So you probably don't even need any head work or repairs, just a gasket replacement. That's an easy fix that an average shadetree mechanic can accomplish over a weekend.

By the way, how many 4th gen V6 owners have had blown head gaskets? I bet the number is less than 1%. Probably far less than 1%. So maybe you're just one of those "unlucky" few. Just fix it and forget it and enjoy your 4Runner.
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I won't know about the condition of the heads until I get them off and the machine shop takes a look for flatness and NDT's for cracks.

I see we disagree to the recent years of engine longevity, so lets leave it at that. I'm in no mood to go several pages of back and forth.

Have a nice day.
 
jca21 said:
with a full cast iron block for the V8, its a difficult motor to kill.

toyota's 2jz is also a cast iron block iirc.

the new v6 motors (1gr-fe) are aluminum block with cast iron cylinder sleeves i believe. i havent read of people having too many problems with these motors but i would imagine failures are more likely compared to the v8 which is simply a full cast iron block.


you should be alright in terms of durability with the v6 motor.

may i ask what kind of trouble you're having with the motor? my understanding is that you're having issues with the header?
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I laid out the problems in a previous post, and you are correct. This 1GR FE V6 does not have the longevity of past iron blocks, period.

I base this opinion not on the threads in this forum..... I went to two local reputable Toyota dealers seeking advise and talking to mechanics and service reps at both about what they are seeing with this engine, as well as a local shop that I've done business with for years. See my above post for what they have been seeing.

I did not do my research that they went from iron block to alum. when we bought this V6 4th gen, otherwise I would have gotten the V8.

But then again, as with the updated 1GR FE V6 in the 5th gens, there were too few examples out to tell how far these engines will go. I had faith, and was one that drew the ''short straw" in the modern production engine lottery.

As to head gaskets being no big deal....well, changing head gaskets is so 90's.....
 
Overhead cam motors are bit more work than the average "shade tree" mechanic can handle.

This is not a basic pushrod motor...
 
mutau052 said:
Overhead cam motors are bit more work than the average "shade tree" mechanic can handle.

This is not a basic pushrod motor...
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I agree.

I bought the Haynes online service manual (outstanding illustrations and directions BTW, well worth $35 bucks and far better than the print version), and I have been reading it for the last five days.

This is an extensive repair job that an experienced shop and Toyota dealer quoted 26 hours of labor for.

Not easy at all.

One slight mistake with the timing, and CRASH there goes your engine.
 
I believe the 3rd gen 4runners with the 3.4L are also full cast iron blocks.

For the most part i'd like to say that toyota engines are very reliable. Compared to other vehicles that I have had experience with, they make great motors.

I think there will always be a few issues with every motor. Even the UZ series cast iron block v8s will probably have had issues although less frequently than the v6.

I've seen high mileage 1gr's on other forums (toyota120, fj forums) so I know that the motor is reliable but again there will always be failures as no engine is bullet proof.

Hopefully this experience doesnt sour your opinions towards 4runners.


I've got about 31,000 miles on my 5th gen TE and thus far everything has been great. Motor tows well and i take it off road frequently.

Monkeydad said:
I laid out the problems in a previous post, and you are correct. This 1GR FE V6 does not have the longevity of past iron blocks, period.

I base this opinion not on the threads in this forum..... I went to two local reputable Toyota dealers seeking advise and talking to mechanics and service reps at both about what they are seeing with this engine, as well as a local shop that I've done business with for years. See my above post for what they have been seeing.

I did not do my research that they went from iron block to alum. when we bought this V6 4th gen, otherwise I would have gotten the V8.

But then again, as with the updated 1GR FE V6 in the 5th gens, there were too few examples out to tell how far these engines will go. I had faith, and was one that drew the ''short straw" in the modern production engine lottery.

As to head gaskets being no big deal....well, changing head gaskets is so 90's.....
Click to expand...
 
jca21,

Yes 3.4 is iron block.

The new V6's have a totally redesigned head. Another poster on another thread had a great link that detailed the design change.

I have complete faith this new version V6 will be a ong lasting engine that Toyota is capable of making.
 
Agree biggcrisp, that is a very nice white 5th gen. We like them a lot actually.

We are on the hunt for a low mileage '09 V8.

I put in a fancy stereo with NAV and Serious/XM in our 4th gen, so we are looking for a 4th gen SR5.

Plus we have two 90lb Labradors and a young boy we go camping with so the leather would not be a good choice for us.

Thanks for everyone's input!
 
Wasn't the 3.0 or 3.4 notorious for blown head gaskets despite both being iron block? I don't think it is so much a function of iron block versus aluminum block as it is how well the gasket, block, and head were designed to work together.

The 1GR revision is very similar in overall design to the 2GR that has been out in the Camry, Avalon, RX350, Sienna, Rav4, etc. since 2006. I don't know that those engines have a bad reputation at all.
 
Quentin said:
Wasn't the 3.0 or 3.4 notorious for blown head gaskets despite both being iron block? I don't think it is so much a function of iron block versus aluminum block as it is how well the gasket, block, and head were designed to work together.

The 1GR revision is very similar in overall design to the 2GR that has been out in the Camry, Avalon, RX350, Sienna, Rav4, etc. since 2006. I don't know that those engines have a bad reputation at all.
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IIRC both the 3.0 and 3.4 had head gasket issues even though they were iron blocks. i was referring to the longevity of cylinder life in the block being cast iron vs cast iron sleeved in the aluminum block 1-gr

i also recall reading that when toyota went to dual vvti with the 1gr that some improvements were made to the headers.
 
Seeing posts like these is inspiring, I haven't even hit 6k since 9/12 due to a short commute. I'm hoping to get similar longevity, the old Jeep Grand Cherokee was tired as hell at 106k...
 
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