Head Gasket Fails in the 5.7L 3UR-FE

Head Gasket Fails in the 5.7L 3UR-FE

The failure happened at 316,000 miles. I bought the truck used when it already had 270,000 rough miles and no service records. One of the first things I did after buying it was flush the coolant.

I ended up swapping the engine with a pre-owned 5.7L that had almost 80,000 miles. After inspecting it, I found the head gasket was already on its way out in cylinders #5 and #7, so I replaced the head gaskets and added a lot of new parts before putting it in my truck.

I don’t want to deal with this again, so from now on, I’ll flush the coolant every 4 years or 40,000 miles. I’ll also change the oil and filter every 4,000 miles or once a year because my RCSB deserves it :wink:

@Jason
Over 316k miles and then the head gasket goes, honestly not too bad if you ask me.

Kimberly said:
@Jason
Over 316k miles and then the head gasket goes, honestly not too bad if you ask me.

I think it’s awful. If I had owned it since new or nearly new, it’d still be running fine. These engines should go for hundreds of thousands of miles if taken care of.

Jason said:

Kimberly said:
@Jason
Over 316k miles and then the head gasket goes, honestly not too bad if you ask me.

I think it’s awful. If I had owned it since new or nearly new, it’d still be running fine. These engines should go for hundreds of thousands of miles if taken care of.

lol man, a head gasket going at 316k miles isn’t unusual for any engine. Sure, some last longer, but I wouldn’t complain for it failing at that mileage. Be a bit more realistic.

Kimberly said:

Jason said:
Kimberly said:
@Jason
Over 316k miles and then the head gasket goes, honestly not too bad if you ask me.

I think it’s awful. If I had owned it since new or nearly new, it’d still be running fine. These engines should go for hundreds of thousands of miles if taken care of.

lol man, a head gasket going at 316k miles isn’t unusual for any engine. Sure, some last longer, but I wouldn’t complain for it failing at that mileage. Be a bit more realistic.

These engines are tested for 500k miles, and many do pass that. Likely some neglect caused the failure.

Kimberly said:

Jason said:
Kimberly said:
@Jason
Over 316k miles and then the head gasket goes, honestly not too bad if you ask me.

I think it’s awful. If I had owned it since new or nearly new, it’d still be running fine. These engines should go for hundreds of thousands of miles if taken care of.

lol man, a head gasket going at 316k miles isn’t unusual for any engine. Sure, some last longer, but I wouldn’t complain for it failing at that mileage. Be a bit more realistic.

I’m being totally realistic.

Jason said:

Kimberly said:
Jason said:
Kimberly said:
@Jason
Over 316k miles and then the head gasket goes, honestly not too bad if you ask me.

I think it’s awful. If I had owned it since new or nearly new, it’d still be running fine. These engines should go for hundreds of thousands of miles if taken care of.

lol man, a head gasket going at 316k miles isn’t unusual for any engine. Sure, some last longer, but I wouldn’t complain for it failing at that mileage. Be a bit more realistic.

I’m being totally realistic.

Ok boss.

Kimberly said:

Jason said:
Kimberly said:
Jason said:
Kimberly said:
@Jason
Over 316k miles and then the head gasket goes, honestly not too bad if you ask me.

I think it’s awful. If I had owned it since new or nearly new, it’d still be running fine. These engines should go for hundreds of thousands of miles if taken care of.

lol man, a head gasket going at 316k miles isn’t unusual for any engine. Sure, some last longer, but I wouldn’t complain for it failing at that mileage. Be a bit more realistic.

I’m being totally realistic.

Ok boss.

lol, I don’t need your approval.

Car Care Nut has a video about a 2013 Land Cruiser with this same head gasket issue. He mentioned replacing the block too.

DukeJames4 said:
@Jason
Beautiful truck!

Thanks, looks good from far away.

@Jason
Wouldn’t shock me if it was supercharged. I blew my head gasket on my supercharged Tundra at 200k miles back in 2014, but I also pushed it with 12 pounds of boost.

Mason said:
@Jason
Wouldn’t shock me if it was supercharged. I blew my head gasket on my supercharged Tundra at 200k miles back in 2014, but I also pushed it with 12 pounds of boost.

Yeah, forced induction exposes weaknesses every time. I don’t think this engine ever had a supercharger, but the one that replaced it did run a Whipple for about 20k miles.

@Jason
No need to change oil at 4k miles. My oil tests show I can go 6500 miles based on how clean the oil is at 5k. I’d send oil to Blackstone Labs if you’re really curious.

T.gwendew said:
@Jason
No need to change oil at 4k miles. My oil tests show I can go 6500 miles based on how clean the oil is at 5k. I’d send oil to Blackstone Labs if you’re really curious.

I don’t see the need for tests, and I’m happy changing oil at 4k miles. Why wait for results when I know the oil and filter are fresh every time?

Jason said:

T.gwendew said:
@Jason
No need to change oil at 4k miles. My oil tests show I can go 6500 miles based on how clean the oil is at 5k. I’d send oil to Blackstone Labs if you’re really curious.

I don’t see the need for tests, and I’m happy changing oil at 4k miles. Why wait for results when I know the oil and filter are fresh every time?

You do you. I just think 4k vs 5k or 6k won’t make much of a difference. My old Tacoma ran great with 6k intervals even with off-road use. But for others, I’d say don’t assume earlier is always better unless you test.

T.gwendew said:

Jason said:
T.gwendew said:
@Jason
No need to change oil at 4k miles. My oil tests show I can go 6500 miles based on how clean the oil is at 5k. I’d send oil to Blackstone Labs if you’re really curious.

I don’t see the need for tests, and I’m happy changing oil at 4k miles. Why wait for results when I know the oil and filter are fresh every time?

You do you. I just think 4k vs 5k or 6k won’t make much of a difference. My old Tacoma ran great with 6k intervals even with off-road use. But for others, I’d say don’t assume earlier is always better unless you test.

True, but I prefer to play it safe. If I mostly did highway miles, I’d extend the interval, but since it’s mostly city driving, I stick to 4k.

Jason said:

T.gwendew said:
Jason said:
T.gwendew said:
@Jason
No need to change oil at 4k miles. My oil tests show I can go 6500 miles based on how clean the oil is at 5k. I’d send oil to Blackstone Labs if you’re really curious.

I don’t see the need for tests, and I’m happy changing oil at 4k miles. Why wait for results when I know the oil and filter are fresh every time?

You do you. I just think 4k vs 5k or 6k won’t make much of a difference. My old Tacoma ran great with 6k intervals even with off-road use. But for others, I’d say don’t assume earlier is always better unless you test.

True, but I prefer to play it safe. If I mostly did highway miles, I’d extend the interval, but since it’s mostly city driving, I stick to 4k.

That’s exactly why testing is helpful. I don’t drive much highway either. Lots of short trips, stop-and-go. But without data, it’s hard to say shorter intervals are needed.

T.gwendew said:

Jason said:
T.gwendew said:
Jason said:
T.gwendew said:
@Jason
No need to change oil at 4k miles. My oil tests show I can go 6500 miles based on how clean the oil is at 5k. I’d send oil to Blackstone Labs if you’re really curious.

I don’t see the need for tests, and I’m happy changing oil at 4k miles. Why wait for results when I know the oil and filter are fresh every time?

You do you. I just think 4k vs 5k or 6k won’t make much of a difference. My old Tacoma ran great with 6k intervals even with off-road use. But for others, I’d say don’t assume earlier is always better unless you test.

True, but I prefer to play it safe. If I mostly did highway miles, I’d extend the interval, but since it’s mostly city driving, I stick to 4k.

That’s exactly why testing is helpful. I don’t drive much highway either. Lots of short trips, stop-and-go. But without data, it’s hard to say shorter intervals are needed.

The data was already clear long before Blackstone. It’s up to the owner to decide what’s best. If people want to test, that’s fine, but I’ll stick to early oil changes.

The head gasket fails in cylinder #7 most often, sometimes #5 too.