05 Tundra 4.0 engine replace opinions

Would appreciate any advice you guys could please provide.

I can finally afford to get my 05 Tundra fixed. My local shops can only get me at best an 06 1GR-FE with 150k miles and 6 month warranty. I’m hesitant because of the head gasket issues on 03-05 and possibly early 06 engines. The other option is an reman engine but they did not provide to me the manufacturer or warranty details. My final option is an 08 FJ cruiser engine I picked up off eBay from a reputable recycler in NorCal. My local shops won’t touch it or I waive the warranty on their work. They also only want to work with known 05-06 Tundras engines which are limited (only 2 model years) and won’t touch an engine from another Model vehicle (Taco, FJ, 4Runner, 2nd gen Tundra) because their sources only report 1st gen tundra engines as working in Tundras.

From my own research, their are a lot of anomalies in the parts finders from TRD Shop for example. It will show for example an 06 Tacoma engine working in 06 Tacoma’s and skip all the way to 09-11 Tundras. I really need help because I’m stressing out. Thanks You guys, God bless.

 

Sounds like you need to trust the shop doing the work. Let them put in what they think is best so they can warranty. God will sort the rest out.

 

It may be best if you can inspect the engine before hand.

Different years may have slightly different oil pumps/pans, timing covers, inlet/outlets, ports on the heads and/or block.


For instance we swapped a reman engine from a parts store into a 4runner but the 3.4l block did not have a dipstick hole/port on the block. It worked but there was no way to check oil level. Ymmv.

 

My used engine has the larger 6qt capacity oil pan. This engine physically will not fit in the Tundra chasis unless I swap the oil pans. But from my research it should fit if oil pans are swapped. The same style 4.0 engine in the 1st gen Tundra is used also in the Tacoma X-runner but those complete assembly part numbers don’t show as compatible even though the individual parts such as short block, cylinder heads, cam shafts, VVT phasers, valve covers, etc. are all the same across all Toyota trucks from 2003-2015.

 

If the short block, crank, heads, cams, valves, pistons/rods are the same, then the rest can be swapped over as necessary.

 

Two other shops are recommending either a rebuild or reman, unless I want a high mileage 06 original tundra engine with potentially defective head gaskets. My current engine has already had head gasket a replaced. I’m leaning towards a reman with 1 year/12k miles warranty although the repair shop admits that they have never installed a reman engine from their vendor before.

 

I’ve decided to stick with my used 08 FJ engine. The repair shops around me are estimating minimum $6000-$7000 for used 05-06 engines and installation. I did some research and called a guy named Nick from Yota1 who does Toyota engine rebuilds and he thinks it should work. The short block, heads VVT phasers, etc. are the same from 05-11 Tacoma, 07-09 FJ cruiser and 4Runner. My used engine also does not SAIS from 12+ Tacoma engines. It should work God willing.

 

Wanted to give an update. The 08 FJ engine went in and runs well. Only thing necessary was to replace the upper and lower oil pan assembly. The FJ has a larger 6qt capacity pan and Tundra needs a shallower 5qt pan to clear the front diff and steering gear (same as on Tacoma X-runner). I did a timing chain at the same time. From my research these model engines are interchangeable.

05-09 4Runner
07-09 FJ cruiser
05-11 Tacoma
05-09 Tundra

As long as the engine is single VVT-I and without the SAIS (2012+) they all work. This info was given to me by Nick from Yota1 performance and TorsPD from Tacoma world.

 

Good info, thanks for the update!

 

No dipstick for the oil? Hmmmm. Must have sent you a Bimmer block on accident.

 

Thanks for the update! Glad it worked out.