1st Post, Hard Question

Hi all,
First time posting here. Lurked about for a bit. I have a situation on my hands and I’d like some advice. Long story short bc I’m typing on my phone, I bought a 2008 Tundra two years ago from a guy with an odometer reading 140k. Fast forward two years and I suspect I blew a head gasket (about 98% certain of this, but truck runs and drives fine and never overheated, just getting white smoke, sweet smelling exhaust and losing coolant). I go to trade it in and dealer runs the VIN and shows me the carfax that proves the guy I bought it from rolled the odometer back from 370k to 140k one month before I bought it.
So… the dealer says they’ll buy it off my hands for $3k. The truck is gorgeous on the outside. I just got done fixing the 4x4 and front suspension. Pads rotors and calipers were done on all 4 wheels about a year ago. Local shop quoted me an engine swap for a used 5.7 at $12-13k.
There was a bit of tranny shudder about 5k miles ago but a fluid change and stop slip cured that (for now, anyway).
I am still underwater about $13k on the truck loan.
So my options are: sell it for 3-5k and lick my wounds for a couple years and drive a beater that is hopefully more reliable and better on gas; or keep it until it pops, drop the $ for a used and just act like it’ll run forever.

thoughts? My primary concern is hauling my family of 4 and reliability. Would it be nuts to keep it and put the money in and ride this thing forever? Or will enough small stuff start killing me by 1000 cuts?

would love opinions from those who have been there before.
Edited to note that I daily drive this thing to haul my kids to daycare.
Thanks all.

 

Any legal recourse for the odometer rollback? I believe it's a federal offense/felony to tamper with them

 

Yeah, I’m pursuing that too but I am not holding my breath. Already registered the complaint with CA DMV. We will see.

 

Tough pill to swallow. I'd sure as heck not pay 12k for a used engine when there are complete running 2008 units for sale for that kind of money.

My crystal ball is cloudy but I'd likely opt to continue to run the truck while looking for a new ride or a good used donor engine which should be obtainable for under 5k. If the engine blows you can probably still get about what the dealer is offering.

 

A take out 5.7 for $12-13k?!? That sounds coo coo for cocoa puffs but what do I know.

 

That 12-13k quote is it installed with all the necessary dressing (belts, water pump, etc.)

 

The fact that you’re underwater on the loan would be the driving factor for me…..how hard do you run it? Is it a daily driver? Nobody knows how long it will last but taking a bath on the loan and then having to purchase a beater that will likely need work too doesn’t seem like the best option. If it’s running fine I would try to pay down as much as I could on the loan and keep running it. There is zero chance I would put another $12k into that truck though. Tough situation and I hope that there is some legal recourse for the sheisty seller

 

Yeah. Learn from me.

I could run around in my father’s electric Kia for another couple months as well. We’re holding it for them while they’re in Mexico. Just trying to get a sense of where to go with the truck. Is putting money into it insane?

 

How much grief/money to replace the head gaskets?
I'd say if all else is good, keep going with it, at least till you're out from underwater on it, and while still pursuing legal recourse against the seller.

Background on my opinion, I tend to drive them till they die, fix them, then, when they're about to die again, replace them.
[Edit] Just saw you have another vehicle for a couple months...maybe time enough to do the head gaskets?

Good luck.

 

A head gasket repair (if that is truly what is wrong with it) will be significantly less $$ than replacing the engine. Have the tranny drained and filled, re-drained and filled, change the t-case & diffs oil and drive it!
Also keep pursuing it legally, that's just wrong!!!

I looked at a Land cruiser once that was too good to be true everything was perfect on it until I shined a flashlight into the odometer and noticed small pin marks on the numbers... I just knew it had been rolled. I offered a ridiculous low number just to ease out of the situation before it got ugly.

 

How in the world does one run the odometer back on modern digital systems anyway? I can see how back in the old days where there was a mechanical odometer but that was then, this is now.

Dan

 

https://www.upfix.com/product/toyota-tundra-1996-2021-odometer-mileage-adjust-correction-service/

Also I replaced my gauge cluster and inherited the odometer from the donor truck. My truck reads 30k higher miles, but it could work either way.

 

Thanks for all the replies. It was a personal loan so loan company assisting is out. Again, learn from me.
Also, a word to the wise, don’t try to save money and report less value when registering - might need that info later!
I didn’t know they could roll back the odometer on modern cars either.

I could replace the head gasket but what I don’t want to get into is a situation where I’m chasing gremlins over and over again. I bought the truck for reliability (heh) and that’s what I want. I should mention that I absolutely love the truck and would keep it if it were still reliable.

 

Do the head gasket, drive it while looking around and paying it down. If it gets squirrely, sell it honestly and swap horses. Mobility is prosperity...good luck.

 

Man this really sucks for you. Hard decisions to make for sure. Being upside down on it already, I'd also pay it down and drive it for now and start over with everything you've already learned here when you can. Don't stop pursuing any legal recourse against the previous owner, any money you can recoup from that helps.

 

Apologies for the long response but this happened to me with my ‘03 Ranger so I take it personally for you lol
Before I get into it, maybe try and find a reliable mechanic to just do a thorough inspection to asses the situation.

OR

Assuming the head gasket is the issue and it leaked due to too much heat. If you don’t hear any unusual sounds or knocking, I’d do 3 things:
1) replace the head gasket.
2) replace as much of the coolant system as possible, i.e hoses, temp sensor, water pump, radiator.
3) perform a good coolant system flush assuming you don’t replace it all.

now I’m making a lot of assumptions cause if he’s willing to roll the odometer there’s no telling what he’s done for maintenance/repairs. That’s just my two cents cause rather be safe than sorry. I’m a huge fan of rockauto and 1Aauto, both of which have good prices and reliability with most parts when on a budget. Also don’t forget Toyotas are very durable cars/trucks. So as long as you’re not getting any scary noises like rod knock or something similar you’re good for some small repairs.

I’d definitely tackle the engine now, put some funds to the side and handle a permanent fix for the transmission later on.

Also definitely pursue legally cause I didn’t and I wish I did. About 3yrs ago $6000 for the Ranger and between mods/repairs another $7000ish later. Finally transmission gave out and I gave up on it lol but mine was a ford and you got a Toyota so you’re already one up!
Good luck with it all

 

Thank you. That’s good advice. I spoke to the DMV investigator today and long story short, I’m screwed because apparently I signed the title that said it wasn’t the actual milage on the odometer? I’m a pretty decently smart guy and, as I told the investigator, there is no way I would have signed a title knowing the mileage was not what it said on the truck, but that’s what the dmv has got so what can I say? Also, putting the incorrect number as a sales price on registration is a crime in and of itself so almost no one follows through with prosecuting these because the investigators have a duty to report that crime as well and prosecute it.
Back to the truck, I think some hose swaps are in order, needs a new alternator, and I’ll look into head gasket repair or blue devil. Not sure which route to go at this point, but man, big life lesson learned here. genuinely appreciate all responses. Thanks,

 

Any chance its the valley leak?? Still enters cylinder, but its not a head gasket, best way is to probe with a small camera. Harbor Freight sometimes sells them for like $45 I got one and its helped alot.

Getting screwed over will broaden your horizons. Once it's repaired you can run it into the ground and part it out once it gives in. No one will probably buy your truck, at least at that price. I'm sure it will last a while before needing any real big repairs.

 

Man, that's a crappy situation. People who do things like that guy did are total turd muffins.

For reference, which motor does your truck have? As @blackdemon_tt suggested above, it may well be a different gasket, like intake gasket. One of the flip cars I purchased when I was in college came to me with the assumption that it had a bad head gasket; the dealership mechanic I bought it from diagnosed it as such. So I purchased the gasket kit and all of the other little odds and ends, tore in to the motor, and found out the intake gasket was actually leaking (whoever had recently installed it did a poor job and mashed a lip). I took a chance on going only that far in to the motor, put it back together without pulling the heads and doing the head gaskets, and it passed compression and leak down tests. I drove it for a couple of months then sold it to a family member who drove it for a good while after that without any signs of a bad head gasket.

So, what I'm saying is - sucks that you go sucker punched. But in my opinion, it would be work spending a couple bills at a mechanic to get a leak down test, compression test, and another opinion to suss out the problem. Let it sit for a couple of days and run an inspection camera down the spark plug tubes and look for fluid in the cylinders; should be pretty easy to spot if one cylinder is getting flooded.

If it is the head gaskets, I personally would probably get it repaired and drive it before running it in to the. It's hard to just eat it like that though. My buddies Duramax popped a head gasket with less than 100k on it (but outside of the 10 year "powertrain" warranty). He debated selling it and buying another one but couldn't stomach the new truck or used truck prices and ended up ponying up for the repair, along with some mods like a CP3 injection pump. Still a hard pill to swallow :/

Shoot, I'd prolly offer your 4k for it. Ha.

 

My BIL knew some guys in Montreal that rolled back mileage for folks. This was a while back, and at the time they were very busy. Not sure about today though.

 

Thanks everyone for the responses. I decided to go with the Blue Devil approach to the blown head gasket and drive the truck. Depending on how long it lasts, I will try to pay down the loan and maybe put a new engine in it.
For those of you who have high milage Tundras, please tell me if I'm crazy to put a new / remanufactured engine into this truck. I have already gone through the brakes and suspension. Other big ticket item would be tranny, but aside from that, are there other high milage gremlins that will keep this truck from being reliable? I don't mind an odd thing here or there, I just don't want something to kill a road trip.
Thoughts?
Thanks,

 

I’d skip the blue devil approach, but that’s me. Personally, I have 197k miles on my truck and am opting to add a supercharger rather than sell it and get in to another/new truck. The new tundras are nice, but this truck has given me zero problems (knock on wood) and does everything I need it to. Maintenance is key.

 

I would love to supercharge this thing one day. With a new engine.

 

Have you done a compression check?

 

No.

 

Good thing to do...

 

280K still running strong. Starting to have transmission issues, it's the original transmission and am getting slippage codes as well as performance stuck off codes, so it's time to drop the pan for me. Other than that basic maintenance issues like water pump, starter and radiator.