Another Dead 5.7

Been a little bit since I've posted. Back in September my 2013 3UR-FBE suffered some kind of catastrophic failure on the road, undercarriage coated in oily mess. Tried to start it again about a week later and blew a crack in the radiator. (FYI I've been going round n round with this truck for a while)
Life got busy and I had to put it aside.
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January comes and I figure it's time to bite the bullet and get into the shop. I'm in the Dallas, TX area and TLS Auto Specialist comes highly recommended. I give them a call and let them know I'm assuming I need to replace the engine, tell them my budget ($10k) they say they can find a solution to fit. So I get it towed down to them on the 12th.
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Today they called saying they needed to do a compression test and fuel pressure test. Told them not to bother with fuel, I know its good. She says the compression test is gonna be $554 (ridiculous for 2hrs of work). Then she says they also have an estimate for me on replacing the engine. They want to get a reman one w/ a 100k mile/3yr warranty, and total replacement cost will be around $16,372. She said there are some used options available but they would only be a few hundred dollars less. I remained calm and told her that was too far outside my budget but to continue with the compression test and we'd go from there.
Meanwhile I have a quick look on car-part.com and see several used options locally for $5k-$6k. How could the remaining parts and labor be around $10k? I feel like they told me whatever I wanted to hear to get me in the door only to blow me away with the estimate later.
Am I way off base here?
Your Truly,
NothingButBadExperiencesWithTundrasThusFar

 

Just went thru this last month (sans oily mess).

Took the truck to a reputable, Toyota specialist after finding zero compression on cylinder 6, hoping it was just a head gasket and under 5k.

They called back saying I needed a new engine, and they would be happy to swap in a used 3ur, "likely" for under $18,000.

Long story short, I picked up the truck, sourced a 135k mile 3ur, and swapped them myself over the course of 6 days. It was somewhat of an annoying process, but really wasn't the worst. I have yet to dig into the original engine to find the cause of the failure.

I have read that remans can be hit or miss, and seems more preferred to swap in a good used unit. So that's what I did.

Sorry to hear you are dealing with this somewhat rare situation, and hope you find an acceptable remedy.

 

Thanks for the info. I wish I had a garage large enough to do the work in, but unfortunately not.

 

Me too! Haha

Luckily my BIL has an extended bay in his garage, he was kind enough for me to take over for a week.

 

I got the cab off @reywcms truck in about 5 hours, maybe less. So figure a long day to take the cab on and off. Everything after that is easy to access. I bet two guys in two days could swap an engine with a lift. Call it 40 hours of work. $200/hr shop rate is $8k. Add price of a used engine. I guess $16k isn't outside the realm of possibilty but sounds high by a couple grand. I would expect more like $12k.

 

thanks Sniv

 

Engine also comes right out the top, with the hood and cowel/wipers removed.



Was very helpful that AC, PS, and transmission cooler stuff can all stay sealed and just swing out of the way.

All in all, designed pretty well.

 

May I ask how you got the replacement to your shop?

 

Well, I guess I kind of rolled the dice and ordered through LKQ, which I have a bit of a hard time recommending, but....

I have heard negative reviews, but figured it still made the most sense. Couldn't find a long block locally, and dont have the space to buy a wrecked truck and part it out. A lot of the ebay options DID accept returns, but the buyer was responsible for return shipping cost, which I figured would be excessive.

The first motor (shipped to my BIL's home by whatever freight forwarder that particular used) arrived with a large hole in the intake manifold, and a smaller hole in the driver side valve cover. You could see the cam tower inside had taken impact as well.



When I called LKQ to notify them of the damage and refused delivery, the lady on the other end immediately cut me off and said intake manifolds and valve covers are "not covered by their warranty ", then became upset with me upon learning that I had already refused delivery.

I spent the next several days (5) checking back with them and mostly catching attitude, because they would not approve a replacement motor until they confirmed the freight company did infact have the refused engine. That IS somewhat understandable, however the last CS rep I spoke with was very apologetic, and said they had received confirmation several days earlier.

In the end, they did get an undamaged motor delivered to me, and it seems to be working perfectly fine.

I apologize for the lengthy nature of this post, but hope it can be helpful in some way.

This was a very frustrating process, but seems it may have been successful, so I guess there's that. At least the shop foreman is happy

 

Wait... oil coating the undercarriage and they started with a compression test? I assume they first determined where all the oil came from? And it just sat and you started it and it blew a crack in the radiator? None of this makes much sense... I assume a lot of detail is left out. What was the catastrophic failure? Cause if it stopped running and or made a lot of bad noise and the bottom is covered in oil I am not sure why they would be starting with a compression test. And no failure associated with oil being everywhere adds up to it cracking the radiator. I am just curious here cause all these things do not add up unless it had a bad oil leak for a long time left unchecked and the motor had a scrap iron fit.

 

I can understand your skepticism. Nothing about the history I've had with this truck for the last few makes sense. No idea what the failure was ergo: I was driving down the road doing about 55-60, thought I felt something odd in the pedal (and because of the history I was always on alert) so I pulled over to check things out and as soon as I put in park it died. Obviously the first alarm bell went off. Got out to look around and there was "smoke" or fumes whatever you want to call it coming from the underside and thats when i found the oil slick down there. Odd thing is it was only from just behind the front xmember and back and I never had any warning lights before I pulled over. Figured this was the end of it, towed it home and sat for a bit. Went out several days later to see if there were any codes to pull from it and to my surprise there were none. Checked the oil level and it showed low, took about 2 quarts top bring it back up. Hopped in gave it a crank and it started right up...wtf. So I turned it around in the driveway and shut it off. Next I went out to fiddle with it, tried to crank it, very odd noises, BANG! Louder bang than I have encountered before. Got out walked over to look under the hood in wonder and saw the rad leaking near the upper mount. Then I said screw this thing and I didn't look at it for a couple months.
As for the mechanics at the shop, idk. I assume all mechanics want to make their own diagnosis regardless of what customers think. They didn't start with the comp test btw, they've already done some other things they didn't charge me for (supposedly) but they didn't say what.

 

sounds kinda like a rear main seal let go and it was dumping oil before something let go. Hard to think that 2 quarts low would have caused a catastrophic failure with the amount of oil the truck takes. Certainly not good but would not think that would cause the engine go to that quickly. But a leak that bad behind the crossmember kinda sounds like a rear main.

 

Update -
So I let them do their suggested compression test (silly cause I know they couldn't get the engine warm) but while they were in there faffing about they did scope the cylinders and found coolant in 3 of them and some soring on the walls in a couple and provided images. No surprises there though, was hoping to not find scoring but oh well there it is.

They did provide the estimate for replacing engine and that was a little bit of a surprise. Apparently the last estimate included a new f/pump assembly which I politely declined. The new estimate (below) is a little better with not nearly as much labor charge which boosts my confidence in the shop back up a bit.

So my only remaining sticking point now is the reman engine. Not sure if the warranty on it is actually any good or even worth it. Aesop rings a bell from many moons ago but that's about it. I am going to ask the shop if the warranty and work will fall in their hands and if it does that might a little better.

Is anyone familiar with Aesop?
I know the general consensus on remans is thumbs down, but does anyone have specifics on why?
Right now the best used options (generally speaking) that I see myself are from 2015-2017/80k-120k miles around $7k-$8k.

 

How long did that take? I experience pure terror when I pop the hood and realize I might one day have to work on it.

 

It looks worse than it really is.

I'd say it took about 60 hours total. Did it over 6 days which were not particularly long, but my BIL also helped turn wrenches when he could, so we got a couple days of double team action.

I believe the worry with reman 3ur's stems from the donor engine's unknown condition or previous damage, combined with extremely limited ability to mill the block and heads before running into issues. Also, the parts used in the reman may (or may not) be of lower quality than the expensive OE parts (bearings, valvetrain pieces, gaskets, sealants, etc).

Unfortunately, it seems like there is no really "good" option for this situation. Every fix is pretty damn expensive, and each come with their own questions/unknowns.

But when a NEW engine from mother toyota is over $30k, we seem to be left with only the iffy options.

 

Agreed, I'm just wondering if this sentiment is backed by any actual experience or just speculation, not that the speculation isn't valid.
But on the flipside I refuse to even consider anything from LKQ, I can't stand their business practices and it corrupts everything they get their greasy little mitts on.
car-part.com is a much better option usually when it comes to used parts.

 

Well the struggle is ongoing. I'm beginning to think I took my truck to the wrong place. I have to assume their techs do good work since they're highly recommended, but the front office seems to be an average auto shop at best. They haven't come up with any better solutions than a remanufactured engine for $8700 or a used one from LKQ w/112k miles for $8500. When I inquired about other resources such as local recyclers or car-part.com the response was "well yeah we use a lot of options but these engines are just really hard to find". Can't believe I live in one of the largest US metropolises and this is the best shop here.

 

@e30cabrio had a pretty positive experience with a rebuild and warrantied engine.

Hell, even and XAT built short block is about the price of the engines you're talking about, unless the 7500 & 8500 is inclusive of labor?

 

Ugh. I'm having flashbacks.

Sucks to realize there are NO good options for this situation. The high cost associated with engine replacements, I suppose reflects the fact that these trucks generally have great motors. Fairly limited supply out there.

 

7500 would be more palatable, but no that's just the cost of the engine alone

 

https://phxenginespecialist.com/products/toyota-5-7l-3urfe-reman-engine?_pos=1&_sid=68717e4f0&_ss=r

I believe this is where @e30cabrio sourced his reman. I’ve actually spoken with the shop about an engine for a different vehicle for a friend; didn’t end up purchasing one (dumped the truck instead) but they seem to have a good system there. They take care of cores and shipping - no need to ship your core back or pay a core fee.

Also, IIRC, if you talk nice to them, you can spec out some of your own parts - for a price of course, but I believe that was an option.

 

You could also always talk to the one and only @snivilous and see if it is something he'd be open to building.

 

Yep phx engines is a great option and good folks there.

 

It would be very far out, need to get Rey's truck out before I think about working on anything else.

 

You could do it in a driveway. May be a bit trashy but ya gotta do what needs to be done. I swapped one out in 3 days before selling my house. Need to be careful of windshield. Like previously stated you can remove hood and cowling. I did it back in 2015 and lucked out finding a 2012 engine with low miles.

 

Thanks everyone for the input, its a big help. I wish I did have a place I could do it myself but the driveway is too steep and the garage is entirely too small.

Thank you @blenton and @reywcms. I talked to him on the phone about his engines and this sounds like an excellent option. Now to talk back at the shop and get a new quote for putting it in and dressing the new engine, hopefully that won't be too much labor.

 

I did get my motor fully rebuilt at https://phxenginespecialist.com/products/toyota-5-7l-3urfe-reman-engine?_pos=1&_sid=68717e4f0&_ss=r for 4600 because no core. (I paid extra for ARP head studs. They did it in literally 24 hours & had it at the mechanic in a day. It took a bit longer than quoted but has been fine for several months, I can't be happier with them.

 

Well I decided to go with Phoenix, but unfortunately when I contacted TLS (the shop my truck is at) they were not interested in doing the work with parts from an unverified vendor. To which I told them that the 2 options they did offer (LKQ and Aesop) were companies with horrid reputations and totally unacceptable. I told them to send me the bill for what I currently owe them and our business would be concluded.

So, I'm not back to square one at least, but now I need to find another shop in the Dallas area that will do the work and have the truck towed yet again.

TLDR: don't bother with TLS Auto Specialists in Euless, TX for anything other than routine maintenance.

 

Anyone familiar with Tandem Off-Road in Fort Worth?

https://www.tandemoffroad.com/pages/service