Tundra engine recall - interesting news

I understood the new part(s) weren't coming till next spring, so personally I would think a build date after that "should" be safe, but Ryan also said he wanted to see a calendar year go by without any failures before he would consider the problem fixed.

 

I listened to the video today, definitely some good and interesting points. Nate kinda drove me crazy at times (had to skip some of his tangents) and Ryan was a bit full of himself, but that aside, it was a surprisingly decent discussion.

However, the one thing that frustrated me the most was the lack of acceptance that things have changed and aren’t going back. And the continued idea that “all new things are bad” and acting like that mentality didn’t exist before. Are we seeing a shift towards more disposable things (across the board not just cars)? Absolutely. It’s awful. But let’s say they did bring back their legendary engines. 2UZ, 3UR, 1GR, 2GR, etc. Who’s to say they wouldn’t cut corners on those? As Ryan himself said, the average tenure at Toyota went from 15 years to 2.5. The same people that are building the V35A would now be building the 3UR, etc. So the workforce has changed too. Whatever procedures that were put in place would likely continue with a newer 3UR as well vs reverting to the older processes. Especially if it means less people to do the job.

So I don’t think it’s a simple as “bring back the legendary engines”, it’s more of a mindset shift across the entire industry that needs to happen. I bet if the disposable product mindset and recurring increasing revenue mindset wasn’t number one, we’d have a better V35A that would live on to be legendary.


I do want Toyota to figure this out, I really do. But when I saw Toyota became the world’s largest manufacturer and the little issues they were having across all models, I knew their mentality shifted. They touch upon it in the discussion too. Pretty much in today’s world, you only have to be the best of the worst. I learned that in my job dealing with vendors and resellers and realized how much it applies to purchasing almost anything now. Toyota can let things slide cause they’re still better than GM. I used to rag on people for not getting a Toyota but now it’s shifted towards, I’ll probably still have a Toyota (unless the spiral continues), but everyone else just get whatever makes you happy.

edit: I also wonder how the V35A built by the 15 year workforce would do. Sure they had failures in the Lexus, but as Ryan said they likely didn’t think much of it due to the low production volume. The Tundra really brought the issue to light.

 

Thank you for summarizing video, I usually never watch them posted here. Much appreciated. And I do agree with your point. The unfortunate reality is here now.

 

Somewhat off topic, but the Honda 3.5 V6 is far from bullet-proof.
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a65887327/nhtsa-probe-1-million-hondas-engine-failure/
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a45893381/honda-acura-connecting-rod-defect-recall/

 

Is it possible that Toyota manufacturing process has always had this amount of debris during manufacturing. It is only in this high output turbo engine that it shows its ugly head?

 

It is funny, but 2 of the most reliable brands that we know of, Toyota and Honda, have been having horrendous engine issues and recalls. As much as we like to shit on electric vehicles, if you really want reliability with minimal maintenance and overall cost, electric vehicles are a dream. People complain of battery failures and 20-30K replacements, but Tundra engine replacement will cost similar amount if not more out of warranty. Only difference, batteries have 100K 8 year warranty, and most last much longer than that without much maintenance or costs. In addition, like most cars, parts and batteries are available second hand for much cheaper. It will mark an end of an era when the relatively expensive electric vehicles are passed to second hand owners that realize the longevity and simplicity of the tech.

 

I tend to disagree with the speed limit imposed by the bureaucrats in my state, which is California. Same roads in other states have speed limits 15mph higher, if not more. It's all relative. One thing I disagree is the mentality that you want to irritate other drivers, never a good thing, nor bodes well for safety.

 

No. That kind of debris and poor post-machining cleaning (deburring) is exceptionally bad.

 

This kind of passive-aggressive behavior only encourages road rage, and is actually illegal in some states, for example in Arizona. You don't know why the vehicle behind you needs to pass you. It may be a medical emergency or it may be an undercover law enforcement vehicle following a drug dealer or kidnapper but needs to keep emergency lights off in order to not spook the criminal while waiting for reinforcements. (I have actually witnessed exactly such situation, an undercover cop following a kidnapper of a young girl, being blocked by an a$$hole in the left lane on I-10, while the cop was desperately trying to quietly tail the kidnapper, waiting for state troopers to catch up so that they could stop the bad guy. Fortunately a state trooper arrived quickly enough in a Tahoe and literally pushed the a$$hole blocking the left lane off the road without turning on his lights nor siren, so they could catch up with the kidnapper without alerting him, quickly surround him with several vehicles and save the little girl. They were very close to losing trail of the kidnapper because of the a$$hole in the left lane who believed that it was his duty to enforce traffic laws on other drivers.)
Hanging on the left lane blocking traffic even if you go at posted speed limit is an assine behavior.

 

The video was painfully long. Should have been 10 minutes. Long on inference and "I know a guy", short on facts.
At this point, why can't they at least offer some imperfect data? Something along the lines of talking to the service managers at 5 dealerships that have 1500 Tundras. Of those 1500, 50 have failed. Or they've replaced 150 long blocks and 20 of them. I couldn't watch the whole thing but it was more of Ryan being Ryan.

 

^^^THIS. Says it all.

What must be enforced is that there is no "fast" or "slow" lane. The travel lane is on the right. The passing lane is on the left. If a vehicle is not passing anyone, it must stay right, regardless of speed. That is all the common sense it takes to create and maintain lane discipline, ensures smooth flow of traffic and promotes safety.

Now, back to the recall business: have there been any indications that the recall may be expanded, if what is being said about the problem not being truly solved is true. I have a 24 and a 25 Tundra, so I need to know, you know.

 

You “want” to know. You don’t “need” to know.

 

May be. In the meantime, both trucks are a pleasure to use. Like I said before, as long as they both do not go down at the same time, I should be good for a while.

 

That would be nice, bur dealers have some type of non-disclosure agreement (written or implicit) with Toyota and won't share this kind of data. Some individuals may be willing to share anecdotal data, but in the end they won't do anything to piss off Toyota. Only Toyota knows the exact numbers and won't share them without a court order. I suspect that this may also be the reason why TCCN hasn't been more open about this subject, he may have gotten a word from Toyota to stay out of this, and he doesn't want to risk his good relationship with the hand that feeds him (indirectly).

 

That's why I posted the same info you just did.

 

The automotive sector has now caught up to the RV Industry.

 

I think this point is over-played a bit. As I understand it, the vast majority of auto manufacturing is robotics and automation these days. From the videos I've watched, plant workers are primarily responsible for keeping materials and parts stocked where the robotics can get to them as needed. I'm not sure a 15 year workforce is necessarily more capable at those tasks. I could be wrong.

It seems to me, the debris problem that plagues our engines is a failure in some automated system, not the plant workers failure directly. And, if the rumors of an inherent design problem with a couple of key parts are true, that's on the engineering staff, not the plant workers.

Unfortunately, we're likely to never know the whole truth behind this fiasco.

 

Now this debacle has turned into a fiasco!

 

That’s the good reason a class action lawsuit has been filed.

 

Of course Toyota could settle the lawsuit, admit no wrong doing, and still not have to release any info. I'm guessing we'll never know the "truth".

 

They don’t have to attribute specific dealers.
If Ryan wanted to provide more value he could. It’s just hard work.
Replaying the "I know somebody who said" schtick at this point is neither new or helpful.

 

Calm down.

I never said I intentionally block traffic in passing lanes because I don't...ever. When I pass, I do so at a safe speed, then get back to the right as soon as it's clear.

My comment was regarding some laws that require slower vehicles, that can't keep up with normal traffic flow, to pull over to the side of the road on 2-lane highways (with no passing lanes) to allow normal moving traffic to go by. Those laws don't apply to vehicles that are driving the speed limit just because they have impatient speeders behind them. There are no laws that provide speeders the right of way, other than law enforcement and emergency vehicles.

 

It’s hard to draw a line at how fast you need to be going to legitimately run in the left lane. I normally run 5-10 over and if I’m in the left lane passing a car in the right lane, often I get my ass ridden because I’m not passing fast enough. Sorry folks, I’m not driving faster than I normally would just because you drive faster than I normally would.

I just don’t think there’s a middle ground that pleases everyone.

 

Guess the blow ups are slowing since we are now into driving etiquette

 

Trailer tire speed rating is the limit for passing , ha!

81. Do not exceed or your tundra will self destruct

 

Exactly. My normal highway cruising speed is typically 5-9 mph over the limit because I think that's the limit that most police will tolerate without pulling you over. If that's not fast enough for drivers behind me, they can wait until it's safe to pass me. I feel no obligation to pull off to the shoulder to let them go by. Again, I'm talking about 2-lane roads (one lane each way) with no passing lanes.

 

Yeah, sorry to go back to an off-topic from several pages ago. But, I got called out for a comment that was misrepresented, and I wanted to set the record straight.

Now, back to the off-topic du jour. Where were we?

 

The whole topic of employee tenure at the Alabama plant is a massive red herring. It doesn't explain the engines that went into the LS, LX, GX, and 300 Series Landcruiser that are built in Japan all failing the same way.

Ryan has shared great information in the past but this reeks of tossing wet toilet paper against the wall to see what sticks type conjecture aka "talking out of his ass".

Knowing the click bait nature of the channel, I'm not surprised that you got 5 minutes of information with the rest being bullshit speculation and filler. I'm actually disappointed in Ryan. He came across with a real smug "I'm the smartest guy in the room" attitude which was pretty off putting. Then they tried dragging The Car Care Nut into all of their bs and insinuating he wasn't honest on the topic or something. That's when they really jumped the shark.

My favorite part is how they know everything but can't tell us about it. It reminds me of all the alien grifters who go onto Joe Rogan's Podcast talking about alien disclosure and how they have seen things but can't show us while trying to sell their latest slop on the topic.

 

I am so lost in this entire thread that I don't know if there has been any interesting news with regards to the Tundra engine recall. OP should change the title to "3rd Gen Tundra Catch All".