Toyota Lexus 2GR-FE Teardown! Premature Death Of Toyota's Most Reliable V6 Caused By Obliviousness! 

Cheers to everyone watching an engine being disassembled on a Saturday night. We’re living the life ❤😊

I'm a computer programmer. I'm probably never going to tear an engine apart. I watch for your excellent storytelling and humor. I appreciate your upbeat attitude in every job. It's fascinating to see the various ways engines can fail, and to hear your thoughts about them. I have learned quite a lot by watching you do what you do. Just writing to let you know that you are reaching people with your work, your entertainment, and your positivity. Thank you for sharing with us :)

Co-worker has one with 421xxx miles on his Camry, still squeals the tire leaving every Friday.

"Toyotas were supposed to be reliable but I needed a new engine after only 60k miles. I cant believe i wasted 2 whole oil changes on it."

48 years of fixing cars, I really expected to see melted Bearings after seeing all the melted plastic…I’m just amazed that the bearings were in such good shape. Gotta hand it to Toyota.

Watching this video made me sad. It was like seeing a very good friend at the funeral home in their casket. I have an 07 Avalon. I absolutely love her. She had 24k miles on her when I bought her, today she has 92k miles. I'm a stickler for maintenance, oil and filter change every 3k miles, I also have the tires rotated with every oil change. Easier to keep track of that way. I love everything about the Avalon, smooth quiet ride, 30 mpg on the highway, and what surprised me most about the car is the power that engine delivers. It is so mild mannered putting around town, but if you stick your foot in it to pass another car, you can be doing 40 mph and she'll be spinning the tires as you pass, and by the time you get by you'll be doing 80-85 mph, and the sound of the engine is like a jet engine spooling up, it loves to scream. I don't know what the top speed is, I've had it up to 130 mph, and decided that was fast enough for me. Funny thing though, it feels like the faster you go in the Avalon, the more planted to the ground it feels. Older cars will start feeling light, and floaty at higher speeds. I think I'm different, I like to see the engine, hear it run, so I took the big plastic cover off. I plan on the Avalon being the last car I own, and when I'm to old to drive I'll pass her down in the family.

Gently placing the failed water pump on the table, with a towel to protect it from any damage, had me rolling.

Even a reliable strong engine is not immune to human disrespect and lack of care. Thanks Eric

The vvti hose with the rubber section and the water pump are known failure points on older 2GRs. Both have been redesigned. There are plenty 2GRs out there with well over 300K miles and still going strong. With proper care you'll rebuild your driver's seat before the 2GR.

Some people don't deserve a 2GR-FE 🤨

Number one rule of ANY engine, IMMEDIATELY pull over and turn it off if the overheating dummy light turns on. Don't even drive it 100 yards to a safer location, home, a shop, etc. Another tip is after shutting it off, turn the key to ACC and switch on the heater to pull away the heat. This will also allow the cooling fan(s) to come back on. Popping the hood is also a good idea. But, DON'T remove the radiator cap as it would cause serious burns. If you follow these tips, more than likely the engine will be fine. Had a Toyota Camry overheat after the water pump developed a leak. Did everything I just typed, and after replacing the water pump and coolant, still motoring with over 200k.

My grandfather was a mechanic and his shop still stands 25 years after he left us. I respect him through all mechanics. thank you for doing what you do

The 2GR in my 2008 RAV4 was still running strong at 310,000 miles when I sold it. It didn’t burn a drop of oil between 5,000 mile oil changes. I drove it like I stole it from the day I bought it too.

What makes that cam sub assemble so awesome is if something tears up a cam and bearing you can replace that part and NOT the whole cylinder head like most other cars!

It's always the person who sees it overheating, but they're 5 miles from the home and keep going anyway. We had an older lady, afraid of being stuck on the side of the road, overheated and melted her engine and wondered why she needed a new one.

My 2gr just had the water pump replaced at 235K, did not overheat and is back for another 235k. It is an excellent engine.

Until almost a year ago, I owned a 2007 Toyota Sienna so seeing this engine was a bit of a treat I'm not going to lie. My own made it to about 226,000 miles before I had to get rid of it. It was needing some parts replaced which wasn't a huge deal. The problem was that said parts and the engine block were basically inseparable, and they weren't coming out/off without potentially damaging other things in the process of the removal so I sold it to a business similar to your own. Your observation about the rubber hose being used for oil reminded me of a problem I had with my Sienna a number of years back. Twice in the space of twelve or eighteen months or so I had a hose fail that caused me to lose basically all my oil at once, which is great when you are doing 70mph on the highway at the time it happened (both times, ugh). The first time it happened the hose got replaced. The second time it happened a different shop did the work and they said that it was a known issue with that model of engine and that Toyota had since replaced it with a metal part. They did the replacement on mine and I never had that problem again. Thank you as always for educating and entertaining us Eric, I hope you and yours are doing well.

Can’t believe how decent the bearings looked after what happened. I’m impressed.

Hurts my feelings seeing a 2gr tore up. I work at a Toyota factory that built the one that is in the Camry. The one in Kentucky. Great powertrain really...

During the video you mentioned the rubber section of the VVTi oil line toward the rear of the engine. That's one big flaw of this version of the 2GR-FE. A BIGGER design flaw was that this engine also rubber portions of the engine oil cooler pipes. Those 2 lines are located at the bottom front of the engine right next to a catalytic converter which gets very hot. My guess is that one of those rubber sections ruptured and if someone was driving 60 to 70 mph when that happened and did not pull over and turn off the engine soon enough, then good bye to this engine. Just a pinhole in one of the rubber lines would be enough to lose all 6 quarts of oil very quickly. This happened to my wife while driving her 2011 Highlander a couple of years ago. Fortunately, she was driving in town, not very fast and pulled over and turned the engine off right after she saw the low oil pressure light come on. There was no damage to the engine...Toyota put the all metal oil cooler pipes on it and it's still running fine today. If these rubber oil cooler lines are not replaced, they will burst. Not if but when. Shame on Toyota for not recalling both the rubber oil cooler pipes and the rubber VVTi oil line. They did issue Technical Service Bulletins for both but no full recalls. These 2 faults have and will kill these versions of this engine(mainly 2007-2011) prematurely. If these parts are replaced in time and the proper maintenance is performed, they can reach 300 to 400 thousand miles.

I just started to watch your channel. I like your style. No bullshit, just plain and simple adventures going through an unknown engine and explaining what you see. Sincere content without pushing a sponsor through my throat. Much appreciated. I wish you all the best and thank you for my enjoyment. Best, Job

Fantastic engine. My 2008 Lexus gs350 had it rated at 303 hp. Sold it at almost 190k miles not one issue just regular maintenance.

"Simple timing system" is music to my ears. All designs should be this good.

Looks like proper chain to me, much thicker than most "bicycle" chains in most cars

My first 2GR was still purring at 240. My current is like factory new at 130! They really are bulletproof if properly taken care of. Like many others here, I’m amazed how it held up. Great video!

The oil line with the rubber section on the valve cover is actually a super common failure point on these engines and Toyota does have an updated part number with a full metal line that they started using in the later model years but it will still bolt on to the older model years for whenever that line decides to leak.

mine has now over 300000 and it still runs very well and smooth !

I am a Toyota tech, I replaced one of these recently in a 2014 Sienna with only 120,000 miles, pretty much perfectly maintained. A Cylinder 6 intake valve spring broke and blew it up. It’s rare but we’ve seen them drop valves, mostly on early 2GR FKS from 2016-17.

So great to hear about ethics and your stance. As someone that might buy a used motor and replace my old one, thank you for not selling a known bad motor.

Reminds me of my very first week on my very first job out of high school. Bob's Auto Repair. As the new guy I had the "pleasure" of tearing down and cleaning a Buick 455 that a little old lady had grossly overheated and continued to run until it died. I can remember dry-retching every time a new part came off of that engine and tearing down the oil pump was almost more than I could bear. Why, why, why, people can you not understand the concept of an oil change? Keep 'em coming Eric! I'll be here every Saturday night. Cheers.

What kills them? Lack of an oil level sensor, lack of proper maintenance, not using the correct oil, not using the correct filter, cracked filter housing, upper Rocker oil, feed lines crack, and that's all I know of. I own one in my 2011 sienna and it's the most amazing V6 I've ever experienced in my life. The power and torque and good throttle response that's not too sensitive is what I enjoy about this Toyota engine.

Awesome. I work at the Toyota Casting plant in Troy Missouri. We casted those 2GR heads as well as the main engine bracket in the front of the motor. There should be a mark on the front and rear of the heads starting with letter ‘B’ followed by the casting die number. Casting date is scribed under the intake runners. I agree, awesome engine and fun to see our parts after some run time..!!

To see the torched cylinder wall , the melted knock sensors and intake manifold was unreal! Never seen that before. Would give almost anything to know exactly how hot that engine got. Great video man

Currently working at toyota,at my shop at least the 2gr-fe is basically the least common for any repairs, usually its the water pump that fails. Ive seen some VERY rare that have a oiling issue on the cam phasers, 99.9999999% of the time is cause by bad maintenance.

My mom's 2009 sienna with the 2gr has 315k ish miles that fucker still runs like it's new. I've put cams and rings in it at around 250k ish. But man that van has been so good to us. It's been everywhere and she still drives it daily

I have been watching your vq35, your mercedes,v12, your ls7, and now your toyota v6. I noticed you take a whiff almost every time you get that cover out. You definitely have the ability to report failures. Excellent presentation 👏

Honestly the only thing wrong with most toyota made engines is their owners.

Dude your commentary is excellent and makes watching your clips enjoyable , hi from Australia .

I use to work at Toyota and I've seen so many of these engines. like you said they came in so many different vehicles. if I remember correctly the filter had plastic in the center as a "support" for the paper filter so if it got hot enough to melt the intake that most likely melted long before the intake

When you oh-so-gently moved and tenderly placed the leaking water pump you'd never use in any circumstances like a priceless vase, I freakin' lost it. You're awesome.

Great video. My 13 highlander has the same engine. Looks like this one was a little neglected. Mine has 130k miles and hope it lasts a long time. I do all maintenance on it, including 5k mile oil changes. Nice to actually see the entire engine outside the car. What a treat. Thanks.

Thanks man. I have this in my Sienna 2014. Enjoyed seeing you though teardown.

Hey Eric. Excellent tear down as always. The 2GR-FE are notorious for water pump leaks to the point Toyota made an updated version. The one in the video is the older circular pulley design. The updated design has a flower/clover leaf looking pulley, which has had less issues.

This is absolutely one of the best V-6 engines ever made. I remember when it came out in the Camry, it could actually give the Mustang GT a run for it’s money and actually pull on it on the highway. The only V-6 I’ve enjoyed owning more than the 2GR is the Honda J35, because VTEC crossover sounds in a minivan is f***ing hilarious.

My wife is a 100 pound Filipina. Whenever your videos come on I tell her that her favorite video is up. She glares at me and says "I can't even understand what he's doing (and then makes impact noises) then walks away 😂

Great video! Was waiting for this engine, thank you

Your battle with the oil filter made my day. This happened to me during a recent service on my own car and I became unecessarily angry with it.

I had the flu last week, so I went back to watch an older tear down video. When you have a fever and body aches the sound of breaking head bolts loose is awful.

I'm so glad to see safety tote back. Safety tote has to be one of your most important tools in the shop. Great video, as always , buddy 👍 👏

Currently have 2011 Toyota Sienna with the same engine, has 210k on it and still runs great.

I have seen a very similar failure of the intake manifold on a 2AR-FE back when I worked for Toyota. The vehicle (a Scion Tc) came in making a strange popping sound through the intake manifold and had an assortment of codes. Long story short, found out the vehicle had been over rev'd and quite a few of those roller rockers had fallen off due to valve float and on one particular cylinder, both exhaust rockers fell off, but the intake stayed. At the end of the combustion cycle, since the exhaust had no place to go with the valves not opening, as soon as the intake valves would open, all of the exhaust gases went up into the intake causing the pop sound and melting that intake runner.

I have an rx450h with the 2gr-fxs and although not exactly the engine you've torn down, it's almost the same and I'm fascinated to see this engine in it's component state, very therapeutic to watch!

Always love the teardowns homie! Never a dull moment seeing these videos. I would enjoy seeing a teardown of toyota's i4 from mid 2000's, specifically the 2.7L 2TR-FE . I have one in my 2006 tacoma and it runs great. It has 160,000+ miles and the valve train still looks brand new. I would love to see the inside of one.

Hi Eric, another great teardown, thanks for all the effort you go to. I have said this before, I have had a driver say, "Oh, is that a temperature gage!". It was pointing at the stop pin when I got to it. Ted from down under.

I have been waiting for this engine. I have two vehicles with one. Of the engines I have, So far you have done a 5vz-fe, 3ur-fe, 1ur-fe. All that is left of the engines I have are 1kz-te and 1nz-fe. Thanks!

I have the same engine with 250,000 miles on it still running strong

Whenever I’m researching a car, I see if Eric has torn down one of its engines. Been waiting for this one for a long time.

I’m really impressed by your work

2gr-fe Car Care Nut said it’s Achilles heel is timing cover leak, and extremely sensitive to low oil pressure other than that, upgrade the oil cooler to rear VVT-I bank and upgrade the VVT-I gears those with pre 2010 and it’s a wonderful engine. Mine has 262,000 no leak no problem and Im also maintaining a 5vz-fe and 1mz-fe.

25:04 that sound you hear is the bolts loosing their pre-tension. They are designed to be elongated quite a bit compared to regular bolts. It’s almost like having a super strong spring pulling the mating faces together. This helps with keeping things together where you have extreme vibration and thermal cycles.

Excellent video, im picking up my Highlander in a couple days time, your vid inspires confidence in my purchase

Thank you for the really great video. Always wanted to see inside this engine as it is the one in my awesome Highlander

As a tech that has seen these fail, it's always a water pump that dumps coolant. The temp gauge doesn't register that it's overheating (no coolant on the sensor to have an accurate temp reading) and they run until they melt. Fantastic engine overall though

The reason for the relative "high price" is because its a populair engine swap into the MR2. Modern tech, huge power in stock form and the reliability make it a very sweet package.

Phkn love you to bits dude. This and previous video. You what bits I mean. Comedy genius. Made my life literally. Last video I rewound _that_ moment five times rofling. And today, teh anticipation, right setup, little pause while you prepped the towel and then it came. R O F L. Please, please keep me guessing! Best engine channel, second to none.

Yea, you always were good about reading comments. I think we all appreciate that.

16:30 kinda wished the companies who made engine stands also made drain pans that fit around and over the stand itself. Basically covering the orange bottom section so that even less mess would be made from jobs like this

You should make a t-shirt with “Bad Motor” in that font. Epic!

Had a Toyota V8 3UR-FE that got so hot, it not only melted the intake and knock sensors, but a couple of the valve seats dropped as well, it’s crazy how hot engines get without people realizing it

It’s always a good day when the channel post a new vid 😋

Given the carnage of the last two teardowns, this one was like a walk in the park (if the park was really, really hot).

Neat! I think I requested this. I just pulled one for an Mr2 swap. Gonna be fun!

OMG IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS

Good shit bro. Thanks!!

Watching these videos always makes me want to go and change my oil

It amazes me how mechanics like this know EVERY part of a vehicle. It’s mind blowing.

EXCELLENT VIDEO!! You have gained a subscriber! Near the end, you say all the driver had to do was look at the temp gauge. This is NOT always the case. I have an 08 Avalon and it overheated and EVEN AS IT WAS SETTING OFF EVERY OTHER WARNING LIGHT IN THE CAR, the temp gauge read normal (I took a picture of the dash at the time, so I later realized this). The water pump had been leaking (but was IMPOSSIBLE TO IDENTIFY other than disappearing coolant in small amounts). The problem was that the water pump gasket basically blew and drained rapidly. The ONLY indication was the fault code after the event that said temp above 280 Degrees. Not wanting to jinx myself, but I had the car TOWED home & made it a point to NOT add more coolant till the engine was cold to avoid rapid metal contraction / possible cracking (and I think that is what saved it). That was roughly 2 years ago and I am still driving the car (knock on wood).

Interesting how that one unfolded, great vid thanks!

Thank you for being one of the few honest business men around 😀

Another great tear down. Glad to see you on Powerstroke with A Rod live cast on Wednesday. Your perspective in the automotive business is different from them which I can see great discussions in the future.

Love the channel and seeing the engine gore! You should see if you can find an old V12 Jaguar engine to tear down

Glad to see you got you a new impact driver!!

The straight six in the old 280z was the best motor Japan ever produced.i pulled one with 200,000 miles to put a 383 stroker in an old z.I sold the straight six to a guy in town to put in his z and he drove it for another couple hundred thousand miles and sold it still running good.id love to see twin turbos on the old Datsun/Nissan straight six.

The only bad thing is bad maintenance. They have some oil cooler lines that get brittle and crack and lets out all of the oil (there is an upgraded part for that). They also tend to have a mysterious oil leak that no one figures out, but its actually from the timing cover. P. S. The engine has to come off the car to reseal the timing cover. Big dollar job.

I was a jet engine mechanic and an electrician in the USAF for years. A single DC valve that opens and closes is 10k. A titanium engine blade is around 60k.

Great video

Can confirm, water pumps and rubber oil lines are very known issues. Done both on my 2gr in my Lexus. I’d suspect the water pump failed as well. The timing covers like to leak too, the seal around them was not the greatest from the factory. Great video!

I've always loved the videos sense I found them, but one engine I'd really like to see dissembled would be chevys 4.2 inline 6. Preferably a 02-05 model but I will take what I can get!

I had this in my 2011 Toyota Rav4 v6 awd, I drive it 11,000 cross country at 65-115 mph , some drives for 15 hours straight, was 110 out some days, and the engine was rock solid, engine had 80,000 miles

Great vid, very informative

I missed the reason the chunk of metal detached from the cylinder wall! Just from the heat and the buildup of aluminum causing lateral pressure? I'd go back and look but it's more fun to ask over here. Thanks for another entertaining and informative teardown!

I know you did a 3.5vq before, but I would love to see another one that wasn’t in an accident that destroyed it but rather one that self imploded

I ENJOYED WATCHING YOU TEAR THIS ONE DOWN TO BAD THAT BLOCK WAS BAD.

Saw this Sunday! Yipee!

Goodwill is hard to recover, once lost, props to your business ethics Eric.

Nice to see this video man! We have this motor in our 2008 Highlander, and while it's had a few issues over the years it's still running strong at 241K miles. Had the lower oil cooler external line failure years ago, before it became a recall. Got our money back from the tow and repair once the recall came out. Also have been dealing with that nasty cold start VVTi grinding noise for more than half the car's life. Also had the water pump replaced a long time ago but after the warranty ended, so we shelled out $600 or more for that. It's in a tricky location to work on with the engine in place. My latest worry is a tick tick tick sound from one of the valves... Oh and the version of this motor in my 2015 Lexus GS 350 F-Sport has had a winding noise for years coming from a gear on the timing chain system. They replaced two parts already under my extended warranty, but the noise is still there. It winds up and down with the RPMs. Worries me that something might be failing and the end result will be very bad....

Thanks again for the Saturday matinee.

I love just binge watching these videos

I'm going to pretend that it's 15 years ago and I'm watching this on a Saturday night drinking with my friends instead of the reality of having my own 2GR-FE kid hauler sitting in the driveway, watching this after putting said kiddos to sleep.

Eric, I enjoy your channel! I learn a lot. Retired automotive engineer who worked in Germany. Experienced mechanic prior to college. I worked in my Dad's shop and ran it as his health began to fail. I love the fact you have a thick skin, so many on RU-vid take their toys and go home if you criticize the Eurotrash they tend to buy for their Yuppie wives. You do damn good work!