4.0 head gasket potential issues

Hey guys, I’m looking at another tundra to buy and this one is an 05 with the 4.0 v6. As far as I know there aren’t any issues but how common is it? Should I avoid this truck and get a higher mileage 3.4? V8 doesn’t matter to me, I’ve already got on in my 100. Thanks everyone, this forum is awesome.

 

I think the 4.0 was in taco's for a few years. Thats probably the spot to look for a list of strengths/weaknesses.

 

5th Gen 4R as well. I have one. Great engine.

 

The 1GR-FE 4.0 was released in the 2003 4runner i believe, and then put in the 2005-2015'ish tacoma
Toyota changed the 4.0 1GR-FE in the 4runner to have a different oil filter i think in 2010 and then changed the heads somewhere around 2015 maybe.
This is a pretty solid engine minus the powdered metal rods if you do something whacky like boost and nitrous at the same time, the rods become the weak point. I have driven close to 600,000 miles combined in two vehicles with this engine and have never touched either of them. I had a tacoma with the TRD Supercharger and i beat the absolute snot out of it for the first 50,000 miles of its life drag racing every weekend, pulling trailer all week long for work, hauling enclosed trailers across the country at way too fast speeds, and that 4.0 never coughed. I sold that truck with 275,000 miles and besides my upgrades, i never touched the engine. My current 2008 4runner with the 4.0 has 230,000 miles on it, its been from miami to san diego in 3 days a few times, i have been to the west coast and back a couple dozen times in it, been down in mexico, been up to denver, pulling trailers for work, and driving it daily with zero issues. Aside from oil changes and filters i have never touched the engine. The same on our 2012 Limited 4runner with the 4.0, i drove it 120,000 before selling it and never touched the engine. I have never heard of head gasket issues on this engine, my 2008 tacoma i bought and ran 5,000 miles before i put the TRD supercharger on which came with 5.5 psi boost and after i got to like 40,000 miles i put upper and lower pullies to give me 8.5 psi of boost. I no joke, drag raced that thing over and over and over back to back pretty much every weekend up to around 50,000 miles, and it continued to pull trailers till the day i sold it. I pulled a big enclosed from mississippi to the pacific ocean and back at 80+mph screaming in boost the whole time up and down the mountains as i crossed the tail end of the rockies. That engine i would say is practically bulletproof.
The old 3.0 v6 in the 2nd gen 4runner and pickup is the one that had the head gasket problems.

 

I would say the 1GR-FE and the 2UZ-FE are two of the best and for sure in the top 5 engines Toyota has ever made.

 

Yeah I think they moved the oil filter from the top to the bottom. I always thought it was cool having it very convenient in the top of the engine bay on the early 4.0s

 

From what I've heard, the 4.0 is a good engine, but it can have some head gasket issues that you might want to look into. The YouTube channel "Toyota Maintenance" has some videos on this issue.

 

the filter on the early 4.0 is up on the top drivers side of the engine upside down. The filter has a check valve in it to make the filter hold oil so it doesn’t drain out and starve the engine every start up. The only real problem with this design is the filter being upside down on top of the engine means when you unscrew the filter it dumps the oil in the filter. They built a sort of catch can around the base of the filter and put a drain nipple on the bottom of the catch can but they didn’t put a drain hose on it. Most good Toyota techs take a quart bottle of oil and cut the top off and shove it under the nipple. The alternator is directly under the drain nipple so you can conveniently set the bottle on top of the alternator to catch the oil. Problem is most folks don’t do this and pour oil directly into the alternator which cashes the alternator out over time.
the 2010+ 4Runner gets the oil filter on the bottom of the engine. Problem here is you gotta remove the skid plate to get to it like the tundra. Lotta techs go the easy route and reach around or reach in from the top and dump oil over the top of the skid plate rather than pull it down. So honestly it’s just a difference in where the filter was placed.

 

Thats too bad. I always thought the top of engine bay filter location was the most convenient location I've seen on a tacoma.

 

My 08 4Runner has the filter on top...and I LOVE it!

 

The 4.0L was a great engine. That’s wild that they were that durable with all those mods. In stock form basic maintenance kept them running for hundreds of thousands of miles. I had an 06 4.0L Tacoma with 150K that I towed way to much with with and pushed to hard but it never skipped a beat on long trips. The early 4 runners and Tacomas with 4.0L engines did have some head gasket issues. They made a design change to the head gasket in late 2005. After they made that change it was probably one of the best aluminum block engines Toyota has ever built.

 

You have check the Vin. At some point in 2005 they made a design to the head gaskets. If you got one that was built in late 05 early 06 with the redesigned head gaskets the 4.0L was one of the best aluminum block engines Toyota ever built.