Engine Swap Specifics

Y'all.

I've been scouring the forum and internet for more specific info on engine swap considerations. I have a 2000 Tundra SR5, engine is 4.7L V8 2UZFE. The truck itself is a bit of a beater, was used to haul lumber for the previous owner's property business and driven only once a week. Needless to say it was mostly ignored and not well maintained but mostly limited to scratches. My intention is to breathe new life into her and pass it off to my oldest in the next year or two. My first concern is the engine, its worn. 330k miles kind of worn.

She holds up and still has some zip but it needs an update. Since I would prefer to drive her while the work gets done I'm shopping for a used engine. I've read that 2uzfe's after 2004 have vvti and won't be a direct bolt-in without harness, ecu, etc. Understood. However I am finding a lot of 2004 Tundra engines in junk yards that are selling for a couple of hundred bucks less. They have no VVTI badging that I can tell and the VIN numbers appear compatible, folks at the junk yards insist its compatible. The intake cover does have "iForce" on it but from what I understand this is just branding to appeal to laypeople.

Is a 2004 2UZFE engine compatible with a 2000 Tundra if it is not specifically labelled as having VVTI?

 

05-06 was when the motor changed over to VVTI. You should be able to put the '04 motor into the '00, just need to swap over the ECU and wiring harness with it I think.

 

Or stick in the pre-VVTi engine range, then side-by-side the engines, and move the critical stuff over from one block to the other, reinstall.

OP just needs to remember, the earlier models ('00-'02?) weren't drive-by-wire. So there's definitely some differences there. Did DBW start in '03? '04? Must consider it.

If the engine internals are the same ('00-'04) and you just swap over the sensors, bracketry, accessories, there's no reason to change ECU+Harness. It's definitely a good rule of thumb I've shoved down people's throats here with regard to donor engines that aren't like-like on the internals, always use the donor harness and ECU. But if internals are like-like, then ... just move old to new, and carry on.

 

Right on, this is what I needed to hear. Its looking like picking up a donor in the like-like year range is more expensive than I thought, may just end up pulling the engine and rebuilding in the garage over the winter. Unfortunately my old standby machine shop has gone out of business, guy got too old. Now I get to throw the dice on finding a new one

 

If the engine runs, why not just do some maintenance? I get that 330k is a lot of miles but we just had a member check in with almost 700k miles on his engine and 2 others hit 1 million. Toyota gave the first guy a new Tundra so they could study his million mile engine.

 

@FirstGenVol is right. 175-225k miles is like a break-in period for these engines, even with abuse. 350+ is really nothing.

I might've missed it, but is there anything specifically wrong with it? Is it stalling, rough idle, smoking, knocking, anything?

 

I was gonna say something similar. If it's not running right maybe try and get to the bottom of an issue. As long as it isn't some kind of internal engine issue. 330k isnt too crazy of a mileage yet. I think @bmf4069 is at a similar mileage. If you can lay out your symptoms of worn maybe you can get squared away without an engine swap.

 

You want to find a l33 5.3 out of an '05-'07 z71.

 

It guzzles oil and coolant is disappearing somewhere. I notice that the exhaust manifolds always seem soaked in fresh oil and I end up putting in a quart every 2 weeks, I'm leaning toward blown head gaskets.

 

We've had a few members with blown head gaskets but overall they say it's pretty rare for our trucks. It could be a leak for both oil and coolant. Especially if you already see oil on the manifolds. That's probably running down from blown valve cover gaskets which is common.

Honestly, if you could rule out the head gasket issue I would lean towards fixing the engine over replacing it. At least with fixing it you already know what you're dealing with and wouldn't have the mystery that comes with a used engine.

Another thing to consider is that even if you fix or replace the engine, you likely have a lot of work left to do. At 330k you probably need to replace everything related to the suspension. The lower ball joints on our trucks are a weak spot and you really shouldn't go aftermarket on those. You need to buy OEM ball joints. You wouldn't want your daughter driving the truck when those fail.

Not trying to scare you, just trying to give you the best advice we can. These are great trucks and many of us have replaced our suspension and plan to keep driving them many more years.

 

Yeah, that's leaking VC gaskets. A pretty simple job. I bet your VC bolts are loose too. Before that, check your coolant for black specks and get a coolant exhaust gas checker. Also, look under your oil cap for milkyness and check the dipstick to see what color the oil is. Milky brown would be bad.

 

As someone who had leaky VC gaskets, I was going to reply the same because it's super likely that's the source, per other people's experience on here, including mine.

For me, it wasn't 100% the gaskets, some jackass had the VCs off prior & didn't properly clean and reinstall FIPG into the corners as required, so oil could freely flow out there. They also failed to reinstall the washer/gasket combo around the peripheral bolts, plus the covers weren't torqued to spec, I think it's 13 inch lb? Or is it 17 inch lb? Look in the Field Service Manual, but OP should make sure the bolts are torqued down, the rubber on the washer/gasket likely compresses with time and heat.

Anyway, mine was a very small leak, I think I was losing 1/4 quart per month? I was able to quell some of the gasket leaks using ATP

$21 AT-205 Re-Seal Stops Leaks, 8 Ounce Bottle

AT-205, but that stuff only restores gaskets, it can't fix FIPG issues. When mine started leaking at ~71k miles (last year?), I was able to wipe the oil clear from the top downward, drive a couple short trips and check immediately after parking, and confirm 100% it was coming from the top down based on new leaks. Here are the common places to check for leaks if VC are leaking *you may want to read that whole thread....

Replacing the VC gaskets is easy with a sprinkling of tedium, here's more info on that, with the OEM part #s that'll save you money, and some process info and tips. (Go OEM on this and do not order parts from scAmazon, you will get counterfeits)

A note about milkyness under the oil cap @bmf4069 mentions...

That also happens in two common cases: The truck takes lots of short trips and can't clear steam from the cover, and/or failed or clogged PCV valve but probably other cases too. So don't take milky sludge under the cap as de-facto evidence this is a head gasket. If it hasn't been run overheated for any lengthy period, I'd be very surprised if this is a head gasket.

About lost coolant ...

Have you checked the radiator to make sure you're not dealing with pink milkshake? The tranny routes a line through the bottom of the radiator, which can start to leak, mixing coolant and tranny fluid. Also, isn't there a coolant bypass across the back of the block with a simple gasket/O-ring that is known to leak "invisibly" (down the back of the block)? You should be running Toyota red/pink coolant, have you checked for pink coolant crusties around the block, around the overflow container?

 

Oh and more info on the milky oil cap + short trip correlation: https://www.tundras.com/threads/milky-oil-in-cap.53911/

This isn't unique to this vehicle, it's true on many vehicles. Ultimate test is to drain a bit of oil off and check it.

 

UPDATE!

Y'all were NOT kidding about the valve covers being loose. All but 1 bolt was finger-tight or worse, about half of them took more than 15 turns to begin to tighten. I did this in the middle of the night just to satisfy my curiosity and I'm going to pick up some gaskets later today to make the complete fix on this little issue. Due to the leaking oil, what was on the dipstick when I bought the vehicle appeared fresh from the bottle. I plan to drive it a bit more and then do a complete oil change, tear apart the filter and look at what's inside to check for metal. Considering the mileage and how low the oil was after bringing it home, I am concerned about bearings.

 

Did you say sr2 to indicate 2wd? When you go to change all the fluids, make sure to break the front diff fill plug before trying to break the drain. If you have an lsd rear, get the proper fluid for it, too.

 

That would be an inexcusable typo on my part. Just imagine that 2 as a backwards and upside-down 5

 

These hotspots are where 100% of the oil residue is located. VC bolts were barely threaded at all and gaskets on the bolts are cracked and crumble in my fingers, plan to change VC gaskets this weekend. Will check the corners and half-moons for evidence of leaking and will clean and re-seal when doing the gasket job.

PCV was crusty and packed with lots of junk, changing this and the hose out when I do the VC gaskets.

Tranny fluid looks okay but I can't be sure of when it was last topped off. No foam or milky oil cap, no black specks in the coolant. I think the previous owner just never checked fluid levels. I leave a large dry piece of cardboard under the engine overnight and check to see what drips on it and all I've found is thick, greasy chunks of oil coming off the manifolds / valve covers. It just dawned on me to check the heater core, might be losing coolant that way and I don't think I've had the cardboard angled to catch anything that might drip from that corner of the engine bay...

 

These two things should solve a lot of the oil loss/leakage/crankcase woes. I couldn't find a good quality video on the internet to show how the hell to do the valve covers. I found plenty of videos, but none that showed the proper way to do it. I posted a lot of it in text, but I know that doesn't jibe with a lot of people FYI, here are links to the FSM if you want to do it by-the-book: https://www.tundras.com/threads/200...line-mapping-discrepancy.114412/#post-2944629

Get good quality FIPG for the VC corners. Make sure you clear out the corners well. Obviously, wipe everything down off the block when done. If you still have leaks, post pics of where they are, since the cam seals can leak too, but that's something you can likely solve like I did, with ATP.

Hit us up if you run into a snag! Stick around if you have more Q's on other stuff. There's a wealth of info here.