Tundra forums are full of horror stories alleging catastrophic engine failures. Toyota has finally issued a mea culpa for a metric ton of trucks and Lexus LX 600 sport utility vehicles equipped with the V35A-FTS engine, a twin-turbo V6 that premiered in 2017 with the fifth-gen Lexus LS.
Toyota has issued two separate recalls for gas-only Tundra pickup trucks and LX 600 luxury SUVs: the first for approximately 102,000 vehicles produced for the US market and the second for just under 10,000 vehicles produced for Canada. The world's largest automaker has confirmed what service techs have been hypothesizing for two years now.
More specifically, certain machining debris may not have been cleared from the engine during the manufacturing process. If said machining debris adheres to the crankshaft bearings, the bearings will ultimately fail. In this event, customers may notice rough engine operation, knocking, stalling, and/or a no-start condition. The worst-case scenario would be to stall while driving at speed on the highway, for it greatly increases the risk of an accident.
Suspect pickup trucks were produced for the 2022 through 2023 model years, while suspect utility vehicles were produced for model year 2022 exclusively. As mentioned earlier, only the gas-exclusive Tundra i-FORCE and LX 600 are affected. The hybridized version of the Tundra, which is dubbed i-FORCE MAX, isn't affected.
Both American and Canadian customers will be notified about said problem via first-class mail by late July 2024. As fore the bad news, Toyota doesn't have a fix, at least not for the time being. Both safety recall notices read the following: "Toyota is currently developing the remedy for this issue."
Photo: Toyota
Although the short blocks for the non-hybrid and hybrid version of the V35A-FTS feature the very same part number (11400-F4020), the long blocks are listed with different part numbers (19000-F4030 and 19000-F4040). For those among us that aren't mechanically inclined, long block usually means short block plus the heads and the valvetrain.
It's highly likely that affected customers will get replacement engines. In this case, Toyota will have to pony up a tremendous amount of money. The aforementioned short block assembly is listed online with a starting price of around $3,100, whereas the non-hybrid V6 engine's long block is over $16,000. The hybrid long block retails at $17,700.
The uber-expensive recall will hurt Toyota's finances, but looking at the bigger picture, Toyota doesn't really have a choice but to make things right with customers who purchased the Tundra i-FORCE and LX 600 over competing models. Toyota took decades to build its reputation for reliability in America, and now certainly isn't the time to alienate existing and potential customers.
As soon as the folks at Toyota Motor North America decide on the remedy for these contaminated engines, we'll update this story with all the relevant information available. In the meantime, affected owners can't do anything but run the 17-character VIN on Toyota's website. Alternatively, the NHTSA website boasts a VIN look-up tool as well.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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