I have bought only Toyota and Lexus products for the last 22 years of my life. I am loyal to the brand and a Toyota body-on-frame truck and SUV enthusiast, so this entire situation has disappointed me greatly. Toyota’s continued excuses and lack of transparency have broken my faith in anything with this engine and eroded my trust in the brand.
A little history...
Failures started in 2022 and Toyota denied them until they couldn’t anymore. 2022 and 2023 gas models finally got recalled in 2024 with continued customer complaints and vocal online communities, but Toyota excluded hybrids despite there being plenty of documented hybrid failures as well.
We continued to see 2023 and 2024 models - including hybrids and Sequoias - with failing engines and here we are in 2025 with it still ongoing, though seemingly in lower numbers. Now we have an expanded recall that includes the GX 550, which somehow we all hoped would be remedied and problem free considering the original recall covered 2022-2023 engines and the GX started production for 2024.
Over the years, Toyota has changed several part numbers on this engine - some multiple times - with bearings, rings, pistons, sealants, and even blocks. At times they have changed both materials and designs in conjunction with the part numbers, and we all hoped they would finally achieve a winning (functioning) formula. Failures continue. I never believed the machining debris explanation because it shouldn’t have existed at two different plants across several different teams, for several years, and by a manufacturing company as sophisticated as Toyota. In my opinion it is a cover up excuse for a critical engineering flaw.
If Toyota knew what was wrong with this engine, they would have fixed it by now. Period.
4 model years, countless revised part numbers, two half-assed recalls, and hundreds of failed engines later, and there has never been a follow up statement or any additional context from Toyota about what happened. We’re all supposed to believe the only problem was “machining debris” in 2022-2024 models and we all know damn well that’s a lie because we have documented failures in late 2023 models, 2024 models, 2025 models, hybrids, Sequoias, GX 550s, etc.
Not that I believe every dingbat with a computer, but master techs have given first hand accounts of what a disaster this has been and how many of these engines are starved for oil and burnt from the bottom up, some people getting 2-3 replacement engines because of repeated failures, and insight into all of the new part numbers and materials used in various updates over the years. The general consensus has been that there has to be a design flaw with this engine because the repeated failures and constant efforts to fix it have produced very little improvement, if any.
Toyota needs to figure out what really is wrong with this engine, redesign or update it accordingly, and then release a new version. A new engine designation with revised parts would be a major step in the right direction to providing SOME consumer confidence that they have fixed this issue. If they continue to ignore that this problem is much wider than they admit to, and many consumers know it, the company is doing major harm to their reputation for reliability and dependability.
Facebook groups, Reddit, and various Tundra/Toyota/Lexus communities have had the same stories for years:
“Oh yeah, the August 2023+ models are good!”...those start failing.
“2024 models have new part numbers, those are good!” ...those start failing.
“May 2024+ builds are solid now, we’re good.” ...those start failing.
"August 2024+ models have new part numbers for the blocks, so we should be clear now." ... those start failing.
“2025s are here… all of the kinks are worked out!” ...2025s have failures.
"GX 550s were built after the recall, so they're good!" ...GX 550 failures.
"Sequoias aren't included, they're safe." ...plenty of documented Sequoia failures.
Problems happen with every brand, but Toyota’s lack of communication or explanation in this situation has completely ruined my trust in this engine. I’ll never buy one until there is a massive update and we have 2-3 years of trucks with normal failure rates, but the thing that is worse is the fact that they're only acknowledging what they're being forced to by buyers, late, and without any transparency or explanation.
Shame.
