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My 2008 RX350 (92,000 miles only broke an exhaust spring), requiring a major DIY repair, with no car lift in my garage, some hints and tips should you be so unlucky too!
I did this in my garage, no engine lift, no engine holder, took a while. Machine shop fees were $750 for all new springs, valve job both heads, plus a bunch of new upgraded parts, seals, fluid, gaskets etc, all in about $2k.
First, early 3.5L 2GR-FE engines (RX350, many Toyotas) used valve springs with 3.3mm steel diameters, and Toyota knew these were breaking, and recalled them on all models except Lexus RX350's it appears, shame on Lexus/Toyota, your $5 spring cost me thousands...
Symptoms: Cruising on highway, some noise, then loss of power. Pulled over, would not start. Later determined would start when cold, but soon as engine warmed up, would run rough, fail to idle and stall.
Diagnosis: Fuel trims were maxed out after engine warmed up, going to max. In hindsight, this was because of no compression in cylinder #4 (the one with broken spring, bent and stuck open valve) meaning raw fuel in bank 2, and computer could not balance FT, so limp mode, no idle when O2 sensors active after they were warmed up. Pull plugs, do compression test, zero on #4.
Hint no 1: Once there is zero compression on a cylinder, just suck it up and remove the subframe with engine and transmission. I wasted time unplugging the wire harness over bank 2, but there is nothing you can fix by removing the valve cover, and unplugging 13 year old harness connectors is WAY easier with engine out of car than in it.
Hint no 2: Take pictures while disassembly, AND before every major install piece. I.e., before putting the timing cover on, take a pic so you know you put on the new oil seals, tensioner etc. correctly. The 2 mins it takes save hours of wondering, lol.
Good news 1: The 2GR-FE is a very common engine, and there are many YouTube and forum posts to help you.
Good news 2: The RX350 is already higher then a minivan, or ES350, so you don't have to jack the body up as much to pull out the subframe with eng/trans.
Hint no 3: If you plan to replace the rear main seal(RMS), as I did, go the SM route and drain tranny, remove axles. If you are not going to replace the RMS, unbolt the struts/calipers and leave the axles attached.
What you need: 3 jacks, 2 at least should be 2.5 or 3 ton.
2 quality, solid rubber wheel chocks, the front is gonna be jacked up, don't want it rolling back. Consider parking anther car bumper to bumper behind while you do this.
2 6 ton jack-stands, and 2 3 ton jack stands, its gonna get high in front!
2 car dollies, these are low profile, and the curve on the side sub-frames fit nicely into them, plus it rolls around easy.
decent 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2 torque wrenches, and FIPG, I used Threebond, a whole tube with a little left for the rebuild, and of course, a rebuild gasket kit.
Sub-frame out, notice 6 tons jack stands at max, but these are solid, plus car not near as heavy without eng/trans. The bad news, broken spring, stuck valve, but all the parts were just sitting there, nothing in pan. More bad news, valve guide cracked, to the machine shop with both heads! I marked the chain where it was. I guess you could ruin your elbows/arms by rotating engine until colored links lined up, but the chain goes back on exactly as it came off. The tensioner was only out 2 notches, so I reused chain. I decided to replace the rear main seal while waiting for the machine shop to finish heads, went full redneck on this, did not want to buy and store an engine lift. The dollies are great, raise engine, push the rest out of the way.
gawd!!! i hope this doesnt happen to mine!!! my 07 rx350 has a bit over 150,000 miles on it and so far so good(knock on wood). I just hope i dont encounter anything like this anytime soon as i definitely dont have the money to fix it at 2,000 bucks!!!; at that point i will have to kiss my 07 goodbye and move on to possibly a 3rd gen rx.
Wow, I never heard about problems w/ the valve springs on the 2gr motors......Is your '08 a late or early model? Great job on being creative by the way.......
no that was the idiot shop i went to which sadly took me for a "ride" claiming i needed to have the engine replaced but that was 8 months ago and mine is still rolling right along.
I did this in my garage, no engine lift, no engine holder, took a while. Machine shop fees were $750 for all new springs, valve job both heads, plus a bunch of new upgraded parts, seals, fluid, gaskets etc, all in about $2k.
Awesome job!
Definately not a job for amatuers. lol
Wondering what an indy would charge and if they would've went the extra mile and offered to do the extra stuff you did.
Awesome job!
Definately not a job for amatuers. lol
Wondering what an indy would charge and if they would've went the extra mile and offered to do the extra stuff you did.
to have to haul the entire engine up and out to replace those springs? I dont think i wanna know what the repairs would be! can u say ouch?
I'm impressed.
Any theory on why the spring failed?
See the link in post #4 above, Toyota said (per that post) that the steel was contaminated, but only 0.2 percent would fail (I guess they meant while under warranty). Other than that, the car was very gently driven. Just bad luck I guess.
My 2008 RX350 (92,000 miles only broke an exhaust spring), requiring a major DIY repair, with no car lift in my garage, some hints and tips should you be so unlucky too!
I did this in my garage, no engine lift, no engine holder, took a while. Machine shop fees were $750 for all new springs, valve job both heads, plus a bunch of new upgraded parts, seals, fluid, gaskets etc, all in about $2k.
First, early 3.5L 2GR-FE engines (RX350, many Toyotas) used valve springs with 3.3mm steel diameters, and Toyota knew these were breaking, and recalled them on all models except Lexus RX350's it appears, shame on Lexus/Toyota, your $5 spring cost me thousands...
Symptoms: Cruising on highway, some noise, then loss of power. Pulled over, would not start. Later determined would start when cold, but soon as engine warmed up, would run rough, fail to idle and stall.
Diagnosis: Fuel trims were maxed out after engine warmed up, going to max. In hindsight, this was because of no compression in cylinder #4 (the one with broken spring, bent and stuck open valve) meaning raw fuel in bank 2, and computer could not balance FT, so limp mode, no idle when O2 sensors active after they were warmed up. Pull plugs, do compression test, zero on #4.
Hint no 1: Once there is zero compression on a cylinder, just suck it up and remove the subframe with engine and transmission. I wasted time unplugging the wire harness over bank 2, but there is nothing you can fix by removing the valve cover, and unplugging 13 year old harness connectors is WAY easier with engine out of car than in it.
Hint no 2: Take pictures while disassembly, AND before every major install piece. I.e., before putting the timing cover on, take a pic so you know you put on the new oil seals, tensioner etc. correctly. The 2 mins it takes save hours of wondering, lol.
Good news 1: The 2GR-FE is a very common engine, and there are many YouTube and forum posts to help you.
Good news 2: The RX350 is already higher then a minivan, or ES350, so you don't have to jack the body up as much to pull out the subframe with eng/trans.
Hint no 3: If you plan to replace the rear main seal(RMS), as I did, go the SM route and drain tranny, remove axles. If you are not going to replace the RMS, unbolt the struts/calipers and leave the axles attached.
What you need: 3 jacks, 2 at least should be 2.5 or 3 ton.
2 quality, solid rubber wheel chocks, the front is gonna be jacked up, don't want it rolling back. Consider parking anther car bumper to bumper behind while you do this.
2 6 ton jack-stands, and 2 3 ton jack stands, its gonna get high in front!
2 car dollies, these are low profile, and the curve on the side sub-frames fit nicely into them, plus it rolls around easy.
decent 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2 torque wrenches, and FIPG, I used Threebond, a whole tube with a little left for the rebuild, and of course, a rebuild gasket kit.
Sub-frame out, notice 6 tons jack stands at max, but these are solid, plus car not near as heavy without eng/trans. The bad news, broken spring, stuck valve, but all the parts were just sitting there, nothing in pan. More bad news, valve guide cracked, to the machine shop with both heads! I marked the chain where it was. I guess you could ruin your elbows/arms by rotating engine until colored links lined up, but the chain goes back on exactly as it came off. The tensioner was only out 2 notches, so I reused chain. I decided to replace the rear main seal while waiting for the machine shop to finish heads, went full redneck on this, did not want to buy and store an engine lift. The dollies are great, raise engine, push the rest out of the way.
I asked if you used the Service manual. I also wondered why you pulled the head. You can change valve springs(not valves) and leave the heads on. The valves could be checked with a borescope. If ok then relatively easy to replace all the springs and seals without pulling the heads
>>>> I also wondered why you pulled the head. You can change valve springs(not valves) and leave the heads on. The valves could be checked with a borescope
Pls look at the pics and text, you will see that the valve was bent and stuck, see the crack in the valve guide. I did use the SM plus youtubes for 2GR-FE R&R GL!
Thank you. a real good job and interference engines are a drag. I try always to avoid them but most new engines interfere with each other. So my fleet of non non interference buggies are getting long in the tooth.
09-10-20, 03:04 PM
2008 RX350 DIY fix broken exhaust valve spring
