Toyota UZ (1UZ / 2UZ / 3UZ)

Toyota's quad-cam V8 — 1UZ at 4.0 litres, 3UZ at 4.3 and 2UZ at 4.7 — the engine of the LS 400, SC, GS, LX, Land Cruiser, Tundra and Sequoia. The 1UZ-FE is among the most durable engines ever put in a car, and the reputation is earned rather than folklore.

The 2UZ is not built like the other two, and that is the distinction that matters. The 1UZ and 3UZ have aluminium blocks and went into cars; the 2UZ has an iron block and went into trucks and body-on-frame SUVs, where the extra mass bought durability under load. A specification or a part for one does not describe the other.

The starter sits in the vee, beneath the intake manifold. Replacing it is a much larger job than the part suggests, and on a twenty-year-old car it is the repair most owners meet first — a quoted price that looks like a mistake usually is not.

These are belt-driven engines and the water pump is driven by the belt, so the two are replaced together and a pump changed alone means the belt was disturbed and not renewed. Beyond that, the recurring items are the oil cooler lines and the crossover pipe at the back of the vee, which weep where nobody can see them, and the starter contacts on the 2UZ in trucks.