Also known as: 2gr-fe, 2gr-fks, 2gr-fxe, 3.5 v6, gr engine, camry v6, 2gr-fse, 2gr-fxs, 4gr-fse, 3gr-fse, 4gr, 3gr-fe, 8gr-fxs, 3gr, 8gr
Toyota's 3.5-litre V6 — the engine of the larger Camry, Highlander, Sienna, RAV4 and most of the Lexus range for fifteen years, and one of the most-praised engines of its era.
Its one genuinely notorious fault is specific and worth naming: on a defined range of early production, an oil line running to the VVT-i system was part rubber, and that hose could rupture — dumping oil rapidly and destroying the engine if the driver kept going. A recall replaced it with an all-metal line. On any early 2GR the question is whether that work has been done, and it is a VIN check rather than an inspection.
Beyond that it is a durable engine whose recurring items are the water pump, the timing-chain cover gasket on high-mileage examples, and — because it sits transversely in most applications — very poor access to the rear bank. Rear-bank spark plugs or coils are a substantially larger job than front-bank, which is worth telling an owner before the estimate rather than after.
This page answers for the GR V6 family, so the cars listed below run 2.5 to 3.5 litres — the 3GR-FE and 3GR-FSE at 3.0 and the 4GR-FSE at 2.5, alongside the 2GR itself and the 8GR-FXS hybrid. The rubber VVT-i oil line is a 2GR fact and a VIN question; it is not a reason to inspect a 4GR.
Cars fitted with this engine
31 generations, across 3 makes. From the authored catalogue — an absent car means the catalogue has not reached it, not that the engine was never fitted.
Lexus
- RX XU30 2003–2008
- IS XE20 2005–2013
- GS S190 2005–2011
- ES XV40 2006–2012
- RX AL10 2008–2015
- GS L10 2011–2020
- ES XV60 2012–2018
- IS XE30 2013–present
- RC First generation 2014–present
- RX AL20 2015–2022
- LS XF50 2017–present
- LC First generation 2017–present
- ES XZ10 2018–present
- TX First generation 2023–present
Toyota
- Sienna XL10 and XL20 1997–2010
- RAV4 XA30 2005–2012
- Avalon XX30 2005–2012
- Camry XV40 2006–2011
- Previa Third generation (XR50) 2006–2019
- Highlander XU40 2007–2013
- Venza AV10 2008–2015
- Sienna Third generation 2010–2020
- Camry XV50 2011–2017
- Highlander XU50 2013–2019
- Avalon XX40 2013–2018
- Tacoma Third generation 2015–2023
- Camry XV70 2017–2023
- Avalon XX50 2018–2022
- Highlander XU70 2019–present
Information, not instruction
CarGeek is a reference, not a service manual. Its pages are written from public sources and from what other people have found, never from a manufacturer's own service information, so they can be wrong or incomplete for your particular vehicle. Some of what they describe carries real risk: high voltage, fuel under pressure, stored energy, hot and moving parts.
Have anything you intend to act on checked by a trained person against the manufacturer's own procedure for your vehicle. Nothing here replaces that procedure.
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