2.4 / 2.8 D-4D (GD) engine: faults and reliability

The GD series is the four-cylinder diesel family with which Toyota replaced the KD series from 2015 in its ladder-frame models. It is built in Japan, India and Thailand and combines a variable-geometry turbo with common-rail injection. In the cars sold in Europe there are two displacements: the 2GD-FTV of 2,393 cc (2.4 D-4D) and the 1GD-FTV of 2,755 cc (2.8 D-4D). According to ADAC data sheets, both are Euro 6, have a particulate filter with an SCR catalyst that uses AdBlue, and use a timing chain.^[4][6][7]

The eighth-generation Hilux arrived in the United Kingdom in April 2016 with the 150 hp 2.4 D-4D as its only engine; the 2020 facelift added the 2.8 D-4D, which rises to 204 hp and up to 500 Nm with the automatic gearbox. In the Land Cruiser J150 the 2.8 arrived in 2015 in place of the 3.0 D-4D, with 177 hp, and from October 2020 to August 2024 it was sold in Germany with 204 hp, according to ADAC.^[1][5][6][7]

In January 2024 Toyota acknowledged irregularities in the power certification tests of three diesel engines, including the 1GD-FTV and the 2GD-FTV, whose tests were carried out by Toyota Industries: a version of the engine control unit software different from the production one was used, with results that appeared more uniform. Toyota maintains that the engines concerned meet the power requirements and that there is no need to stop using the vehicles; the Spanish press reported that imports of these models with these engines to Europe were halted and that units already delivered to customers should not be affected. The Japanese ministry lifted the suspension on shipments of Toyota Industries engines on 27 February 2024, and Hilux shipments from Thailand resumed on 4 March.^[10][11][12]

In its used-car test of the Land Cruiser 150, from January 2020, AutoBild considered that the new 2.8 seemed, at least until then, to give fewer problems and to be more robust than the previous 3.0, whose Denso injectors were indeed a risk, although it warned that there were fewer high-mileage examples. The UK recall database (DVSA) records no particulate filter recall for the Hilux or the Land Cruiser: for the Hilux it only lists recalls for other systems, and for the Land Cruiser two small ones without specifying the engine (the exhaust urea injector flange, with 589 vehicles built between June 2015 and January 2016, and a poorly tightened fuel pipe on the Prado, with 87 vehicles from March and April 2019). The European Hilux listings we have reviewed only show recalls for airbags, eCall and power steering.^[1][3][13]