Tanak reported an engine issue with his Ford Puma after clocking the fastest time in the first pass of Thursday morning's 4.08km shakedown stage.
The 2019 world champion was forced to be towed back to the service park, where his M-Sport team could investigate the problem.
M-Sport declared the issue to be "fairly significant", which prompted the British squad to change his engine.
Teams are able to change engines under the WRC sporting regulations but the installation of a new power unit will incur a five-minute penalty, effectively ending Tanak's hopes of challenging for victory at his home round.
"We don't know exactly," said M-Sport team principal Richard Millener when asked to diagnose the issue.
"What we do know is it is fairly significant engine issue, so we have no option but to change the engine - which we can do by regulation, but it will mean we will get a penalty before we start the rally.
"It is a really frustrating beginning to the rally and possibly the worst start we can have, but that is the situation we find ourselves in.
"It will be a time penalty and regulations state that it will be five minutes, so that is going to put us at a serious disadvantage.
Source: Autosport