Blown engine - please help

Anonymous · January 12, 2005, 14:58

Hi guys

This is the first time to this forum - sorry it's such a bleak one - and I'm asking if anyone can help.

I have, or should i say had, a yr 2000 Mk3 MR2 with about 33,000 on the clock which needs a new engine because of a broken con rod. I've read as much as I could on this forum and Spyder chat but I have to say my knowledge of cars is extremely limited and so a lot of it went over my head. From what I can see mine went in a similar way to others - noise from the engine at about 3000 revs, massive oil consumption and finally death.

Here's the problem. The car is out of warranty but I contacted Toyota anyway who are refusing to do anything because although the car has a FSH is was not with Toyota (hindsight is such a wonderful thing..). Despite pointing out a few things to them that I had found on this forum - as in the number of early models this seems to have happened to and, regardless of anything else, a 4 year old car with 33k should not need a new engine - I got nowhere. My only hope, apparently, is to be able to prove that the car had a design fault at the point of sale. How do I do that?

So currently, my poor car is in bits in a garage, going no-where fast. I've spoken to the guy there and after much persuasion, have got him to check the state of the pre-cats (whatever they are s:oops: :oops: s:oops: ) because that seems to crop up time and time again on this forum but I don't know what else to do.

As I've said, what I know about cars you could write on the back of a stamp (please don't shout at me s:cry: :cry: s:cry: ) but I do know that mine is knackered and that I can't afford a new engine.

Can anyone suggest anything I should do? As in someone to contact or what kind of evidence I need to get to try and get Toypta to accept some kind of responsibilty? I'm one desperate, unhappy person.

Penny

markiii · January 12, 2005, 15:18

and what was the result of examining the precats?

Anonymous · January 12, 2005, 15:19

Still waiting to here.....

Anonymous · January 12, 2005, 15:25

I was just thinking today how we hadn't heard anything about the pre-cats/blown engine thing for a while.

so.simple · January 12, 2005, 15:25

Quote from: "penny"broken con rod.

I'm so very sorry to hear your story... The exact same thing happened to me. I have a 2000 MR2, whose engine blew more than a year after the warranty ended. A connecting rod broke and opened a hole in the cylinder wall. s:shock: :shock: s:shock: Even so, Toyota swapped it for me at zero cost, while offering a 2-year warranty for the parts replaced and work involved. See here: http://www.mr2roc.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5275

I sincerely hope everything gets sorted out quickly and with minimum hassle.

so.simple · January 12, 2005, 15:27

BTW, what is an FSH?

Anonymous · January 12, 2005, 15:29

Full Service History

so.simple · January 12, 2005, 15:32

Ok... Mine had an FSH with Toyota. Have you called Toyota directly? What simplified my case was the fact that I directly called their tecnhical department.

Anonymous · January 12, 2005, 15:55

The FSH I have is not with Toyota - at least not since I've had it. I've contacted Customer Relations at Toyota who quoted "loyalty" at me and said they wouldn't do anything as goodwill.

As I said, hindsight is a wonderful thing - in my naivety I didn't realise it was the be all and end all to have the car serviced at a dealer, to be honest I didn't because they were too expensive. But it appears like Toyota can 'insist' that services are carried out at Toyota dealers. However, here are a couple of quotes from the maintenance section of the manual -

"Where to go for service?
It makes good sense to take your vehicle to your local Toyota dealer for service..... "

and

"Even if you are an experienced do-it-yourself mechanic, we recommend that repairs and maintenance be conducted by your Toyota dealer who will keep a record of maintenance on your Toyota. This could be helpful should you ever require Warranty Service"

Ok, so emphasis on the words "good sense" and "recommend". Where does it say "essential"??? A maintenance record has been kept,
regardless of whether it was with Toyota or not.

I still don't see how a maintained car of this age and mileage should need a new engine. And, incidentally, the mechanic working on the car said that Toyota themselves told him they had sold 32 new engines (to whom or where I don't know) because of the same problem. Hearsay I know but all the same....

Anonymous · January 12, 2005, 15:58

I believe that someone on here told me that for warrenty purposes you dont have to have it serviced at a toyota garrage, but where ever you do have it service it must be using toyota parts (ie oil filter etc etc) something to do with competition law i believe ....

surely it would be against a person's human rights to not be allowed to choose where to get their car serviced !?

[EDIT] heres the link to the post im refereing to ...
m http://www.mr2roc.org/forum/viewtopic.p ... ht=service m
[EDIT]

Anonymous · January 12, 2005, 16:01

Not that this will make you feel much better, but I am pretty sure even if you had the car serviced by Toyota, they wouldn't do anything anyway outside warranty.

In other European countries the Toyota national franchise seem to look after customers a lot better than Toyota GB who are a bunch of useless parasites sadly!

Your best bet is to find a breakers with a used engine, they seem to go for a couple of hundred quid, and that should get your car running again.

James.

so.simple · January 12, 2005, 16:02

The problem is that warranty is long gone by now... I'm sorry for not being able to help you, Penny. I can only wish you good luck!

Liz · January 12, 2005, 16:17

Hi Penny, welcome along to the club, sorry that you first postings are under such yukky circumstances...
As previously mentioned, why not try a breakers, I don't know where in the country you are as it is not on your details but I did a quick search just on breakers and MR2 Roadster on the BBC search engine and found about 3 breakers with ones with front end damage in, engines still available according to the details listed. Move quick though if you decide to go down this route.
Good luck to you.

Jap GT300 · January 12, 2005, 16:21

I recently lost my 3rd engine (3 different MR-S) Exactly the same scenario.

Crank shaft went in all of them and ruined the big end. Loss of oil was noticeable.

There was no chance of getting Toyota to cough up a penny on any of them.

Anonymous · January 12, 2005, 22:16

Sorry to hear about your car.. Its happened to me twice.

The main problem I was told via Toyota. Is that the main engine block is screwed. As the metal will over heat and cause the slow burning of engine oil in the car. Hence the reason of the lost of oil in someone else car. Then slowly but surely your rods go carput... Then your valves and then goodness knows what else....

This is the main reason why your car has died..... I was lucky I was under warranty and I've extended my warranty though. Remember your car MUST be service via Toyota. Though personally I'm thinking of getting rid of the car for this reason. I hate to say it. Though I do love driving the car and it never fails to to but a smile on your face in the morning driving to work and does make it a bit more enjoyable driving to work on a Monday morning.

I'm still thinking of what car to buy though I still ain't a clue. Any ideas anyone? I was thinking of a RX8, BMW 3 Series converable, VW Toureg, SLK 350, I dunno, I want something fast though also pratical. All sensible ideas welcome

Bongo · January 12, 2005, 22:22

Quote from: "rainmen23"Sorry to hear about your car.. Its happened to me twice.

The main problem I was told via Toyota. Is that the main engine block is screwed. As the metal will over heat and cause the slow burning of engine oil in the car. Hence the reason of the lost of oil in someone else car. Then slowly but surely your rods go carput... Then your valves and then goodness knows what else....

Any chance of more information on this?

What cause the main engine block to get screwed? A design flaw? lack of maintenance? bad luck?

Anonymous · January 12, 2005, 22:32

QuoteAny chance of more information on this?

What cause the main engine block to get screwed? A design flaw? lack of maintenance? bad luck?

The dude in the Toyota garage said that the metal the engine block is made from is not very good and he said that heat from the block is causing a number of problems with a great number of MR2's and he also said that I wasn't the first person to have this problem. I can't go too technical cause I do computer and not cars.... I'll ask the garage guy if you like, to find out more info.

dimwit · January 12, 2005, 22:36

Quote from: "jblackmore"Toyota GB who are a bunch of useless parasites sadly.

Well said that man.... s:)

s:)

Anonymous · January 12, 2005, 22:40

I'll get more info in the engine block as soon as I get the chance

Anonymous · January 13, 2005, 12:55

Hi Penny.

Sorry to hear of your nasty situation. Personally, if I was in your situation, I would try to find a low mileage used engine from a crashed MR2 and have a decent garage fit that. Should be far cheaper than new. Would the people who service your car do this for you?

I think this option will be far quicker and lead to fewer grey hairs, than persuing Toyota for a good will payment for a car without full Toyota History. For what it's worth, of course you are right that a 4 year old 35k mile engine should not blow up, but the warranty is only for 3 years.

Good luck.

Andy

so.simple · January 13, 2005, 13:00

Quote from: "Andy S"find a low mileage used engine from a crashed MR2 and have a decent garage fit that

I agree. A new engine from toyota can go up to £3000. You should probably investigate about those suggested by Liz.

Anonymous · January 13, 2005, 14:06

it cost me about £2500 for a new engine supplied and fitted.
i was lucky that i managed to get a complete new one for half price as it had fallen off the delivery lorry and bent one of the mounting points on the block.
good luck with toyota but you may be in for a long hall.
i missed one service on mine so they would not repair it under warranty, even though i got an independant report to say that the pre-cats where at fault as the left chamber was completly empty and the bits had caused the block to wear away, they would not even pay for the labour as they said it was because i missed my service that any possible fault was not spotted.even though i had asked for the pre-cats to be checked before i had even hit 30,000 miles.
its such a shame that an excellent car has a big problem with engine reliabilty.
good luck and i hope you get it sorted.

Anonymous · January 13, 2005, 14:44

Hi guys,

I have a 2004 model, 6 speed manual.
This pre-cat thing is making me sweat already. Does anyone know if they have cured the problem for this model?

Many thanks,
Rob

markiii · January 13, 2005, 14:52

just gut them then, it's not hard.

Penny,

It may not be rightm but if your trying to get Toyota to sort this out of warranty prepare yourself for lots of aggro and time.

During all of which you won't be able to drive the 2.

Secondhand engines can be had from as little as £500 and in your place thats what I would be looking to do.

Anonymous · January 13, 2005, 15:09

Whilst I am very sorry Penny and others have had trouble with their 2's, you are all getting me worried here.
I have had a number of company cars that I have driven for the full service interval without checking the oil etc. I'm already checking the oil in my 2 weekly and if I keep reading this thread then I'm going to increase this to every other day.
One suggestion above mentioned heat being the problem, surely if this were so then the hotter climate countries would be far the most affected s:? :? s:?
Having recently bought a mk1 2 has shown me just how durable the original 2 engine is. So it would be a disaster if the mk3 was suspect.
Even though I'm under warranty for another 2 years I could not face the prospect of losing my 2 whilst the repair was carried out. Perhaps somebody out there could reassure me?