Disaster

[Anonymous]

There goes another engine.   s:cry: :cry: s:cry:  When I was driving yesterday I started to notice:

- excessive smoke after high revs, around 3-4k. The smoke was grey.
- increased vibrations in the cabin
- engine getting bogged down
- engine sounding rattly.

Now I know all about the symptoms of pre-cats so I check my oil usage religiously. I had a service 3k miles ago and there was still a good level of oil. So I got rescued by the RAC (who thought there was nothing wrong, maybe a broken sensor they said) to my home Toyota Garage. They have told me that the 'big end' has gone. The engine is knocking so it must be something to do with the crankshaft / bearings.

Any ideas what might have caused this? The garage said it is normally oil starvation but that has certainly not happened here.

Anyway, the garage has given me two options:

take the bottom off the engine and replace the crankshaft and sundries - £2100

put in a new 'short engine' - £3000.

Any views or advice (or commiserations)?

James

[Two's Company]

put in a new 'short engine' - £3000.

James

Does sound like the dreaded pre cats again.   s:( s:(  

On a brighter note I'm sure you would be able to fit a 2ZZ for that kind of money.   s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

[Anonymous]

Is it just me or does it seem as though a lot of '2s are experiencing pre-cat failure just recently? and bearing in mind us on here are just a minuscule percentage of '2 owners out there.

I guess most of the 2000 - 2001 cars are hitting the mid-mileage I.E +50k, where the Cat Failure is most likely to occur.

Surly MrT can't ignore this for much longer ! ! !

[Anonymous]

put in a new 'short engine' - £3000.

James

Does sound like the dreaded pre cats again.   s:( s:(  

On a brighter note I'm sure you would be able to fit a 2ZZ for that kind of money.   s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

No excessive oil usage though? I had a service 3k miles ago and there is still plenty of oil on the dipstick.

James

[Anonymous]

 s:( s:(   That sucks mate. Hope you get it sorted out without too much financial damage.

[karlus972]

Sorry to hear that.....

However, knowing that pre-cats only bring engine failure + trouble + money + argument with Mr T : QUESTION

"Why are people keeping the pre-cats on their car anyway?"

I don't mean to be harsh or anything, but it's the 1st thing I did on my car.....GUT THE PRECATS....

[Anonymous]

Yes but it's warranty issues isn't it!

[Anonymous]

Anyone living in Surrey want to come and gut my precats for cash???

[karlus972]

as far as i know there's been a couple of bad stories even when the car is under warranty.
Nevertheless, i think it's not worth not gutting the precats even when the car is still on warranty IMHO   s:wink: :wink: s:wink:  
Also, you can buy an additional 3 year warranty for quite good bargain right?  s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

[Anonymous]

I don't mean to be harsh or anything, but it's the 1st thing I did on my car.....GUT THE PRECATS....

I don't doubt that you are right but this is not really going to help me now. Does anyone have advice on the best way forward? I did ask the dealership about the pre-cats but they gave me the brush-off.

If the problem is pre-cats then I guess a re-con is probably not a good idea - the particulates will have damaged all the internals. Is that right?

James

[darrenjuggins]

Hi James,

Sorry to hear your troubles, getting back to your question.

Q. Are you under any type of warranty now, or is what ever you do now going to come out of your own pocket ?

Obviously which ever answer you give, will decide on your next action, the extended warranty does cover engine failure, but from the posts it would seem that you don't have extended warranty.

Therefore you need to consider your options, the short block and bottom end are options, but obviouly quite a large expense from the dealer.

You could ask adam nicely if he has any available, but you will still need to factor in fitting, unless you are a dab hand.

I wouldn't like to guess at a price, but you will probably get a nearly new engine and fitting for much less than a short block from Mr T.

You may want to see if you can get anything out of toyota, but I wouldn't bank on it.

[Anonymous]

.....excessive smoke after high revs, around 3-4k. The smoke was grey.....

Doesn't sound much like a big end problem. That sounds more valve train related. I'm no Techie though   s:? :? s:?

[Anonymous]

Q. Are you under any type of warranty now, or is what ever you do now going to come out of your own pocket ?

No warranty - it is all going to come out of my pocket. I have pmed Adam but I think I read in a previous post that he doesn't have any engines at the moment.

I think the killer with Toyota is their labour charge - £90 + VAT   s:roll: :roll: s:roll:  

James

[Anonymous]

Doesn't sound much like a big end problem. That sounds more valve train related. I'm no Techie though   s:? :? s:?

The mechanic seemed very certain from the noises the engine was making. The smoke is curious though.

James

[roger]

I think the killer with Toyota is their labour charge - £90 + VAT   s:roll: :roll: s:roll:  

James

Where are you James?

Can you get to Silverstone Performance, their labour rate beats that into a cocked hat, and I honestly reckon you will get an A1 job from them, with no bull**it.

[Anonymous]

I have a spare engine that i should really shift. PM me if your interested.

[Anonymous]

I think the killer with Toyota is their labour charge - £90 + VAT   s:roll: :roll: s:roll:  

James

Where are you James?

Can you get to Silverstone Performance, their labour rate beats that into a cocked hat, and I honestly reckon you will get an A1 job from them, with no bull**it.

The car is in Kidlington. I wonder how far it will drive?

[Anonymous]

I agree, I think your most cost effective solution is to buy a complete engine from someone on the forum or from a breaker and then pay a local garage to fit it for you. I would have thought you could half the labour rate that way. Also there are plenty of breakers around these days who only deal in low mileage relatively new cars so finding a good engine shoudlnt be too difficult. I bought a complete Ford 2 Litre Zetec engine once with zero miles for £650. The car had fallen off the back off the transporter and being brand new they weren't allowed to repair it and re-sell as a new car so they broke it up! Look on the web, it doesn't matter where in the country they are as they'll be able to post it direct to the garage who is going to fit it for you. I'm sure this will work out cheaper. Good luck...

[roger]

The car is in Kidlington. I wonder how far it will drive?

If its Inchcape, I wouldn't trust them to blow up the tyres. In fact on the service they didn't. The locking caps defeated them!

I am sure SP could arrange transport, or you take a chance, it is only about 20 miles.

Why not give Steve / Matt a call. As I said they won't bull you, and they may have something that could help. If you are putting in a new engine or just bits, and not doing it yourself, they would be ideal - and as I said labour rate is substantially lower.

[Anonymous]

... it doesn't matter where in the country they are as they'll be able to post it direct to the garage who is going to fit it for you ...

I have strange images of a post man reaching into his parcel bag and pulling out an engine ' SPECIAL DELIVERY'

Sorry,

I agrree with the above, much better to source a newer engine and get it fitted on the cheap, but ensuring you get a warrenty with it. Including fitting.

May be better to get the Parts and the Labour done at the same place if possible. that way any problems you only have to go to one place and theres no comeback.

[Chris_h]

James,

Bad luck, really feel for you. One of the main reasons I converted to Toyota was for reliability, so one does not expect premature failures.

Just wondering, I have heard of Toyota owners getting some grace through Toyota UK on catastrophic failures out of warranty, assuming its not that old, has lowish miles and FTSH?

I believe a friend of a friend had a new gearbox on her Celica replaced with a 50% rebate.

Worth a try, although I appreciate you may not have the time to pursue this.

PS. re. PRECATS, seem to make no sense why T included them in NON US markets. OEMS go to amazing lengths to cut costs, seems like utter madness that they didn't delete for EU models and save a few $$$. I'd have thought broken precats would obliterate the valve gear, not big end??

[Tem]

PS. re. PRECATS, seem to make no sense why T included them in NON US markets. OEMS go to amazing lengths to cut costs, seems like utter madness that they didn't delete for EU models and save a few $$$.

A small run car such as MR2 is a great test mule for new stuff, like precats and SMT. I bet Toyota is just happy that these things break on MR2's, so they can fix the issue before introducing them in mass market models.

[Anonymous]

James,

Bad luck, really feel for you. One of the main reasons I converted to Toyota was for reliability, so one does not expect premature failures.

Just wondering, I have heard of Toyota owners getting some grace through Toyota UK on catastrophic failures out of warranty, assuming its not that old, has lowish miles and FTSH?

Thanks for the sentiment. The car is not that new - 2000 X reg, 82k miles and FTSH. Still, engine failure of this kind should not occur on a car of this age.

James

[Anonymous]

Update - the car is now with Rogue. Just trying to find a CAT now.

James

[Anonymous]

I'd be interested to hear how you get on. Mine has gone as well (I'm located down the road in Botley). 2000 Y plate and 77k.  It's sitting at Millaway looking sorry for itself.  s:( s:(  

If anyone knows of a secondhand engine please let me know - thanks,

dave.