Engine failure update - precat inspection

[rmowbray]

Hi,

Following my earlier post about my engine that sounded like a diesel, I've  whipped the O2 sensors out to have a look at the precats. I've uploaded some pictures of what I found. There's definitely some erosion visible. Is this as bad as has been seen on other failed engines?

To be honest I expected to see worse damage to the precats.   s:? :? s:?  

I'm thinking of going to see Mr T and have a whinge about this "known" fault killing my engine and see if I can get them to accept some of the blame/cost. As my car is 1 year out of warranty this is my only chance of reducing the cost. Has anyone had any luck with getting Toyota to accept some liability on post warranty failures or will I just be wasting my breath???   s:evil: :evil: s:evil:  

Richard

[kanujunkie]

doesn't appear too bad but then again you cant see the bottom of the cats and that may have broken off

[heathstimpson]

Whip them out asap as they look like they are about to go  s:? :? s:?

[Slacey]

They don't look to bad, but as Stu said the bottom sections could have broken away and clogged the main cst, causing your problems. Take it to the dealer, explain the theory (print stuff off from here as backup) and let them sort it out.

[Anonymous]

Remeber the precats are about 100mm thick i.e most of the length of the precat chamber so like the others have said, you don't know the full state of damage unless you've seen both sides.

[rmowbray]

I'm not convinced that my engine failure has been caused by the precats. There's a few things that don't seem quite right. My understanding of the engine failures from the posts I've read is that bits of the precat get sucked back into the exhaust ports, score the bores and cause a sudden increase in oil consumption, eventually leading to low oil level (cos you don't spot the increased consumption).

In this case would have thought that there would be a loss of power as a result of lost compression in the cylinders but I didn't notice this. I think that I'm in agreement with Jap GT300 on this one and it's more likely a crank bearing failure cos the engine runs, it just sounds terrible.  s:? :? s:?  

Whatever the actual cause of the failure, the precats are coming out anyway. I don't want another engine killed by them whether they caused this failure or not.

I pondering what to do next now. It's either a new short engine or a full engine from a salvage. Either way it's going to eat up my turbo kit fund.  s:cry: :cry: s:cry:  

Any comments or advice would be very welcome.

[Tem]

In this case would have thought that there would be a loss of power as a result of lost compression in the cylinders but I didn't notice this. I think that I'm in agreement with Jap GT300 on this one and it's more likely a crank bearing failure cos the engine runs, it just sounds terrible.

Well...I noticed my engine's about to give up pretty much like you described. It sounded like a diesel. There was no loss of power, no major oil consumption and the precats looked like yours, just a little imperfection on the surface. Went to Toyota and they said it's all normal and told me to keep on driving.

I did...for a month or two or so. The sound just kept getting louder, but still no powerloss or major visible precat issues. Went to Toyota again and they finally agreed to open the engine and see what's the issue. On my way home the engine gave up without any warning (except the diesel noise for few months), major loss of power and major clanking.

I'd be careful, very careful. If you're going to open the engine anyway, take a very close look at the cylinder walls for any scraping marks. If you have them, the precats have already started "their job"  s:? :? s:?

If it's just a failed bearing and nothing more, there's no need to get a new engine. That's fairly easy and cheap to replace.