At 55,000 miles, I brought the car for a regular soil and lube. I mentioned the mechanic the noise was suddenly coming out of the engine. He recommended cleaning up and to try a few oil changes (2 or so). At ~60,000 miles have had a break meltdown that required a new master cylinder and break buster ($1400), mentioned the noise again (it had not stopped). Got same answer, the car could run safely. At 60,000 got the car in again for an oil and lube, and mentioned the noise again. Now it turns out that the main bearing of the engine is worn out at must be replaced. He cost is ~$5,000.
I have made regular oil changes but at 7000-10000 miles (my fault). The manufacturer would not honor the warranty because I have not taken care of the car (have not made oil changes every 3000 miles) I am asking the general audience, is it worth the time to fight the dealer to get it fixed under warranty, wouldn’t it be better to sell the car to buy another …. …. Or is it worthy to fix it?
correntions must be made (cut and past did not work)
I think there is another cheaper way to replace the worn part instead of buying another car. Please try to shop the parts and ask a mechanic to replace them for you.
You already have another thread for this problem.
A few questions, dies your van have some kind of oil change monertering system in it. In other words does a light come on when you need an oil change?? Where does it say 3000 mile oil changes?? Who did your oil changes?? Was it a real shop or a quicky lube?? Did they use regular oil or synthetic ? Are you the original owner??
Whether this car has an oil life monitoring system or not, the bottom line is that Toyota specifies in its Owner’s Manual/Maintenance Schedule that the oil is supposed to be changed every 5k miles or 6 months, whichever comes first. That requirement is quite UNambiguous.
The warranty on a vehicle constitutes a contract of sorts, in that the mfr agrees to pay for repairs during the specified period of time IF the vehicle owner holds up his end of the contract by having maintenance done as specified by the manufacturer.
When a car owner decides to overlook maintenance requirements, that constitutes negligence on the part of the owner, and no car manufacturer’s warranty will pay for damage that is the result of negligence or vandalism. Warranties are intended to pay for repairs that are the result of defects in materials or workmanship of the vehicle–NOT for damage caused by vehicle owners who are…forgetful…negligent…or just plain irresponsible.
So, in regard to the OP’s question, “I am asking the general audience, is it worth the time to fight the dealer to get it fixed under warranty, wouldn’t it be better to sell the car to buy another …. …. Or is it worthy to fix it?”…don’t embarrass yourself and waste your time “fighting” to get it fixed under warranty, as your failure to maintain the vehicle properly voided the warranty–at least as it pertains to the engine that was neglected.
My best advice is to have a different mechanic assess the condition of the engine. Just bear in mind that it will be necessary to drop the oil pan and remove at least one bearing cap in order to examine the condition of the main bearings, so this assessment will cost a few bucks, and will likely result in some bad news.
It is very possible that the OP can find a lower price for the repairs that are needed, so that is one of the reasons why I suggest consulting a different mechanic. However, I suspect that this badly-abused car suffered from being operated with a very low oil level, in addition to having its oil change schedule ignored, so it is likely that more than the main bearings will need to be taken care of. In reality, it is very possible that the cylinder bores are so badly damaged, and that other parts of the engine are so badly scored that the only sensible solution would be replacing the engine.
If this engine had been maintained properly, it would have likely given at least 200k miles of reliable service. Instead, it was trashed by negligence in about 25% of that number of miles, and the bottom line is that the OP has nobody to blame but himself. Whatever happened to a sense of personal responsibility?
If its just a main bearing thats bad you can get away with just putting a crank kit in it. If the main bearing has spun then damage has been done to the block and you will need a short block assy. 5k seems a little steep but I have’nt done a crank kit in quite a few years. Expensive lesson learned, change that oil!! Its cheaper than this result. You will see a lot of the pros on this board lean towards more frequent oil changes (NOT 7-10k miles). More like 5k for severe service vehicles using synthetic oil. (Which applies to most vehicle owners).
transman
First, do not continue to drive a car with a failed engine bearing. You will likely throw a rod through the block or do other damage rendering the current engine useless for rebuild/core trade in value. The only value will be the scrap metal at that point. An engine with a knock coming from the bearing is on borrowed time and it will be catastrophic when it does fail.
Second, I would replace the engine and it may not be much different in price than just having the bearings done at the dealer. You probably have more than just a bearing worn on this engine with the lack of oil changes and would likely be facing another very costly repair soon after this one. I know many Toyota engines are very unforgiving to lack of oil changes but will run FOREVER if you take decent care of them. If oil changes have been neglected, the engine is likely burning oil or will do so soon. This may be the reason the bearing failed. It may have burned oil and run low. Sometimes you will smell oil burning or see smoke but other times it happens slow enough that you don’t notice except for the level dropping.
I would buy a replacement engine from a reputable remanufacturer. A rebuild done correctly can be just as good or better than a new engine as bugs in the original design are often fixed. Jasper has a very good reputation. You could also go cheaper and buy a parts store remanufactured engine. Autozone and OReilly do this and it is usually less than Jasper but I hear they are not as good of an engine but still have a decent warranty.
I just looked online and there are two engine options for this vehicle. A remanufactured 2.4L 4 cylinder costs $2582 at Autozone and you would need to provide your old engine as a rebuildable core, otherwise pay $435 additional. A 3.3L V6 remanufactured from Autozone costs $5275 with a $435 core charge. Other engines from parts stores are likely to be very similar in price. A Jasper would likely cost you $500-1000 more but would be worth it if you plan to take care of oil changes this time. Expect to pay $500-1000 to have the engine installed by a local mechanic, whether or not you get it from Jasper or a parts store. There will be a core charge with everyone who sells a remanufactured engine so that is why it is so important to not let your current engine throw a rod.
You might also look into having your current engine rebuilt if you know of a reputable shop nearby. A good rebuild will probably cost anywhere from $2000-3000. You might save some money but would be without the vehicle longer. Again, if your current engine does throw a rod, it will not be rebuildable so don’t let it blow up and become a chunk of scrap metal.
Also keep in mind that many companies require other parts, usually belts, hoses, the water pump, oil lines, and sometimes radiator be replaced at the same time for their warranties to be valid. None of these are that expensive on their own, minus the radiator, but could total several hundred additional dollars so be aware of this fact.
Many good used cars can be bought for this price so I would make sure everything else looks OK. Definitely change the transmission fluid if you have not and plan to keep the car long. If the body and interior are good, have a mechanic see if anything else it wrong, mainly the transmission and other expensive systems.
Conor
VDC and cwatkin have provided the educational responses, so I’ll skip that part. Hopefully, your lesson has been learned.
I’m inclined to agree with cwatkin. You’d be better off looking for a new longblock. Even a crank kit will cost you dearly to get installed. The crank will have to come out, which means the engine will have to get pulled, the bottom opened, the front & rear pulled apart, the crank pulled down, and a whole lotta other work. Crank bearings, rod bearings, lots of othre parts are involved.
A longbloock comes with everything internal already installed and set up. That way you get basically a whole new engine, your peripheral components (alternator, AC compressor, etc) get bolted on, some adjustments get made, and you’re good to go.
Personally, I think I’d get it evaluated and if it truely is the bearing(s), I’d keep it full of oil and drive it 'til it bound up. Then make the decision. It might go another 50,000 miles. Or it might seize tomorrow. There’s no way of knowing.
If you decide to keep driving and not worry about the engine self-destructing, I would suggest going to a thicker weight of oil, possibly even 20W50. If the bearing is worn enough to hear a knock, there is a lot of extra clearance. Thicker oil would help with this but not prevent the inevitable. If the noise just keeps getting louder, the end is near. The bad thing about running it into the ground is that the old engine will have no turn in value as a core. When an engine comes apart like this, it usually does catastrophic damage and the only value is for scrap and a few other parts when it comes apart. A new longblock is the way to go unless you want to just drive it until it comes apart.
The problem is that these usually don’t seize up. They throw rods, poking a hole in the side of the engine. You will hear a bang like a gunshot and oil and coolant usually come pouring out the side of the engine. It may continue to run for a few minutes so you can limp it somewhere off the road but you will hear a machine gun clatter unlike anything you have ever heard from the engine. Once this happens, find the safest place to pull over and get towed as the engine will not go for long.
Definitely get a second opinion. There are a lot of things such as dirty hydraulic lifters that can cause this type of noise. You can sometimes solve that by putting clean oil and a solvent like Seafoam or Marvel Mystery Oil in the engine and driving it to see if the noise goes away. If it does, change the oil and filter and use a quality oil from then on.
Conor