I have a 1994 Toyota Camry. Took it to a shop to repair an oil leak. They had to dismount the transmission to get to the gasket. I got the car back and the transmission was messed up. Took it to a transmission shop and they told me that the transmission “cable” wasn’t positioned correctly by whoever had done the work and they could fix it. They told me it was safe to drive it until my appointment.
The engine was reving too high before changing gears and while driving home, I heard a loud rattling noise in the engine and my car stopped in the middle of the road. I’m told that a rod has broken inside the engine.
My question is: can this in any way be related to the transmission cable not having been set/positioned correctly?
Best regards,
Alec
It seems unlikely, though the high revs did add more stress to cause it to happen sooner rather than later.
Did you ever let the oil level get really low before you had the leak fixed? If so, that would be a more likely suspect as the cause.
I don’t think the two are related.
That engine won’t overrev to the extent necessary to overstress a connecting rod. Typically a rod will break either because something has bound up, generally because of a lubrication failure, or because something has somehow broken and wedged in the cylinder, like a valve.
Thank you all for your comments.
I had a box of oil in my trunk and was constantly checking the oil level and adding oil when needed prior to having the oil leak fixed.
Is it possible that when they fixed the oil leak, they didn’t put things back together correctly to cause the rod to break?
Best regards,
Alec
Not in any way that I can envision. Were they to, for example, not connect tranny to the engine with the bolts all properly torqued such that the tranny could apply bending forces to the crankshaft, that would be more likely to cause failure of either the bearing on the tranny input shaft or the engine’s rear main bearing. I can’t envision it binding a connecting rod bearing in any way.
Mine is just an opinion, though. An actual teardown might disclose something not obvious. Trouble is, failure analysis costs money.
How, exactly, did they determine a connecting rod broke?
If that is, indeed, the problem it’s unlikely to be related to the transmission cable being improperly installed.
If the person who improperly installed the cable is also the one telling you a rod is broken I’d wonder about the diagnosis.