This could be a lengthy post, so please bear with me.
I’m have decided to indeed forgo the dealership recommendation.
I can’t afford to spend $760.00 on a “maybe.”They said that repair might not fix the issue. To make that statement leads me to believe they really didn’t know how to fix the problem. It sounded more like they were going by what their checklist said to do and instead of really digging into things to try to find the cause of the problem. I did as others here suggested and I relayed what had transpired with the previous repairs and I asked them to take into account that the problem didn’t start until after the oil seal was replaced. Logically speaking, I would think that would mean PHYSICALLY checking all items that were moved or disconnected in making that repair. I’m not confident they did that. To truly diagnose a problem you have to dig, and you have to have the expertise, knowledge AND experience to do that. The folks at Toyota were all pretty young, and I’m not confident they were very experienced.
I’ve learned from experience that diagnosing a problem doesn’t mean simply (like in this case) hooking up your car to a computer, or reading a manual, and accepting what the computer or manual tells you. You see, I worked on computers for over 30 years and I also worked as a lab assistant at a local college. One of my tasks was taking about a dozen computers and making them non-functional so the class would have to diagnose the problems. Let me tell you, I came up with some wild ways of “breaking” them, and the repairs necessary weren’t always taught in class or covered in a repair manual. Many times, the fix was a very minor thing, like changing the voltage setting on the power supply. It was my goal to teach the student to not always rely on that manual; to dig, think logically, take things step by step, and to think outside the box, and when they did that, they figured out the problems a lot faster.
so I decided to take the car to a local repair shop that comes highly recommended. I also talked with the mechanic and explained to him what happened and he said he would check everything, especially the items that were probably moved or disconnected when that type of repair is made. I’m hopeful he’ll find the problem, but I’m also going to ask that the crankshaft sensor be replaced regardless, just in case, and as a preventive maintenance step to ensure it doesn’t fail in the future. I might even ask that he change out the ignition coil and throttle position sensor for the same reason.
At the end of the day, I want someone to be able to tell me, “I know exactly what the problem is and this is how to fix it.” If that person can guarantee the repair will fix my car, that’s who I’ll go with. I just hope he won’t charge me $760!
It is not your valves needing to be adjusted (shimmed), sounds like it is the timing belt off a tooth since all this started after the front main seal was replaced, given the seal is behind the timing belt and it has to be removed in order to replace the front main seal… The crank and cam (distributor) sensors are probably having a correlation problem…
Possible the pulley has spun a little on the harmonic balancer making it look like it is in time, I would simply bring #1 cylinder up to it’s highest point (TDC, for this it doesn’t matter if 180 out or not) and make sure the timing notch on the balancer matches up with the timing tab…If not there is your issue… while your there bring the #1 cylinder up to TDC on the compression stroke, if not already, and remove the top of the timing cover and check the cam gear is lined up properly with the exhaust cam or timing mark on the cam main cap if IIRC… Shouldn’t take a skilled tech to long to check…
Don’t forget about the balancer could have slipped throwing the timing mark off and or even the ignition timing… Stick with the basics 1st to prove or eliminate the issue…
IIRC one of the October podcasts has a caller with a similar problem. In that case the engine bogs only when decelerating. Ray believes it to be a timing belt problem.
Absolutely correct. But I doubt any dealership shop staff is allowed to write up service paperwork saying “we plan to dig in to this problem” . One reason is they have no basis for an estimated fee. They know the exact fee for a valve clearance job, and they also know that while doing a valve clearance job the engine will be in a good configuration to discover and repair a valve timing problem. I expect they are thinking a valve clearance job is probably due anyway, so a good plan is just use it as a segue to discover (& hopefully effect a repair at no add’l fee) the cause of the actual problem.
That’s definitely the preferable situation from the owner’s perspective, but is not always (or even usually) possible, esp w/computerized cars. Car diagnosis & repair very often requires an iterative approach. About the best you can expect is a shop who will competently use their experience and training to work towards the solution, and to continue working on it (& billing) until you are satisfied with the result. If someone tells you they know the exact cause of the symptoms and that their repair will totally eliminate the symptoms for no more than the estimated price, 100% guaranteed, suggest to get that in writing.
Compare for example your interactions w/ your doctor.
You: I have nasal congestion and itchy eyes
Doctor: A lot of my patients are having allergy problems now , try this prescription
Looks like I won’t be able to get the repair made any time soon. The shop asked me to drop the car off the day prior to getting it looked at so they would have the entire next day to check it out. My one and only ride, however, backed out and now I have no transportation back and forth to the repair shop. So I’m going to have to deal with the problem until I can find someone who can provide transportation back and forth to the repair shop. Thank you all for your help and suggestions, but I guess I’m screwed for the time being.
Uber, Taxi, Lyft, Neighbor, co worker, crack head needing a few bucks for a fix… lol
Seriously, offer to buy lunch and some gas money from somebody if they will give you a ride, don’t have to be besties to hitch a ride… lol
Maybe the shop would have a mechanic that would drop you off on his way home after work for a few bucks or something,…
Can’t sign into Uber, apparently someone else hijacked my cell phone #, can’t access Lyft, no neighbors to help out, and I’m retired. No co-worker to call on. I’m hosed.
Taxi, church, think outside the box… Did you retire and move out to BFE somewhere?? lol
Not trying to be mean, but since you don’t know anybody (I’ll leave it at that), get a new phone/phone number (or a cheap burner phone), shouldn’t be that hard to update your phone numbers later… Then use Uber…
Ask a local Church for help, again, think outside the box…
I understand but it wouldn’t be the first time I walked, took my bike, or cab to the dealer. Only a few miles so there is that. Bike hanging in the garage would likely need a couple new tires and tubes though. I should probably do that anyway in preparation for 2024. I’ve never driven the mower down but there is a guy in town that does. Golf cart. I dunno.
Guy I worked with was way up north in the winter and had car trouble. He just took off walking to the nearest farm or town about 15 miles away. Had long legs and figured he could do it in a couple hours. Healthy guy. Pioneer type.
Just some ideas. I was on vacation while they put new head gaskets on my diesel. I gave them the garage code and a card number and they delivered it to my garage. Just sayin is all but most people know most people here.
Why not ask if the shop can give you a ride home. a lot of good shops will. maybe even pick you up from home when the repair is done. It does not hurt to ask.
Guy across the street runs the courtesy van for the Gm dealer. Retired. The Acura dealer I use now is 60 miles away. They asked if I needed a ride home. I just laughed. They gave me a new loaner to use.
HAHAHAHA, well, truthfully, I did retire and while I’m not out in BFE (yeah, I know what that means!) where I am in central Indiana there is not a whole of options when you’re outside the main cities. I called a taxi service in a town to the south of me by 10 miles, they wanted $80! The town where the repair is located (8 miles away) had only the one taxi service but they said they are down to one car and can no longer help me. I said, “Well, dang man, why did you get my hopes up two weeks ago when you said you could!”
But thankfully, one Facebook post later and cavalry came to my rescue, so I’m back on. I’m planning on moving early next year so hopefully this kind of stuff will be behind me. We’ll see. Thanks for letting me vent folks!
I took the car to a recommended mechanic, and I will NOT be going back. They had the car since last Thursday afternoon and didn’t get it “fixed” until Tuesday. The only thing they did was replace the O2 sensor, and they said they checked the gears to ensure they were lined up correctly. What they didn’t do was replace the valve cover gasket afterwards. By the time I picked up the car on Tuesday and had driven the car 12 miles most of the oil had spilled out the rear of the valve cover, covering the whole back part of the engine compartment. To say I was mad is an understatement. At least they made things right; since the engine didn’t burn up they towed the car back into the shop, replaced the gasket, cleaned out the engine compartment (mostly) and I just got back from picking it up again. But I’m not going back there again.
So that’s the latest. I’m back to square one. That mechanic did confirm that the crankshaft sensor is the most likely culprit for what ails the car but I’ll have to go back to my normal mechanic and see if he can do it. I wish I could replace the sensor myself but I don’t have the stamina to do so due to Long Covid.
Sorry you are experiencing such frustrating problems. On the upside , it appears the valve timing has been verified correct. Certainly possible a replaced valve cover could leak a little, but hard to understand how a shop-replaced valve cover could leak that much oil. Do you know how that happened? Did they forget to do something?
I know exactly what they did, or in this case, didn’t do. After they checked the timing issue, they used the old gasket instead of putting a one new on it.
They also told me that the timing belt looks relatively new too.
They may have forgotten to tighten the valve cover. To properly seal it, RTV sillicone needs to be used around the where the cam shaft goes through the ends.
