Truck broke down today...

Correct. The image of the fouled spark plug was from my truck. They have replaced it and are now looking for the cause of the oil leak that fouled it. Which led them to the piston rings. Instead of simply replacing the piston rings like they thought, they are now replacing the entire lower end. Leading me to believe something major was found, IE. Further damage.

It is "in house." (Like, the dealership bay). The parts have already been ordered and they are waiting for them to arrive before replacing the necessary parts in my engine.

 

O.K., I am wondering if they are calling the complete lower end a ¨short block.¨ Maybe the terminology is different in their world. If it is a short block, then they are pulling your engine, reusing the heads, valve covers, manifolds and such. If this is the case, then that explains why it is being done in house. I do on average 4 boats a year like this, inboard and outboards. Hopefully that is what is going on, but if not, I wouldn´t be very happy if they are rebuilding the engine at the dealership, too much can go wrong there.

 

I agree. Doesn't make sense if there was issues in the cylinders to replace the block,pistons, and crank. Seems like Toyota would want the complete engine to look further into what went wrong. Is there an open case with corporate on this or has everything been handled on the dealerships end at this point. I know that you said that you bought a 100k mile warranty. Has anyone heard of Toyota extending that out any further?

 

All he said was "we are replacing the entire lower end". Others are calling it the short block but he did not use those words to me on the phone. Once I'm off work tomorrow I'll give him another call for clarification. He knew I was clocking in for work and the convo was rushed.
I haven't spoke with corporate directly. It's all been through the dealership thus far. Corporate has been involved several times. They've had two field technicians come out to make decisions on my truck but I haven't talked to them myself.

 

What was the date it first broke down and arrived at the dealer?

 

April 16th.

 

Did you find out anything about what they are replacing?

 

No specifics other than what was already replaced - spark plugs and piston rings.
But they are replacing the "entire bottom end of the engine. "

 

I know you said the bottom end yesterday. I was wondering if they gave you clairification on what that was exactly.

 

No specifics yet. Been sleeping off my night shift today and will call in the am tomorrow during business hours. He's on days off right now but I think I can get ahold of him.

 

OP, so you are saying they did the rings there at the dealership? And now there is another issue in the lower end of the engine? I don't want to scare you, but I am starting to get a little worried. Has the district rep been there during this whole ordeal? Please, as soon as you know more details post here, I am hoping for the best for your truck, and in the beginning it was looking good, but now something doesn't seem quite right.

 

Could easily be that the rings didnt solve the issue as well, hence the short block. Could have pistons with damaged ring lands or other damage that is further down in the block.

 

Complete engine rebuild by the dealership techs, forget it. I'd be done. Ask them how often the techs working on your engine do jobs like this.

 

this right here big time

 

I understand that. One thing though, we haven't gotten confirmation from OP that it is now a short block, or will they be doing a bottom end rebuild. I hope for her sake it is a short block. It would seem to me that initially with any type of cylinder failure, especially on a warranty engine, Toyota would not want the techs at a dealership doing such a big job. I am not saying they are not competent in doing so, it just seems the engineers would want the engine as it sits to diagnose cause of failure themselves.

 

Throw parts at the problem until it's fixed... a great way to resolve mechanical issues. NOT.

 

They do so bad so often at the simple maintenance stuff that no way do I want them doing machine shop work needed to rebuild. Hell, they can't even just take off faulty parts and bolt them back on without breaking clips, leaving brackets unattached, bolts hand tight that really need some torque (like crank pulley bolt they left loose) while replacing a head gasket...just on and on. Oil change fails that are posted here all the time. No way, no want. Now, I'm sure the dealerships are just like everywhere else...just enough personnel to be open and pay the least possible to do so and not enough people that they have time to give proper attention to all the jobs rollin thru. Rush rush rush and interruption to go help another one stuck on something else and scattered all over shop is not recipe for success....nothing personal to the competent ones but it still is what it is in the end to consumer. Distraction like that can certainly turn a good tech's work into the level of a bad ones real easy.

 

For what it's worth, I had a '91 Toyota 4x4 that was rebuilt by the dealer at 110K miles on their dime, due to a factory issue with the head gasket. I got a new block, 6 pistons/ rods and crank. Put another 100K+ miles on it after that with no issues. I would be less than enthusiastic about this approach with a brand new truck though. Will be watching this thread to see your outcome. Hope you wind up 100% happy however it resolves.

 

My understanding is that they replaced the spark plugs (a little bit ago after seeing the oil on the one) and it still ran like shit. He said "my tech experienced the same failure you did - loss of power." So back under it went and they moved onto the next possible - piston rings. He called and said that the intent was to check the piston rings as he believes oil is escaping past them causing the fouled spark plugs.
Then I get a call right as I was walking into work. Knew it was the service writer so I told him I was just clocking in and needed just a quick update. He said sure and said that they had to pull the entire engine out and the next step now is to replace the "bottom end." Whether that is called a short block or not, I am not 100%. He didn't mention that word.

He sent me a picture of my engine with a text that said "almost halfway done."


At this moment, I'm unable to get in touch with him and left him a voicemail. Working nights for me has made it so that I am playing phone tag with him most times unless he catches me on a day off. Waiting to hear back regarding specifics on the piston rings and if they found something further after pulling the engine.
I know a Toyota Field Manager has been out to see my truck in person twice. Once when they found the spark plugs and again to authorize pulling the engine, inspecting, and authorizing parts to be ordered. Now, the dealership is waiting for corporate to send out the OEM products to replace on my engines lower end.

 

Damn look at that piston head.