2017 Tacoma Overheated, shop found oil in coolant

I got my oil changed about 6 days ago and truck was running fine until yesterday when it overheated. I parked it and opened the hood to see coolant leaking all over the engine and inside of the hood.

This was the mechanics notes: “Something very, very bad happened. There is all kinds of oil all up in the radiator, and no coolant. The resivoir is empty as well. It's bad, like Michael Jackson. So I believe that all of this oil has either come from the transmission cooler or the engine oil cooler. At this time, I will check the engine oil for excessive Contamination and then I will Preform A Transmission level check. For contamination. Checking engine oil level. I found that it is below minimum specification. At this time, I will top off the engine oil at 4 quarts.”

I didn’t take it to the dealer but wondering if I should and if this is something that would be covered under the lifetime powertrain warranty

it’s a 2017 2wd, any tips?

 

Wow hope it isn't something to serious.

 

The factory coverage warranty period begins on the vehicle’s in-service date, which is the first date the vehicle is either delivered to the original purchaser, lessor, or used as a company car or demonstration vehicle.

• Basic Coverage is 36 months/36,000 miles, whichever occurs first, from the date of first use and covers all components other than normal wear and maintenance items. This warranty covers repairs and adjustments needed to correct defects in materials or workmanship or any part supplied by Toyota, subject to exceptions.
• Powertrain Coverage is 60 months/60,000 miles, whichever occurs first, from the date of first use and includes engine, transmission/transaxle, front-wheel-drive system and rear-wheel drive system.
• Rust-Through Coverage is 60 months/unlimited miles, from the date of first use regardless of mileage and covers corrosion perforation of sheet metal.
• Emissions Coverage varies under Federal and California regulations. Refer to your Warranty and Maintenance Guide booklet for complete details.

 

some dealers offer lifetime powertrain warranties as a sales pitch to make sure customers bring them all the maintenance work.

 

That’s likely a popped head gasket. How many miles on truck ? And what’s a lifetime warranty ?

 

LOL...Not my dealer! he's got the market cornered here in Maui County.

 

im sure their "lifetime powertrain warranty" has more snake words than cash for title loan agreement.

 

It’s a 2017 with 95k miles. Really hoping it’s not too expensive

 

Unless someone seriously screwed up putting the proper fluids in their proper places I would say head gasket too. The less common reason something like that may happen is if the engine oil cooler manages to mix oil and coolant, a very common failure on BMW but never seen it on a Toyota. If it were the transmission cooler leaking in the radiator it would look like a strawberry milkshake, a very common issue on Nissan, again have yet to see that on a Toyota.

 

The 3.5 is weird. Thats low mileage for something like this.

 

This is the definition of expensive … unfortunately

 

You will not know if the warranty covers it until the dealer inspects it. Good luck.

 

The intake tube looks severely torn.

 

Strawberry milkshake is very common on Toyotas too, particularly 1st gen Tacomas, 3rd gen 4runners, 1st Gen V6 Tundras, T100s (anything with the 3.4 and auto trans). It’s a fantastic, reliable engine (as well as the A340 series trans), but time has shown that the radiators Toyotas used with the internal trans coolers failed a lot. It’s become a rule if thumb to either bypass the stock trans coolers on these vehicles and install an aftermarket cooler, or just replace the radiator about every 8-10 years as a preventative measure.

 

Yikes!!! I don't wanna know how long it's been that way lol

 

Exactly wow!

 

Did you shut it off right away, did you continue driving, did you maybe not notice it was warm until it pegged the gauge?

 

Nice catch. If that's the case most likely the engine is fubar

 

FWIW, this was a known issue with first gen Tundras. The transmission coolant lines fail inside the radiator. In the Tundras the transmission fluid lines go through a heat exchanger inside the lower tank of the radiator to help warm the fluid up during cold weather and to remove heat during hot weather. It's the same setup whether there was an auxiliary tranny cooler or not. In their case the transmission fluid heat exchanger inside the radiator's lower tank leaked fluid into the cooling system. Replacing the radiator, flushing the transmission (replacing filter, etc.) and flushing the engine cooling system usually resolved it if it wasn't driven for too long. Some had to rebuild the transmission, but only after it was unknowingly driven for a while.

Although I can't speak to how our Tacos are set up, it was the exact same result.

No need to take it to a dealer as long as you're working with a reputable shop.

Hope that helps and best of luck!