Posting for a friend: Dealer Service Issue (head gasket then catastrophic failure)

Hi all,

I'm posting this for a friend who I've done service work for on his various Toyota's throughout the years. He's also one of my best and oldest friends. That said, he's not mechanically inclined and relies on me for mechanical advice and for fixing his vehicles when they need attention but I'm across the country in Oregon now and not able to help like I used to.

He has a 1998 5VZ-FE/5-spd Xtra Cab 4x4 with 138k miles on it. He got it from his dad last year who is the original owner and who sparingly drove the truck. It was always serviced at the local dealer (McCoy Motors which turned to Findlay Toyota in Flagstaff, AZ). The truck is in nearly perfect shape and all service records are present. You read that right, too: 138k original miles.

On Monday the 21st, my buddy drove the truck back home to Flagstaff for the holiday weekend and decided to have the oil changed at the dealer on Tuesday the 22nd. The dealer discovered that "the head gasket had a small leak in it." My buddy tried calling me to consult but I was busy at work and couldn't answer. He got a quote from them and, together with his dad, decided to have Findlay Toyota do the work to fix it.

On Wednesday the 23rd they said they were waiting on a backordered head gasket but that the parts would likely be in on Thursday (Thanksgiving? hmmmm) and the service would be done on Friday. Friday came around and the next call that my buddy got was that the work was completed but on the test drive, the tech experienced a catastrophic engine failure that they're "guessing" was a spun rod bearing or a thrown rod. Since it was a holiday weekend, they said they would determine the actual issue on Monday and come up with a quote with the general manager (who was off due to the holiday).

First off, I made sure I was clear on some things:
-What was the oil level and oil condition when truck was dropped off? (oil checked prior to leaving Durango, CO on the 21st. Oil level full but needing a change)
-What was the coolant level? (buddy didn't know)
-Was the truck ever overheated? (buddy said absolutely not)
-Was the truck running rough, making new sounds or down on power at any point? (buddy said no, that there was absolutely no indication truck needed anything other than an oil change. He's not mechanically inclined but he is meticulous about sound and changes in how the truck feels; he's a gifted musician and sensitive to this kind of stuff).

I don't deal with dealers for this and other reasons and have very little experience dealing with mechanics, especially dealer mechanics, as I've done all of my own service for the last 25+ years so I'll ask the community here: What should my buddy do??

Thanks in advance for your help and for reading this far.
Nic

 

That whole story seems fishy to me, first of all how did they determine the head gasket was leaking during a routine oil change? That's not exactly on the list of things to check during an oil change.

Engines typically don't just grenade themselves either without reason.

 

I agree. Especially not the legendary 5vz-fe at 138k miles.

 

I would wait and see what the dealers next steps are before doing anything.

They better not be trying to charge for anything related to the failure due to their jacked up head gasket job. If so, I wouldn't pay a cent and would be contacting corporate Toyota.

 

the dealer owes him an engine if it blew up after they "fixed" it

 

Any updates?

 

No updates here. Thanks for posting all. I'll be sure to update both threads (this one and the x-posted one in 1st Gen) when I hear something.

 

During an oil change, the only way to notice a head gasket issue would be either a clearly visible external leak or a milkshake in the oil pan. If the milkshake. If there was a milkshake, then they should have recommended pulling the pan (and everything required to do that) to inspect the bearings...most dealers would sell an overhaul at this point due to the possibility of bearing issues after a milkshake. The fact that they didn't do that leads me to believe they saw an external leak. So...engine runs fine coming in, has minor external headgasket leak, dealer puts a headgasket on it and grenades the bottom end on the test drive? Clearly, the same guy that did the work is doing the diagnosis. Not sure what went wrong, but the dealer is going to be buying an engine it sounds like. Everything points to them killing it.

 

It sounds to me like someone forgot to put oil in the engine before the test drive. But I would wait to see what the dealer says, wants to do before I make a decision on my next steps. Any day after a holiday is notorious for fuck ups. I won't do Monday, Friday or any days after holiday. Also wont do any appt after 3pm, thats about when the idis kicks in.

 

Here's the copy and pasted text message my buddy sent me this morning:

"Turns out they dropped a little brass clip into the air intake and said they would rebuild the engine. With a one year warranty.
Rebuild head, #5 piston, ring , pin
Rod, rod bearing timing belt, plugs, manifold gasket, other things. I told him I don't trust them to rebuild it.
They said 5-6 months for a refurb. They also don't want to do a refurb because they've done half of the labor already.
No telling when they can get a new or used engine. "

Whatcha all think? Sounds like the cheapest way out to me

 

Personally I would be ok with them to rebuild it but with longer than a year warranty.

 

just make sure the tech that does the motor work isn’t the one that dropped the clip into the motor.

 

This is why I made a practice of spinning the engine over after each major step in assembly. During the days of the V06 campaigns (3.0L headgaskets) I had an engine that locked up after I put the valve covers and intake on...turns out one of the little sleeves fell out of a bolt hole in a valve cover and found it's way down an intake port. Was able to fish it out with the magnet on a stick, but that would have ended in a similar manner as your buddy's case.