2016 Tacoma Radiator Issue leads to engine Issue

I have a 2016 Tacoma 4x4 Sport. I drive about 40K miles per year. I've owned it about 20 months with 72K miles. The other day while driving on the interstate I start hearing a noise. I pull over to try to find out what it is and look around and under the hood and don't see anything. I hear the noise at higher speeds but not below about 40mph. Then the next day when I start I see a high engine temp alarm flash for a milisecond and then go off. I look at the temperature gauge and it is running slightly high about two o'clock position. I pull over and check radiator level and it is low. I add about a gallon of coolant. I call Toyota and go there the next day. They informed me there is a hole in radiator and coolant leaked out and I need new engine. The hole is on the back of the radiator inside fan shroud. They claim an object came up from road somehow and caused hole in radiator. I told them there is no way. I don't even take it off road. There is no way an object came into engine compartment and moved forward through fan and punctured radiator. They want me to pay $9K to repair. This is my first Toyota Tacoma.

 

"They" being the dealer? If you're out of warranty that leaves them open to do this kind of stuff. Just take it to a regular shop at this point.

 

How is the engine wrecked? Wouldn't they just need to put in a new radiator?

 

If enough coolant leaked out to cause a major engine issue, you would/should have seen the warning message or lights more than just a flash.
I think some information is missing here. What are they saying is wrong with the engine?

 

Do you understand the damage caused by overheating an engine?

 

This is my line of thinking. It doesn't seem, based on the information provided, that the engine had a total loss of coolant. Unless several sensors failed at the same time as the leak, it should have warned him about the engine temperature if it was outside safe operating temperatures.

 

That was what my respons

That was my response to the dealer. There was never a warning light except for the instantaneous flash. The temperature gauge never even got to the tick mark before the "H" indicator. They, the dealer, are saying that it must have run warm enough long enough to damage the engine.

 

I hope you are right and the dealership is wrong in their diagnosis.

 

If it ran hot long enough to damage the engine and no warnings ever popped up, then there is a deeper underlying issue that needs to be addressed. I would ask for a printout of codes and I don´t know if shows duration, but I know my computer for outboard motors will show me how long the engine ran at such temperature, I would imagine cars will do the same. There is definitely some missing info here.

 

I asked the dealer to honor the warranty and replace the engine. My position is there was a defect in the radiator that has been there since day one and also no warning light.

 

From what I know of the "dummy lights", they are not 100% accurate and shouldn't be relied on for coolant temperature nor should the temperature gauge.

 

Thanks, good point, I will ask the dealer about that. USAA is sending an adjuster to look at it because the dealership is claiming an object somehow flew up from the road and went forward through the fan and punctured the radiator.

 

So what do you rely on for engine temp?

 

There were no other signs. I have had a car overheat before many years ago when in college so I know the signs of overheating engine. There were zero indications. When I added the coolant the noise went away so I figured the water pump was cavitating. I thought there might be a hose leak or something. Also, the truck ran well to the dealer and my gas mileage indicator was reading about 23mpg.

 

I agree with you and wonder if the obd2 scanners would be more accurate.

 

Also, I looked at where it is leaking and it looks like a pinhole leak. Not an object hitting it.

 

Ok so let's say your engine is toast and that you do need a new one. Why not replace the rad and run the truck to see if the engine is actually done for. You have to replace the rad any ways. So what the heads would be warped. To many things don't make sense. I would definitely ask for more proof of how and why your engine is toast. Did they have a apprentice look at your truck ?

 

I run torque pro on a samsung tablet. I was just saying, that the lights and warnings are all that are installed from the factory, so they should be reliable in such case.

 

They said they had two master mechanics listen to it and it sounded awful. Their words. I asked the service manager if they did a compression test. His response was that is troubleshooting 101.

 

@9gs I'd take it to another shop and have them look at it for piece of mind. Or id replace the rad and run it until it blows up because $300 for a rad is alot cheaper then 9gs and this will allow you to figure out what you want to do with the truck. Because if it is done then who cares if the block blows up.

Or this could be controversial buy a oem rad and fix everything yourself and take it to another dealer and see if you can sneek it buy them