Dealer says "Internal Failure"

Ok here is the full story. I bought my 2007 Tacoma in August 2015 from a person on Craigslist with about 122k miles on it. The truck has a few things wrong with it that could be easily fixed (wheel bearings, transmission fluid low, new tires). I bought it for a great deal. I did the first oil change on it right away and saw that the oil looked like chocolate milk. Who knows how long it had been since they did an oil change and how long it had been like that. It worried me a little but not too much. Subsequent oil changes were clean. It now has 130k miles.

Two weeks ago, I was driving from Fairbanks, Alaska to Valdez when the engine started making all kinds of racket. The noise was actually worse originally than what I have in the video below. Geico covered the tow of my vehicle to the nearest Toyota dealer (about 300 miles away) and I waited over a week for Toyota to tell me what happened. They say it is an "internal failure" and would need to replace the block. The estimate was $9,900 to get it done.

Fortunately I have 2 mechanic brothers in this state so I will be doing an engine swap myself in the coming weeks (I acquired a 2011 4.0l V6 with 38k miles for $2975).

Any thoughts on the noise? There is the loud tick but also a lowed tones noise that makes the truck sound like a diesel.

https://youtu.be/nJZ6uQgPOjU

***UPDATE***
For people that come across this in the future and don't want to sift through the pages, here are the findings...

Drum roll please!

I finally broke down the engine enough to find the problem.

The cams were in good condition, as you can see here.


I broke down the bottom side of the engine and found the upper oil pan to have piles of metal flakes and then I started checking the bearings and found this...
https://youtu.be/1wLehg-gRo0

This is the bearing taken apart. The thin piece of metal (the bearing) pictured is supposed to be inside of each bearing housing. The loose one was completely disintegrated. All of the bearing were scuffed up and very rough. You can see how worn down the disintegrated bearing (bottom) is compared next to the better one (top).


So moral of the story folks: change your oil! I am sorry to have had to pay for others' poor maintenance. On the plus side, I have a 2007 truck with an engine with only 38k miles and it runs like a dream! Here is a condensed video of the 25ish hours of labor I put into the engine swap.
https://youtu.be/7mmbpUPnw9A

 

Sub'd

 

Can you check oil pressure with an OBII scanner?
Sounds like a broken timing chain.

Rod/mains would cause oil pressure to go down and would keep getting louder and louder.

Also, check pulley tensioner! Seen a couple of those bad boys go out and make horrid sounds.

 

Noise like that could be ....


Rod knock

Mains knocking

Broken rocker arm and or lifter failure maybe cam went flat

Possible crankshaft failure ( thrust bearing ) allowing to much horizontal movement

 

Sorry to say but that's the sound of a blown motor. Rod knocking for sure. Good thing you got mechanic brothers that can swap an engine for you.

 

I'm in to find out what you find when you get into it.

My guess is it is not lower end. It just does not sound like rods or crank bearing noise to me. I want to hope it is something to do with the VVT or timing chain(s)

In addition, what kind of diagnose is that? I bet they never even took anything apart. That was a BS check out of that motor. Internal failure? No shit!? Obviously something has failed or is not right. That's the kind of diagnosis that give mechanics a bad name.

Start simple and buy a $9 mechanics stethoscope. It will at least help you figure if the sound is coming from higher or lower in the motor.

 

Subd

 

I had the same noise. I pulled my engine and the top end looks good; cam bearing surfaces, lifters, etc. I am going to split the case soon and check the bottom end.

All of these problems stemmed from a wheeling trip that involved a fair amount of mud. I'm thinking some mud seeped through a seal? The oil was very cloudy. Then I'm assuming it caused oil starvation to the bearings.

I plan to either replace the bearings or replace the engine with a salvaged one if the crank and journals are damaged and require machining.

 

Remove the oil filter and cut it open to expose the filter media .if a bearing let go or ??? You will see debris in the filter media

Not being from Alaska and knowing the roads and condition of them maybe you suffered an oil pump failure or broke the oil pump pickup off

I know on sbc and bbc they have issues with the oil pump pickup falling off.of the pump . Also pump failures if running a Mellings oil pump

 

sounds like


internal failure

that engine is coming out and being stripped down to diagnose

sounds like rod knock

 

I have a 4 day weekend for the 4th of July and plan on doing the swap then. I'll post my findings when I take apart the old engine. The sound definitely sounds like it is coming from the top end of the motor but we'll see.

 

A friend of mine forgot to put oil in his engine after an oil change once, when he started it, it made a noise similar to the vid above.

 

I vote rod knock
OP you should do a poll on what the noise is. Ya know keep it interesting.

 

sub'd

 

Did you buy it from AkArin?

 

That's a pretty great noise there. You have to make that your ringtone. Hope you get it sorted out ok.

 

The very first thing I did was check the oil level and it was normal. Last oil change was in April.

I added a poll.

He better hope not...

 

I just pulled the oil pan. One of the rod bearings is completely gone. Definitely the source of the noise. Some of the other rod bearings are worn and loose. Going to tear the rest of the engine down and see if the main bearings are okay.

 

I'd guess it's a spun rod bearing too, sounds like it had a rough life prior to you buying it.

 

His was a 2008