Leaking oil from oil filter housing. Catastrophic failure.

Drove home after engine was knocking and you saw a trail of oil.....oof

OP, keep your mouth shut about your mistake. The truck started knocking, you shut it off and were towed home.

 

I’m sure the main bearings are damaged as well as the rod bearings. If the main bearings are damaged you will have low oil pressure and a bumping type sound from the bottom end. If you didn’t damage anything else the dealer may just replace the crank shaft and bearings.

 

I would be very surprised if it was not this.


OP. Get prepped for the visit. Speak to managers first, receipts in hand.

 

OP says that this oil leak happened *before* taking to the dealer for an oil change. This means that this leak occurred months after the last change making it less likely that a dealer tech did anything to cause it. I'm curious what the dealership will find.

Good luck to the OP.

 

This is what happens when they took auto shop out of high school. My car is making horrible noises and is leaving a trail of oil but I will keep driving it because I can’t make it worse can I?

 

If the housing is cracked, it's stressed. That is the type of thing to happen a while after the oil change was done. Unless he is seeing what he thinks is a crack but isn't actually a crack. Since he was planning to take it to the dealer for an oil change today, I am assuming he took it to the dealer for oil changes previously as well.

 

I do my own oil changes, even on my brand new cars. I save the receipts and take pictures in case I need proof. I would never let a dealer touch my car, unless it's a warranty repair that I don't want to come out of pocket.

The low level lube techs at dealers are usually very inexperienced. It's too bad it's not common knowledge that complete rookies are changing oil and rotating your tires.

 

The very best mechanic's/tech's I have known, literally came from the farm with the addition of some training. As for doing mechanical work, see my tag line.

 

When you increase rpm, you get a lot more oil pressure, creating a lot more film. My guess is that it will not make any noise when the fix the leak and get good oil pressure again. What the dealer does after that is a guess, but I don't have high hopes.

 

What a nightmare. Sorry to hear this. Even though I have free oil changes for life via my dealer (every 10k) I refuse to let them work on my truck. Tire rotation only unless a real ASE tech is needed for warranty work. Between the least experienced guys doing the work, cheap oil out a drum, and the crap OEM filter that’s only rated at 50% efficiency at 20 µm I’ll pass and spend the money just do it myself.

 

True but you also get faster rotation and much more stress. The knocking noise heard is the extra gap created by the damage bearings.

Any car I have ever seen with the start of rod bearing failure usually shows up when you rev the engine. Most my experience comes from turbo 4 cylinders.

 

Sometimes I feel goofy doing it, but I keep a large piece of cardboard under my vehicles-not to catch drips, but watch for evidence of them. I know bare concrete could suffice but cardboard works for me.

 

If it does crack while doing it yourself; you did it wrong.

It absolutely WILL NOT crack if you properly change out the filter and properly reassemble and tighten the housing yourself.

Trust in thyself, not a low level Stealership lube tech.

 

Suggesting he lie is never an option.

 

It all depends on how much oil he lost before and the way home . The knocking for sure put wear on the engine . Now how much wear .? Who knows

 

from the information given in the first post, that engine is toast. He didn’t give a distance of what the drive was, but “horrible knocking” is it something that just adding oil will fix. That is a 99.999% chance of spun bearings

 

Sorry to hear this happened OP... Not that it helps in your situation, or if the o ring was put in the wrong groove, but Toyota does make a metal housing for the oil filter that fits Tacomas which should de-risk the situation a little bit.

$16 Oil Filter Housing 15620-31060 Oil Filter Housing Cap for Toyota Camry Avalon Highlander 4 Runner Rav4 Sienna Venza Tacoma Lexus 1562031060 15643-31050 917 016

https://www.amazon.com/KOOPATZ-Highlander-15620-31060-1562031060-15643-31050/dp/B096XFXZNS

 

Catastrophic amounts. Engines don't leave trails of oil and start making noise until they've lost enough lubrication that things are starting to chew themselves up, none of which results in a quick or economical fix. A spun bearing = replacement of the crank and bearings at minimum, as well as line boring of the journals. Entirely doable for a competent machine shop, way beyond a Toyota dealers abilities. Considering it's the result of either a failed component under warranty or improper practice by the kid doing oil changes at the dealership, the likely outcome here is the dealership replacing the entire engine.

 

I am curious to know what happened. Who is the blame and how much damage did the engine suffer if any.

 

Sorry if this was already asked, but how long between the last oil change and this "catastrophic" event? Or was OP getting ready to take the truck for its first oil change?

If it already had its first oil change and a decent amount of time has passed, the dealer (or whomever did the oil change) might say it's not their fault.