200 Series Engine Seized at 58,000 miles ?? What to do? (1 Viewer)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

Joined
Apr 22, 2020
Threads
2
Messages
32
Location
Edwards, Colorado
Looking for advice on what to do with my 200 series- 2014 with 58,000 miles.
It's been well maintained and has a clean engine, no prior issues, accidents.

Driving down the road last week, the engine lurched a little and lights came on dash. I immediately pulled over and whole car shut off.
Check engine light and battery light came on. Had it towed to Toyota Dealer ... diagnostics showed cylinder #5 spring broke off inside and went into combustion chamber, causing the engine to seize. They said I need a new engine and there are only 2 used engines in the whole USA? I've called Corporate HQ to see if they will help and they've opened up a case to review.

Is this a freak occurrence? Anyone ever hear of this happening?

I had a 1994 LC for 15 years, never a problem .... sold it last year to buy a 2014. I am regretting it!
 
If you can’t find (or don’t want to pay for) a new engine, I’m sure you could put a decent used 5.7 in it. Tons of them in Tundras.
 
Looking for advice on what to do with my 200 series- 2014 with 58,000 miles.
It's been well maintained and has a clean engine, no prior issues, accidents.

Driving down the road last week, the engine lurched a little and lights came on dash. I immediately pulled over and whole car shut off.
Check engine light and battery light came on. Had it towed to Toyota Dealer ... diagnostics showed cylinder #5 spring broke off inside and went into combustion chamber, causing the engine to seize. They said I need a new engine and there are only 2 used engines in the whole USA? I've called Corporate HQ to see if they will help and they've opened up a case to review.

Is this a freak occurrence? Anyone ever hear of this happening?

I had a 1994 LC for 15 years, never a problem .... sold it last year to buy a 2014. I am regretting it!

I say freak occurrence. The 5.7 is robust, but anything mechanical can break. New short blocks are available (I have one) and the heads can be rebuilt, or as posted above a new/used engine.

Good luck.
 
Used low mileage Tundra or Sequoia motor is what I would do. It's a pretty forward drop in after swapping over some 200-series specific ancillaries.

A used factory built and sealed motor would be my choice way before any talk about re-building your current motor as that's fraught with unknowns, skill of tech/shop, downtime, and costs.

 
A while back Lexus had a recall for defective valve springs. At the time our LS (also a UR engine) was included but our LX was not. Not sure if this maybe affected 200's at some point?
 
I would get new Toyota motor from Toyota. I would ask that they pro rate engine cost. Even if they did not give me break on pricing I would go with Toyota dealer install option.
 
^^This

It sounds like you are already down this path with the request to Coporate but if you are the original owner and you have service records Toyota might work with you on this. When an emissions component went out on my wife's RX450h a few years ago, which was a 2010 and <60k miles, Lexus just up and replaced it no charge when I complained that there is no way it should have failed at that mileage regardless of time. I can't remember if it was the evap canister or something else, been a few years, but it was expensive enough that I would have sold the car rather than replace it.

They had to clear it through Lexus US, they couldn't make the call to replace it free of charge locally, but they got an answer in just a day. Of course Lexus might have known that there was a systemic problem or something and thus had a default answer of just replace it, but still it was very good of them. They certainly weren't under any obligation to replace it.

I'm not saying that Toyota might give you a new engine and free labor, but they might work with you on price if you are the original owner and have service records. This is one reason that I use the dealer for scheduled maintenance through warranty period and then do my own oil changes in between (I don't care what any manufacturer says about 10k service changes - 5k miles or twice/year for me).

Let us know how it goes. If they don't help out perfect excuse build a stroker or Darton sleeves, upgraded rods and pistons and the big Harrop blower.
 
1 - call Toyota Corporate. I don't think they'll cover 100% but you might have goodwill. Likely. You drive Toyota's flagship nameplate for stuff like this that doesn't ever happen but it did.


2 - find a motor from a Tundra or wrecked LC. Tons of options. I wouldn't buy a reman.

3 - sell to me for a good price?
 
Truly sorry to hear about this. I’m sure it’s very disruptive to you and your family. The Cruiser engine should never fail unless it was horribly abused (not saying you did).

I’d go new and wouldn’t consider a used engine. To have it rebuilt is tricky cuz there could be damage elsewhere due to the seizure.

Sounds crazy but if I had the funds I’d consider going the experiment route and dropping in a diesel.
 
... Had it towed to Toyota Dealer ... diagnostics showed cylinder #5 spring broke off inside and went into combustion chamber, causing the engine to seize. ...
I'm wondering what happened here. A valve spring broke and the valve dropped into the cylinder?
 
Similar situation, but different...

I bought a commuter brand new - 2013.5 VW GLI. About a year outside of warranty and about 5k miles outside, my timing chain tensioner (oil pressure driven) failed causing the cams to jump and effectively grenade the motor by valves dropping into the cylinders. Started it up to go to work with heavy, what I thought, misfires, and shut it down.

Now VW was a royal pain to deal with, but they kept throwing the "we met our obligation" because it met the warranty expectation - it just failed immediately thereafter o_O

After proving it was rigorously maintained with an accelerated plan, I eventually agreed to pay about 25% of the parts cost for a new one and they covered the remaining 75% and all labor. I HAVE to imagine that Toyota would step up for what is perceived as the most reliable brand. Could make for some bad PR...
 
Retroactive Toyota Platinum VSA?

FYI I think the used low mileage motor that @indycole ended up with was something like $15k installed by the dealer. Not new, but I think a ~even swap (in terms of wear/life) and about half the cost of a new motor (plus labor). Obviously $15k is still a huge number.

$85k vehicles shouldn't have a motor implode after 58k miles. Valve springs don't typically break. I do wonder a bit if the PO abused the engine, pushing it up against the redline a bunch or something? I would definitely push Toyota corporate for this, especially if you have the maintenance history available through Carfax and/or the Toyota Owner's site. It's worth arguing as well that while the amount of time in the 5/60 powertrain is >5 years, the mileage isn't.

I'd personally settle for a low mileage used motor from a wrecked Tundra/Sequoia out of it if Toyota will swap it and warranty the result.
 
Truly sorry to hear about this. I’m sure it’s very disruptive to you and your family. The Cruiser engine should never fail unless it was horribly abused (not saying you did).

I’d go new and wouldn’t consider a used engine. To have it rebuilt is tricky cuz there could be damage elsewhere due to the seizure.

Sounds crazy but if I had the funds I’d consider going the experiment route and dropping in a diesel.
Tangent, and not intended to derail the thread, but I assume folks have fit 4BTs into these guys?
 
Some years back I bought a certified used MR2 Spyder. The transaxle gave up only a month or two after the warranty expired. Toyota corporate paid for all parts (to include stuff like new motors mounts, new clutch, etc. They even upgraded the transaxle to include limited slip when original box was not. I had to pay the dealer labor bill. It helped that I was at the selling dealer and their service manager followed up my contact with his own. Long story, but point is ask the service manager if he will throw in his two cents to corporate - they all know a 5.7 Toyota motor shouldn't go at that mileage. Oh, and BTW, they told me they would have picked up labor too if I had been using the dealer for maintenance service (I like to change my own oil, etc.).
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom