2AZ-FE question (overhaul or replace with long block) (1 Viewer)

[120mm]

My kids bought a 2008 RAV4 a few months back, and discovered that it was burning about a quart of oil per 400 miles.

This caused me to research the issue, and it is a known engineering flaw with a TSB "fix" that cost about $300 and requires removing the engine and replacing the pistons and rings.

Last night, when I'd finished tearing down the engines, I see that the rod bearings are completely trashed, and the rear main bearing has a deep score in it. The rest of the mains look fine, and in fact, the crank doesn't look bad at all. The pistons are being replaced anyway, and the cylinder bores look new.

I'm wondering where I should go with this. As I see it, I have three options.

1. Buy a long block for o/a $4000 and get it done fast.
2. Do a complete overhaul, including the valve train
3. Throw new bearings at it, polish the crank bearings and put the new pistons and rings in, and "hope" everything goes ok.

I did compression check before I tore it down and #1 was right at the minimum, the rest were solid 180 psi.

What would you do in this situation, and why?

 

[bigredmachine]

if your planning on keeping the vehicle call jarco and get a price on a motor, their more expensive than a junk yard but for what its worth at the dealership that i used to work at we used them plenty of time and never had a problem with anything that we got from them. personally this would be my option for getting it done quick and easy, you can always rebuild the old motor and sell it to make some money back or keep it as a spare.

junk yard motor is a crap shoot and may be burning just as much as the other one. if your going to go with option three you might as well clean the head and do new valve stem seals and such.

if your not going to keep it long its goin gto be cheaper to just feed it oil as needed and not even worry about it

 

[120mm]

if your planning on keeping the vehicle call jarco and get a price on a motor, their more expensive than a junk yard but for what its worth at the dealership that i used to work at we used them plenty of time and never had a problem with anything that we got from them. personally this would be my option for getting it done quick and easy, you can always rebuild the old motor and sell it to make some money back or keep it as a spare.

junk yard motor is a crap shoot and may be burning just as much as the other one. if your going to go with option three you might as well clean the head and do new valve stem seals and such.

if your not going to keep it long its goin gto be cheaper to just feed it oil as needed and not even worry about it

It's a good vehicle, so they plan on keeping it.

And I think sooner or later they will forget to check the oil, so an engine replacement or rebuild is the way to go.

I'll check with the local dealer to see if they can order me in an engine. From Jarco's website, it looks like they only work through my Toyota dealer.

 

[bigredmachine]

if you go with the jarco motor you will receive a new rear main seal with the motor, they want you to replace the seal before installing the motor. order new plugs for the motor as well as i dont remember if they get replaced by jarco or not, i always recommended them when doing a motor because at that point its pretty much just the cost of the plugs to replace them. the motor also gets a fresh coat of paint so run a tap through any ground bolt locations so a customer dosnt come back in over a year later complaining of "ever since you replaced my motor........"

 

[120mm]

Well, none of the Toyota dealerships near me admit to selling partial assemblies or long blocks, and Jarco refused to ship me an engine, or even suggest where else I could have it shipped to.

Sounds like they aren't interested in my money and/or business.

So I'm going to throw dice on an ATK rebuild from AutoZone, and hope it isn't a piece of crap, I guess.