Replacing 4.7 Motor : What to do : Need Advice : happy new year 2018

[Blake1]

Hello Team Mud : Need your advice!

Problem : Need a new engine in 2001 LX470 : Car ran on no oil.. (background is below)

Location : Northern Virginia

Questions I: What engines most logical to get :

Only LX470/LC / or Sequioa .. I see listings like this :
"LX470 TUNDRA SEQUOIA 4.7L ENGINE 81K MILES 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005",
will this cost extra in mechanic time with a non Lx/lc engine?
Should I go JDM.. seem to be the best deal on JDM's

Question II. What should I replace while engine is out? .. I am a gearhead.. with a current stock truck

In looking through threads here is my list so far.... I suppose these are all optional.

1. Engine Mounts : Fresh rubber would be nice / only chance to do it on engine removal
2. Starter : easier while engine out?
3. Do full Timing belt / service.
4. Pulley tensioner (I just did mine 15K ago.. maybe re-use mine?)
5. Radiator : Mine is weeping on the plastic on top.. has to come out anyway.
6. Headers : being a gearhead.. should I put headers on it?.. is this much easier during engine swap?
https://www.amazon.com/Thorley-Headers-THY-561-SS-C-Shortie-Header/dp/B01M4L9MS2
7. ANYTHING ELSE .. LADIES AND GENTS?

Question III. How many hours / mechanic / cost should I expect?

I think from reading other threads this is the 12-15 hour range?

Background :

(Had oil changed at my local mechanic/ great guy I have used for years.. then new years eve coming back from Skiing with my young kids / 80 miles from home.. helecopter sound / loss of power// I shut down car cruised to side.. and stopped. .. around 100 miles since the oil change.. / oil filter fell off. car knocking hard when I shut it down.. 170K on the clock.. well maintained 2001 LX470.. terrible end to a great New Years Eve skii trip.

I will look for some coverage from my shop.. they did not tighten the oil filter fully... clearly fault there.. I need to be realistic on this.. if I do some of the add ons.. maybe they will work with me more on covering the replacement if I cover the replacement parts going in.

Car info:
My car has new AHC accumulators 2 years ago / HID light conversion .. overall top maintenance and I think ready to go and a new apple play receiver last month.. I think worth the engine replacement but open to your insights... new rubber suspension bits last year// really smooth. I just did the heater Ts last week.. one was cracked.. thought I had dodged a bullet on that one.

Happy New Year and thanks.. hopefully some good reading over your new-years coffee.. cheers.

 

[olive]

Wow, that sucks!! If your putting in a used engine(it looks that way) I'd replace everything I could think of so I wuldn't have to worry about it for the next 100k. Good luck and keep us updated.

 

[Sandroad]

Bummer on the engine loss. I think it’s worth replacing with used because your shop should cover the basic cost with their insurance. The extra work is all easier with the engine out. However, how’s the rust situation on a 17 year old VA truck? And, keep in mind an engine replacement will likely lower its value on the used vehicle market?

 

[FxFormat]

Oh man that sucks, did you take a pic of the oil filter area when it fell off? The shop needs to be responsible and foot the whole bill of the repair/replacement. How does something like that even happen, before the oil filter completely fell off, it's threaded by a lot of thread, you should have oil spraying everywhere from the oil pump. Did the low oil light ever come on?

 

[Blake1]

1. helicopter sound (think oil spraying into fan)2. Low oil light on 3. check engine light (seemingly within same 30 seconds) .. then I shut engine/ costed to shoulder .. Huge amounts of oil everywhere.. Tow truck was soaked too.. after 80 mile tow. I took it towed it directly to shop and left in the bay door. Will take pictures this morning... in 5 degree windy night.. no photos to be had..

Checked my garage floor and nothing leaking prior to departure.

Who knows maybe I will be lucky and not catastrophic.. I doubt it.. It lost lots of power.

I am considering if I should get a different car.. I could probably get an equal rig for about 10K.. resale is sub 10K on this anyway... bottom of depreciation spectrum.

 

[FxFormat]

If the oil light came on and you shut it off right away, you might be lucky enough that once you add oil, and there's pressure in the engine, it'll run normal again. I work at a shop, but one car came in with the oil light on, it sounded awful, helicopter sounds lol now i remember. I checked the oil and it was completely dry, we lifted it up, turns out it was a paper filter housing drain plug not being there, on Toyota V6s they have a little drain plug for the oil filter (stupid and is a pain in the ass) it wasn't put back so all the oil drained out.

Anyways, i opened the drain plug and maybe a shot glass worth of oil came out from the oil pan. I added 6qts back in and then started the car, after it idled for a few minutes all was well again. I hope this is the case for you.



This plug was left out, this is a stupid design that's annoying as hell to do oil changes on. At least on my IS350, the filter sits at an angle so you can just loosen the whole unit and oil will drain out, on Siennas and Camry's, it's straight down like this, if you open the whole unit, you'll get an oil bath.

 

[86Scotty]

Wow, bad news. The shop should cover it fully. I'm not one to throw blame around easily but this is a textbook case. Oil filters should not just fall off and they were the last to touch it. AFTER they agree to fix your truck then and only then would I mention that you are willing to spend a little to get the motor/extra parts/etc. that you want to replace while they're in there. This could be a win/win for you actually. Sorry your trip got screwed up.

 

[2001LC]

Bummer, but s*!t happens as they say. If a small shop they may not be able to offset the cost other than labor. Insurance claim may be worth exploring. This is from a Toyota Dealer on Land Cruiser engine replacement. New engine is short block plus heads, you may also need oil pump. Insurance would total your car, then you may buy back from them.

But you may be getting ahead of yourself.

A friend with a Porsche found his drain plug missing while driving home from a Quicky lub. New plug, added oil and all was good. Have you ever seen the Castrol commercial where they run two engines without oil!

Stick on a new oil filter and see what happens. Have oil pressure mechanical tested. The issues will then been are any of the lubricated surface scored.

If you do replace engine with used:
Any used engine other than Land Cruiser or LX470 has lots extra labor involved. Document miles of replacement engine, if less than yours it should not hurt resale value.

 

[Julian Stead]

What will you do with the truck you have if you decide to get ride of it, repair it first?
You should have a report on what went wrong from the shop you have taken it to, so a report and photo’s is a good idea. If you know the guy he might just take full responsibility without argument so don’t go all guns blazing, but have a back up.
How many miles since the oil change, they will normally come loose fairly quickly or not at all in my experience.
How long did you drive it with the oil light on? First thing to do is tighten the oil filter and put oil in it and run the engine, no harm doing that now, but your regular garage will most likely want to be informed first as common courtesy.

I have seen a few of these over the years and it has never caused damage to the engine as they where switched off in time. You have a lot of oil in these engines so fingers crossed this is the case for you.

The quicker it lost pressure the better, as a oil light after a prolonged leak is worse in my opinion.

 

[Blake1]

90-100 miles since oil change exactly.. and one day. Thursday oil change.. drove to my house parked.. Saturday morning ski trip..

No Oil on garage floor.. from driving home from shop. Parked the car at the shop last night for the same mechanic to look at it in the morning.

 

[Julian Stead]

There you are, the shop who done the oil change is clearly to blame, unless the filter proves to be faulty I cannot see how he/they can defend it and I doubt they will, to be honest they should be very apologetic.

 

[2001LC]

You saw oil filter OFF? lying on skid plate or totally gone?
I would think it's just loose or seal was not properly seated and blew out!

 

[Julian Stead]

The biggest mistake I have seen was a customer spent £8000 on a engine, turbo and exhaust on a diesel. Originally the turbo went bad, oil went into the intake and ran on its own oil until the engine blew.

All Work was done, but the technician forgot to clean out the intercooler so when it went on the road and he hit full throttle that oil move from the intercooler into the engine and again revved up until it blew the new engine. This is where you have to say s**t happens and it does happen a lot if your in a busy dealership. Doesn’t always have to be catastrophic, but mistakes do get made. I have lots of stories that I still laugh about today, the main thing is the customer doesn’t pay for your mistakes.

 

[Julian Stead]

I know this going a bit off topic, but to minimise mistakes when you are rushing to get jobs done is that we used to use a white paint pen to mark items after you tighten them to the final torque and not just wound up. This is useful on suspension, brakes, sump plug, oil filter etc. Tighten, then paint so you have a quick reference to what is tightened if you are called away or distracted as this is where people make the mistakes most, when something has taken there attention away from the job at hand.

A quick walk under the vehicle with a flash light after completion will show anything missed.

 

[FxFormat]

My bet is once the oil is replenished the truck will be fine again. This is assuming OP didn’t floor the truck when the oil light came on.

 

[Blake1]

Got results back.. engine has damage.. Shop is getting a Used Engine with 30,000 less miles.. from the same year truck (2001).. will have it back in 2 weeks. .. stand up guys.. like you mentioned.. they are a great shop with great reputation with growing volumes of work.

Careless error.. did not tighten down filter.. will definitely do starter and radiator while all is out... any other suggestions.

 

[Blake1]

Also, someone mentioned insurance claim.. how would one make an insurance claim in this scenario?..curious.. I have USAA.

 

[Julian Stead]

You mentioned most of it above, Steering rack bushes or rack itself if you are planning on doing it at some point.

 

[Blake1]

Thanks guys so in wrap up.. Car is at 150K.. getting used engine / covered by shop.. with 120K from same year (2001 with warranty). I think they mentioned it was $1,600 for used engine.. relieved that good used engines plentiful and reasonably priced.

1. Steering rack bushings (New one to me.. makes sense)..
2. Timing Belt Service (If TB service cannot be confirmed on replacement motor) ANY WAY TO FIND OUT IF ENGINE HAD TB SERVICE?
3. Starter : (either new or replace contacts in one of the existing)
4. New Radiator
5. Pulley Tensionor (I just replaced mine at 130K - - - 20,000 miles on it now... makes sense to recycle the one I put in.)
6. Engine Mounts (Also new to me on this one.. seems logical as unique opportunity to replace this engine mount rubber)

2001's did have a recall / on headers.. I know mine had both exhaust manifolds replaced as originals both cracked under PO / under Lexus warranty 10+ years ago.... IS THERE ANY WAY TO TELL IF THE REPLACEMENT ENGINE HAD MANIFOLDS REPLACED?

On a side note they are taking this opportunity to re-vamp their QC procedures.. similar to what mentioned above... I have been using the shop for 10+ years... reputable shop.. these things happen.. my case was perfect storm of bad timing. They routinely have NSX/ jags/ rovers, etc.. he was relieved not a 20K engine even though a simple Sunoco station in appearance from the outside.

Thanks for support.. in the end much less traffic on this thread than I thought....

 

[2001LC]

You can log on Toyota Owners Official Web Site input VIN of replacement engine, also pull a carfax. Between the two you may get a good idea of what your getting. i. e. mileage, T-belt, oil change history, exhaust manifold.

Keep your exhaust if replacement can't be confirmed as replacements.
Do a complet T-belt job if unconformed on replacements, or near the 7 year mark.
Any doubt on rear or front main seals have them replaced. Doubt would be 1 drop of oil.
Have cylinders scoped and look closely in intake port & exhaust ports of head while opened up.