So after many track days, a trophy winning autocross season, and traveling through half the states in the US... my '07 tC engine is dead after 72,000 miles.

Currently, the block is in pieces at the dealership, and there's brass in the oil pan. There was a horrendous knocking noise coming from the engine, and I could feel it in the clutch when moving up through the gears... turns out my crank and rod bearings are shot to hell.

The extended warranty people, unsurprisingly, have denied my claim. They cite my CAI and my oil change intervals being 6-7k instead of 5k being the reason. I know this is crap, and I could call them on it, but they just replaced my transmission... and I know I'll lose this battle if I call them on it. I just saved $3k on the transmission, asking for another $5k was reaching a bit.

Oh yeah, and the dealership wants $5k to replace the block, the oil pump, and the water pump. And, uh, I don't have that. Plus, I know I can do the job for cheaper. So now, I come back to SL for some clarification..

- In what way(s), specifically, does a run-of-the-mill Camry block differ from the tC block? If I can just go to a junkyard around here and pull a decent-mileage Camry block for $500, I'll be quite happy. Otherwise, eBay Motors tells me to expect $1500 for a new tC motor.

- Is the market for selling tC's very good right now? I'd like to sell this as soon as I get it fixed (however I do that), because I'm planning on going into the Air Force sometime around July, and I have another car that I need to finish before I can sell it, too.

 

thats cheaper than what toyota quoted me...

 

argue it out with your warranty company. that is bull____, you paid for it, they are supposed to cover it. they have to prove that your CAI caused the problem, or that your oil change intervals led to the failure. if you used synthetic oil, then you can go longer between intervals without changing.

buying an extended warranty is a gamble dude. your betting them that your car will have a breakdown outside the powertrain warranty, and they are betting that you won't, or that it won't be that expensive.

you got a transmission, now you have an engine, it is time for them to pony up dude. that or refund your extended warranty coverage plan.

anyway. any 2az-fe engine block will work, be it from tc, camry, rav-4, highlander...matrix or corolla xrs, etc.

 

The thing is, though, that I'm sure they could easily say "oh, well you were racing it", which could open up them saying "oh by the way, we didn't know this when we replaced your transmission". I'd rather that not happen.

 

how do they know you were racing it? did you say you were? did you tell them? do they have you on camara racing your tc? if not, they got nothing dude.

 

toyota quotes $2,800 for the short block

 

On your question regarding selling your Scion, I think the market is slow in general. I've been trying to sell mine for a while, asking below the kbb private party value, and no luck. If you're going to swap the engine, you might as well keep it. You will never recover the money you put in otherwise.

 

Fight it!

 

You know what I find funny, I found out at rally racing events, that Subaru has "spies" that take pictures of the plates & the cars at those events. They do that for preventing people from racing their cars and trying to warranty after.

 

Damn... I just passed 70k.

 

It's not exactly encouraging to see engines going out like this, but it's difficult to determine the levels of abuse.

I autocross it, sure, but I've only got about 5 events with this car... otherwise, I don't break 3000 rpm.

 

drax is rite. they have no proof. i hate dealers and ther bogus crap about them not coverin tc's under warranty. they always assume racing has been done. go to scion's website and email them a complaint if the dealer is not willing to help. i did that and the dealer in my area was callin me the next day and they were sending me all these apology letters.

 

I bought a used 2az out of an auto tC for $1400. It had 22k miles on it.

 

true, but all you gotta do is take-off or cover up the plates, and drivers are usually wearing helmets and sun glasses or whatever anyway, so unless they can get a super high def photo or the car racing on the course with enough detail to capture the VIN on the windshield or something, how can they prove that it was you and your vehicle at said event?

although, there were a bunch of new subaru sti's at the last autox i went to, one of them taped up his license plates...

 

Keep in mind that the warranty you bought covers a lot, but it does so with certain specific conditions that you must meet, and one of those conditions is that you maintain it per the owner's manual. That INCLUDES oil change intervals.

As with any warranty, if you don't fulfill the conditions on YOUR side of the bargain, they have the opportunity to deny coverage.

I don't know who's warranty you bought, but it would be a good idea for anyone who has an extended warranty to actually read it to see what you are required to do to keep the warranty in effect.

Good luck on getting a new engine!

 

What Dealer??? Short Block at my dealer with us installing is 6,500.00 Toyota/Scion and Hyundai Of Greensburg. We arent the cheapest ones around but $2,800.00 what dealer is qoutes that btw? North Hills?

 

Well hold onto your pants, and this is not an april fools joke, but I got a quote from a local dealer for brand new motor + repair...



















$13,000 for a brand new crate motor
+
$3,000 for the labor to install it into the car (and re-install the supercharger)

Total: $16,000 to fix my motor...... I told them where they could put that quote and took my car elsewhere....

 

@everyone saying to fight it: The only reason I'm not is that there are a whole host of reasons why they shouldn't, and I don't feel like pushing my luck again trying to get them to cover something major when, in all honesty, they're within their right to not. My time is better spent just getting a new motor put in than playing circle jerk with a warranty company.

I definitely beat sensei on the abuse level, and I dunno about ack... but I'd recommend anyone who does any sort of regular racing to take their oil pans off and sitrep their block etc. around 70k.

@sensei: Engines? Are you saying this is common?

@Tomas: While it's not the exact interval, going 1-2k miles over on oil changes (especially when using full synthetic) isn't going to destroy blocks. The service tech even said there was no evidence of sludge or oil starve anywhere, and he couldn't believe that was one of the reasons they gave.

@equinox: That's crap. You might as well just buy a whole new car for that much.


I actually talked to the service guys, as they're well aware that I'm not paying upwards of $5k for this, and one of the Toyota techs said if I could supply a motor ($1500 is about the going rate for them in good condition), he would do it for $600. I'm still sounding the SCCA horn and seeing if I can get a group of guys together to do it, but that's the best deal I've gotten so far.

 

howcome are motors are so cheap? it makes me think. ive seen people saying there able to get good condition motors for only$1500 for our tc's. and 600 is good.

 

Not at all saying that extended oil change intervals had ANYTHING to do with the problems, just saying that is how most warranties are written: You MUST follow certain agreed to requirements for the warranty to be honored.

In any of these extended warranties there are those trip wires placed to make it easy to invalidate the warranty if you don't follow all the required steps exactly.

It has nothing to do with what actually caused the problem, it is just what is simplest for them to use to deny coverage.

Tom