To everyone out there I really need your help and I will keep this as short as possible, but it is a long story.


I have a 2007 Scion tc with at the time 79,048 miles.

In a nutshell, I am very uptight about my car and I have very sensitive hearing. I heard, what I thought could be a knocking noise from the engine. I work on motorcycle and I know what a spun bearing sounds like. I know the symptoms of a spun bearing ( increasing knocking noise with every turn of the motor). I have free oil changes for life here at Daytona Beach Toyota and thought I would ask them to hear it on my next oil change. I bring it in and it took about an hour and a half. Usually doesn't take that long. Service manager asks to speak with me and this was the following dialogue:

Service manager: " Are you attached to your car"

Broke graduate student(me): "This does not sound good"

Service Manager: "You have lower engine noise and I had the shop foreman confirm it. Are you in a position where you could trade it in and purchase another car"

Me: " My parents are financially well off, but I bought this car and own it out right, but I would consider it" (I was very upset at this point)

Service manager: walks me over to the used car department and says" We wont mention the knocking noise to the sales man"

me: "I can't do this now, I need time"

Service Manager: " I will call toyota and see if there is anything i can do"


I called up Toyota myself and filed a claim. I then began to ask other mechanics and one that I trust says he didn't hear anything and asked me to hold the brake in drive and push gas. Another mechanic didn't hear anything to be rod knock. Took it to another toyota and a tech. said he didn't hear any knocking.

At this point I am furious and call up Daytona Toyota and ask for the head manager and complain. I told them my parents were going to purchase 2 cars from you, but after this they will not! He asks me to come in and gives me a second opinion. I asked if he took the belts off and heard with a stethiscope and saw any metal shavings in the oil when he changed it:

"I heard a slight knock on the passenger side, but it is a knock that you really have to hear for. No one heard it at first, but if you listen VERY carefully there is something there. I had two toyota techs here from the factory by coincidence and they heard something too. I took the belts off to confirm. It doesn't seem to vary with rpm so it could be a slightly out of spec bearing and not spun. I didn't see any oil shavings and i put a PMT in there. I trust this PMT stuff whenever I build and engine and I think this engine will last another 80k-90k miles. If it were coming out of my pocket, i wouldnt fix it."


My Question to you:

I do not hear a knocking noise when I vary RPM to 3k. This knock sometimes is intermittent or I just dont hear it sometimes. I predominantly hear this "knock" when it is parked in my driveway which is inclined and RARELY on flat surface. Oil level is fine and I don't think I ever ran it low on oil( atleast the dealership never told me) Never has oil light come on. I have put rouughly 1000 miles since I took it to the dealer two weeks ago and dont hear a increase in knock.

Noise Video on inclined driveway fully warmed up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZVRM...ature=youtu.be

This is from what I can tell the loudest it has ever been. Sometimes all i hear is just the VSV valve tapping. I will upload another video when the car is flat plus revving.

Their Offer/Your opinion

They are offering me a new shortblock for what they say roughly 2K dollars installed. That is 50% discount from what they are saying. I have three months to decide which is around may first. I don't have any payments on the car and plan on keeping it for a while.


Thank You for your time

Miraj.

 

your car is fine.

seriously, relax.

 

Thank you for your quick reply. I think so too. I do need to relax lol. What kinda upsets me more is the dishonesty of the service guy. Telling me to trade it in and not mentioning the knock. Very bad sales tactic if you're trying to get me to buy a new used car. Just pass my problem on to someone else... Honesty and integrity severely lacking.

 

In excellent condition, your car is worth about 7,000+ easy especially at that mileage. Saleperson offers you 5,000 or less for the trade then sells the car for 8,000 or more depending if the finds hapless person to buy it, easy profit and really shady. Your car is fine and will last plus they know it too, drive until the wheels fall off.

 

Our cars do have a very faint valve tapping sound. It's nothing. The sales guy just wants you to buy a new car.

 

My car actually made a faint knocking sound very similar to that. Seemed to do it at random (mainly cold start idle) and itd go away after a fairly low rpm. What I can say is it doesnt appear to be internal. The motor that was in the car is currently torn down in my garage due to melting the side off a piston with a little too much timing and too much boost Ive mic'd the rods and crank journals as they will be getting reused and everything is still well within spec. I honestly dont have a clue where it couldve been coming from. I tried to track it down with a stethoscope and never could pinpoint it, finally I gave up and stopped caring about it. At this point I highly doubt its internal. If it was a bearing, rod or main, it would increase with rpm and get louder at high rpm. It also definitely didnt sound like piston slap, so who knows. Everything is more than likely fine, I wouldnt worry about it too much.

Also I agree, the service writer is just trying to scare you into buying a new car. They often get kickbacks for this. Also, never mention your financial situation when even looking at a car. The second they hear you have alot of money to spend, youll never get a good deal.