vintage42

That sequence does not make sense to me. Perhaps a mechanic here can comment.

Head gasket leaks slowly admit either coolant into the oil, or oil into the coolant, or both. It takes a while, causes no sudden mechanical damage in the process, and is soon apparent from the condition of the oil and/or coolant. There is time to fix a head gasket leak before the engine is damaged, and the damage is not sudden and catastrophic.
Warped? What warped?
Spun bearing? A bearing shell might spin if it ran dry of oil. The engine did not lose oil until after the rod broke.

The usual reason for breaking a rod in new modern engines is over-revving. That might be inferred from an engine that was modified with intake, header and exhaust. Hopefully this broken rod was due to a defect in the part. That would have to be the dealer's assumption.

AgentRice

not true... if ur giong on the highway with a blown gasket depending on how big the leak is it could effect it IMMEDIATLY. and if he was already low on oil his engine starved.

but i dunnno what else then mister mac.

eXciteBox

it would be totally rad if you guys didnt argue over what may or may not have happened. i posted this info so people know that it COULD happen. toyota will be taking the engine and they will determine what happened. if they tell me or not is another story.


it happened to another person on here, Tamago with an xA. cold air intake only:
https://www.scionlife.com/forums/vie...ight=threw+rod

andd whats wrong with macs? i use one and wont ever own a pc again haha

doctorcue

That sucks man, sorry to see this happen. Glad they are covering it under warranty.

vintage42

A split radiator hose or a loose oil filter can lose large amounts of water or oil immediately. But in both cases, the engine will keep running for miles.
A head gasket leak can only pass very small quantities of oil or water. And he did not say he was low on oil. He only lost oil after the rod knocked holes in the block.

Scorpius01

Considering the cold air intake and that those pictures indicate there was water on the ground, at freeway speed. you hydrolocked your motor. that is what hydrolock does. I am surprised the dealer is going to warranty that, unless the intake was purchased though the dealer.

The probability of a blown head gasket is remote on the 1nz-fe, it would have to have been overheated pretty severly. Since the block and the cylinder head are aluminum the expansion rates are the same, which reduces the probabilty of block or cylinder head warpage.

For a blown headgasket to immediately affect a cars runability it would had to have been overheated severly to the piont where it shuts down, than it will hardstart/misfire when you do get it fired back up. white smoke eminates from the tailpipe from the coolant entering the combustion chamber. So in short there would be runability issues, and most likely not throw a rod through the block.

Oil starvation destroys the rod bearing eventually spinning the bearing, there is a thin layer of oil that cushions the bearing on the cranck shaft. Due to the heat from the friction of the rod bearing on the cranckshaft the connecting rod will 'blue'. eventaully failing. This could throw a rod, but the motor would knock pretty bad befor that transpires.

So what makes my explanation credible? I work for Toyota.
This should be a lesson to not go through puddles when you have a cold air intake.

black_sand_box

I'm glad AgentRice is't my Tech. Scorpius your call sounds much more plausible. Sound like it was running it low on oil or hydrolocking. I can't the blown head gasket having anything to do with this one.

vintage42

Logical explanation, but could there really be enough depth of water on the Interstate to hydrolock an engine? I thought it took several inches of water to spash up and do that, from driving through deep puddles or floodwater.

Pimp_Sling

Depends what Interstate you're on! In Colorado it is very possible, we routinely have 6 inches of standing water on our freeways. By the way, when you refer to "over-revving" exactly what do you mean? Driving the engine to its rev limiter? Keeping it at the rev limiter for extended periods of time? And how does the fact that he has an I/H/E have any influence on his engine's RPMs at any given time?

black_sand_box

Unless you have removed the slash guard under the car I cannot see how driving at hwy speeds would cause hydrolock even at 6 inches. Even if you are in traffic the filter itself would be over 6 inches off the ground.(assuming that the vehicle isn't sitting on the ground) If you are going to be driving in water deep enough to hydrolock then you should have a bypass valve.

vintage42

Yes, those are what I had in mind for over-revving, although I was referring to any engine, not neccessarily the xB's engine. When I threw a rod in a little 4-cylinder car, I was cruising near its top speed.
As for an I/H/E, they often have the effect of increasing the RPMs that an owner uses in driving.

Scorpius01

As you know the filter for a CAI is located in the left front fender, in front of the wheel. The spalsh guards main job is to keep most of the water from getting in the engine compart ment area, protecting the electronics from water.

The area where the filter is located does NOT have a water tight seal, which would be the only way to prevent water from getting in. Everyone with a CAI should for the sake of curiousity, look and feel your filter element when it is raining, it will be wet. Now if you are a a stand still in 6in of water or whatever it would take to submerge the filter it simply does not have enough vacuum to suck up water.

When you are at freeway speed the engine is 3000-4000 depending on auto or manual. Now lets imagine the speed, lets say 65mph. On any interstate standing water is a always a big pool spread out.

3000-4000 rpm is some serious vacuum at this rpm, the motor is ingesting a huge amount of air at a high rate. Now imagine taking that force and going through some puddles. Going through some puddles at this speed or faster is going to force water into the intake filter area, and into the engine bay area. Depending on how much water gets to the filter determines what happens.

bB2NER

It's a form of water injection. Doubt it would be enough to hydro lock the motor. I feel it was just time for it to go after the abuse it was subjected to. Who knows how it was broken in and maintained. I'm sure Toyota will want to see maintanance records and proof that all the work was done right and with the correct parts. If not, just be very glad that they covered it under warranty and be nicer to this engine. PLEASE

BrianxB

If I remember correctly, I think that I could see the filter on this car due to the body kit when I looked at it in person. Perhaps I am thinking of another car, but if this was the case it could be likely.

At freeway speeds you wouldnt need a puddle, all you need is a good spray from the car in front of you. Thats alot of potential for water. Dont think so? Ride down the highway @80mph, Ace Ventura style.

vintage42

The CAI's are scary in this respect. Especially if they can really hydrolock an engine just from driving on an Interstate in a heavy rain.
The stock setup gives the engine much better protection. The intake is up inside the engine compartment by the top of the battery, and has a small opening pointed sideways toward the side of the headlight. Seems impossible for water to get up there. The intake tube then goes down and then comes back up almost a foot to reach the air filter.
If any water should somehow get into the stock intake, it would lie in the low part of the tube and then have to be sucked almost a foot vertically into the air box. The airbox is larger than the intake tube, reducing the velocity of the air, making it drop any water that makes it that far. And large horizontal air filter is another barrier.
There is not muchrelation between hydrolocking and water injection. Hydrolocking requires enough water coming through an intake valve to block a piston from rising to TDC - could take a tablespoon or a cup. Injection uses less than a drop of water per stroke, expanding 1700 times as steam, for cooling the combustion chamber.

RedneckwithanxB

damn...

bB2NER

Guess we won't know more till next week huh?

richdog

hopefully everything goes well and look at it this way you have a new motor.......

LiquidFX

wow, good luck with the next engine

toyscout2005

never heard of head gasket doing it but it was raining all you needed was to suck in water and that doesnt compress like air i know did it to a honda prelude