Hi, I'm new, as I've never had a problem and I'm not really a mechanically inclined 'car person', but I do love my XD...I bought it new in 2010 and have kept up with all the twice yearly maintenance for my 2009 Scion XD. Work from home since 2020, so I don't drive it a lot. A week ago I moved it from the garage to the driveway to make room for our tractor/snow plow, for the big snowstorm on Monday. 3 days later, on Weds I tried to start it with no luck- it tried to turn over then, nothing. After trying jumpstarts and fully checking the battery, we had it towed to the shop, where they say a piston dropped and the engine is shot. Keep in mind there was absolutely no trouble before this, no extra rumbling, or clue that something could be wrong. I have to trust that the mechanic is telling the truth- he's been trustworthy in the past- and he's been doing this maintenance for the last 5+ years.

Anyone have an idea what a replacement engine will run me? (feel free to break it out by parts cost plus labor.) The shop is guestimating at least $5K for parts and labor for a used engine- more for remanufactured. Really this is my first real problem with it- I've had to replace the battery in 2022- and the tires- but I've had no other issues. It is fully paid off and I don't want a car payment, but I'm pretty sure the engine repair will be more than the car is worth- what do you all think? Would you do it? (Especially if you weren't mechanically inclined yourself?) Should I anticipate other problems that could follow this, causing more sunk costs?

I appreciate all opinions and ideas because this has come out of left field. Thanks in advance!

 

Any chance you can get the mechanic to elaborate on what "a piston dropped" means? Could be any number of things but given that it sounds as if it ran fine when you pulled it out of the garage to the driveway then that seems pretty extreme and, well, unlikely. If you had any kind of engine necessitating a repair you would have known it when the car started because it would have made all kinds of bad mechanical noises when you were moving it.

What happened when you tried to start it the last time...any noises or anything like that?

 

Hi Mile,

We plan to go to the shop today to speak with them directly. They didn't say how they came to that decision that a piston dropped, but my husband has experience with that happening and he confirmed there would be major knocking and a definitely knowledge of something being wrong.

We thought it seemed suspicious as well, especially as there was NO problem before- no knocking, nothing. I thought it was the battery, since it was left out in the frigid cold and because I (stupidly) had a charger plugged in- nothing attached to it, though. I imagine we will need to get a second opinion on what is wrong from a different shop.

 

I'd definitely get a second-opinion as something doesn't add-up here and I highly doubt anything 'dropped' without it being very apparent. The only other thing I would say as far as 'dropping' is if it got REALLY cold and your ant-freeze mix wasn't sufficient and you managed to have coolant freeze and 'crack' something, which could lead to hydrolock and would result in the starter not 'moving' anything. You can pull plugs and try cranking and see if you get any liquid coming out. Highly doubt it though given your description.

 

I would definitely have it towed to another shop for a second opinion for a repair of this magnitude.

 

So now the story has changed. It wasn't 'a piston dropping', now it just doesn't have compression. (This was from the owner, vs. the office front-man).

He reminded me of a time a few months back when the car wouldn't start, and wouldn't jump- we towed it there and it started right up for them. They couldn't find a problem- so they said. Well apparently at that time, they had also run a compression test and found one or more of the pistons were a little low, "but still within tolerance". However, no-one said anything about a compression test or those results at that time. Who knows, if they had, I might've considered trading it in while it was still running-- or something. At least I'd have the knowledge to make an informed decision.

Anyway they have to put it back together (Oh please I hope they don't get mad and do anything bad to it!!) We will be towing it to the new shop tomorrow.

 

They run a compression test and don't say anything to you or bill you for it...their story keeps getting better. I'd find a new shop immediately.

And low compression on one cylinder wouldn't prevent the car from turning over or starting, it would just be down on power.

 

I know, right??!!

So yesterday we told them we'd be towing elsewhere for a second opinion. They couldn't do it then, bc it was still taken apart- we agreed to talk this morning before I called a tow.

So they just called and Lo and Behold it is Running again! It is "running rough" now and they were going to let it go a bit and then try to figure out what is wrong. I hope that allowing it to run 'rough' doesn't end up causing a problem where there wasn't one before... I had been in a meeting- my husband spoke to them.

 

While I don't have the expertise to overview your situation, I say that something is seriously wrong with this shop, and to get it away from that shop ASAP.

If you keep up with oil changes, especially, it would be hard to believe there is a sudden catastrophic failure.

I have a 2010 XD, just did a Transmission filter change and addressed a rough idle issue by doing a Mass Airflow Sensor cleaning, and Throttle Body cleaning, and the difference is dramatic,

I hope you can find an honest, reliable, but most importantly, knowledgeable mechanic.

 

Outside of pulling off the decorative cover over the engine and pulling plugs to run their alleged compression test, there shouldn't be a whole lot to 'take apart'.

Could be as simple as mentioned above or a COP failure, I'd get it out of there and check for any error codes and go from there but let another shop do it. The fact that their story keeps changing seemingly every time you speak to them as completely shady.

 

Sooooo. Long story short, they got it running (it's a miracle!) they let it sit over the weekend and tried it again Monday (yesterday)- it still started up. We went in yesterday to get it and they weren't gonna charge us anything- but I gave $100 for the labor.

We've always had a good relationship with the owner, who is who we've been talking to most recently. His office-man is the one we don't trust, and the one who wanted me to get a new engine.

Apparently the compression is low, I think the numbers were 100, 60, 75 and 80. It ran fine one the way home, and I took it out today with no issues.

Bottom line is I'm probably going to have to sell it and get something different. I love that car, but I'm not a mechanic and I don't know how to fix things- but I bet if someone was handy they would do well with it- there really have been no other problems than this. It's the special edition Wasabi green one, where am I ever gonna find something like it??

So IDK if this is a place to put a 'for sale by owner' thing up, or if you know of one- I want it to go to a good home with someone who is familiar with them and can give the love it needs to be strong and healthy again.

 

So I wanted to close out this thread... I took my Scion XD to a different shop to run a compression test and see if there were any problems... No. Trouble. Found.

The compression was consistent at 170 across the board. They said I might want to consider doing a throttle body cleaning since it is at 130K and not had one, but that was it.

So the first shop is toast. I still don't know why it had problems starting, but I guess I'm OK! Thanks everyone for your help!

 

Wow.

First glad to hear the vehicle has no major issues, second, I would let the internet know about this shop, and warn people away.

It really is inexcusable that they carried the deception so far and cost/caused you money, time, stress, and anxiety.

I just did a MAF cleaning and throttle body, it made a huge difference, and also invested in some ATS fuel cleaner (the expensive stuff Scotty Kilmer recommends) to blow whatever carbon has accumulated in the injectors at this point in time.

 

That's some shady stuff on the part of the first shop and the numbers they gave you would have been so low that you would have been lucky to get out of your own way...170-ish sounds more likely.

I can't say I'd take the 'high road' and might leave a few online reviews for the original shop on Google and Yelp.