3 Blown Engines This year

[Mathew_Boss]

So this weekend our 2015 Pentastar ate the camshaft at 72k miles.

This is our 3rd major engine failure this year. I change the oil before the 10k miles recommendation. I follow maintenance and breaking in procedures by the book and yet here we are.

I use Full Synthetic Oil. My Charger has had Pennzoil Platinum or Platinum High Mileage it’s whole life except it had one oil change of Castrol Edge Extended Performance and it had 3k miles on Quaker StateUltimate Durability when the failure occurred.

our 2019 Toyota Highlander threw a rod bearing at 2,700 miles and got a short block replacement then it had oil gaskets fail and they had to do a gasket kit at 3,800 miles and it blew a head gasket at 4,900 miles. I changed the FF at 500 miles with Pennzoil Platinum and the rest of the time it was using TGMO from the dealer.

Are engines really this low of quality now? Am my just having bad luck? Is it time to avoid Pennzoil? I’m open to suggestions and comments.

 

[Leo99]

Sounds like a defective engine in the Highlander. Hopefully, you get a new engine or new Highlander for your troubles. Can't blame the oil for any of your failures. No amount of oil changes or break in will overcome a defective engine. Hope you have better luck in the future.

 

[Chris142]

The pentastar cam shaft failures are very common. Junk parts.

The Toyota is a rare failure.

 

[Mathew_Boss]

Sounds like a defective engine in the Highlander. Hopefully, you get a new engine or new Highlander for your troubles. Can't blame the oil for any of your failures. No amount of oil changes or break in will overcome a defective engine. Hope you have better luck in the future.

Yeah our 19 Highlander got lemon lawns last Saturday. We ended up with a 2020 Hybrid LE

 

[CharBaby]

I think you're having a streak of bad luck.
Non engine related, I am having a streak of bad luck with flat tires on my Schwinn & Trek. I've had 8 flats this summer between the two bikes. It just happens this way sometimes.

 

[Mathew_Boss]

I think you're having a streak of bad luck.
Non engine related, I am having a streak of bad luck with flat tires on my Schwinn & Trek. I've had 8 flats this summer between the two bikes. It just happens this way sometimes.

I was injured in Afghanistan in 2012 and have not been able to go cycling since but I used to be an avid cyclist. I had gotten a lot of flats and found special tubes you could supposedlay drive over a cactus and not get a flat. I’ll go back through my receipts and PM you where to get those tubes. They are a life savor assuming you have a MTN bike?

 

[supton]

That's definitely bad luck. I'm afraid if I defend the Toyota I'll be accused of being a fanboi, but we all know that sometimes items are defected, new in box--it's called infant mortality, and while statistically rare it does occur. It sounds like the dealership may have botched the repairs which then is the fault of the dealer for subsequent problems--or that motor was just plain bad in more ways than one.

The Pentastar, unfortunately again that is the luck of the draw.

I'm reminded of a saying: the difference between a recession and a depression is simple. A recession is when your neighbor loses his job--a depression is when you lose yours. It's easier to defend/explain random failures when it's not yours--but when it's your problem suddenly it's personal.

 

[wpod]

But in Bitog fashion syn oil was run and the engines still had problems.

 

[JC1]

I think you are having some bad luck. This is not oil related. Hopefully it gets sorted out.

As they say bad things come in threes. Sometimes you just find it unbelievable when it happens to you.

 

[Mathew_Boss]

But in Bitog fashion syn oil was run and the engines still had problems.

Yeah after this year it’s my opinion that a good engine will be good and a bad one will be bad. So long as you put an oil it it I don’t think it will prolong engine life.

 

[buster]

That's rough. Definitely sounds like bad luck.

 

[wpod]

Yeah after this year it’s my opinion that a good engine will be good and a bad one will be bad. So long as you put an oil it it I don’t think it will prolong engine life.

The only engine I ever had blow up was an engine running Amsoil. It wasn't the Amsoils fault though there was an assembly problem from the factory. I owned several Toyotas and they were pretty good cars , I guess as reported Toyota is having problems trying to squeeze blood from Turnips like other mfgs.

 

[Passport1]

You've had a Black Swan encounter.

Black swan theory - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[OVERKILL]

2015 definitely falls inside the range for the years that the Pentastar had head issues. Do you still have any warranty on the vehicle? There was an updated head that addressed the failure that was fitted to later years.

 

[Mathew_Boss]

2015 definitely falls inside the range for the years that the Pentastar had head issues. Do you still have any warranty on the vehicle? There was an updated head that addressed the failure that was fitted to later years.

3 Months and 28k miles left on the power train.
They charged us $120 Diagnostic fee and $250 deductible because it was CPO.

 

[OVERKILL]

3 Months left on the power train

Perfect! You'll get an updated head then and the engine should be problem-free for the rest of its life. It was an unfortunate early production issue that wasn't identified until they were in service.

 

[Mathew_Boss]

Perfect! You'll get an updated head then and the engine should be problem-free for the rest of its life. It was an unfortunate early production issue that wasn't identified until they were in service.

I don’t think they are replacing the head, just the rock that failed and the cam that got wiped out.

 

[4WD]

Yeah our 19 Highlander got lemon lawns last Saturday. We ended up with a 2020 Hybrid LE

Good move … The Car Pro speaks highly of that hybrid …
Can‘t see where Pennzoil could be a problem …
Was 2016 the newer revision of the Pentastar?

 

[Mathew_Boss]

Good move … The Car Pro speaks highly of that hybrid …
Can‘t see where Pennzoil could be a problem …
Was 2016 the newer revision of the Pentastar?

Pentastar and a revision for 2017 I know. The heads we redesigned for MY13 and all 11-13s got a 10 Year 150k miles warranty one the left side head. My misfire was the right side closest to the firewall

 

[4WD]

Pentastar and a revision for 2017 I know. The heads we redesigned for MY13 and all 11-13s got a 10 Year 150k miles warranty one the left side head. My misfire was the right side closest to the firewall

We have a 2013 V6 Charger … perfect so far … too soon to tell on the Rubicon …