Sad story - check your oil

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mva

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I hate to admit it but it looks like I just lost a few thousand dollars due to not checking the oil in my Toyota Sienna van.

I knew that the van was overdue for an oil change and I had already purchased a jug of 5W30 QS high mileage oil and a filter. I have moved twice in the last few months so I had let the van go longer than normal (about 11,000 km) between oil changes. It normally did not use much oil and rarely needed a top up. My girlfriend has been driving it and I went to move the van a few days ago and noticed a definite ticking noise. I checked the oil and it was below the low mark but no oil light. Also, it has been -15C here this week. I immediately added a quart of oil but the ticking persisted.

Yesterday I changed the oil. Last night my daughter was driving the van and it died going up a large hill. She called me and said it was making a horrible noise with lots of smoke and a bad smell. I'm pretty sure it blew a rod. The van had 345,000 km on it and I never had to do any major repairs - original engine and transmission. But it is a shame for it to end like this. It was running great prior to this week.

I think that extending the interval resulted in faster than normal oil consumption and that combined with a lack of attention on my part resulted in severe engine damage. Being a member here I normally am very attentive to oil levels and oil changes but I missed this one.

So... check your oil!

Happy New Year :)
 
So you changed the oil and 10 miles later it conked out? This wasn't consumption, you blew a filter or lost a drain plug.

Look into it, maybe the filter company will cover it.
 
Being at the low level on the dipstick would not cause it to toss a rod/spin a rod bearing. It would still have plenty of oil in the pan (to the order of about 4L if it holds 5L for example). Either the oil pump gave up, or it had oil starvation due to sludge or something along those lines (assuming it wasn't an issue with your oil change and the pre-existing noise condition ultimately evolved into the failure). I would be very interested in seeing some under the valve cover pics if you can manage them and also what it actually ended up being. It does sound like it spun a bearing.
 
I can relate! My parents have a 98 Ford Windstar with well over 200,000 miles on it and took good care of it, but had to replace that great little 3.8 engine due to not keeping an eye on it. They took it to a quick lube type of business and I'm sure it was at least 10,000 miles on the oil and bam... there goes a bearing. The engine lost all oil because the filter came unscrewed. That never happened before, so I know what you mean when you say check the oil.

Happy new year to you too!
 
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Being at the low level on the dipstick would not cause it to toss a rod/spin a rod bearing. It would still have plenty of oil in the pan (to the order of about 4L if it holds 5L for example). Either the oil pump gave up, or it had oil starvation due to sludge or something along those lines (assuming it wasn't an issue with your oil change and the pre-existing noise condition ultimately evolved into the failure). I would be very interested in seeing some under the valve cover pics if you can manage them and also what it actually ended up being. It does sound like it spun a bearing.


+1
 
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Being at the low level on the dipstick would not cause it to toss a rod/spin a rod bearing. It would still have plenty of oil in the pan (to the order of about 4L if it holds 5L for example). Either the oil pump gave up, or it had oil starvation due to sludge or something along those lines (assuming it wasn't an issue with your oil change and the pre-existing noise condition ultimately evolved into the failure). I would be very interested in seeing some under the valve cover pics if you can manage them and also what it actually ended up being. It does sound like it spun a bearing.

Agree. Being a quart or even two isnt likely to cause damage unless you are beating on the engine. Ive had vehicles drive in with 1 or 2 quarts in the pan when I worked TLE. Filled them up with 4 or 5 quarts of oil and away they went.
 
Originally Posted By: itguy08
I'd say 214,373 miles did it in more than being a quart or so low.
That V6 is one of the finest mass production engines around. I've seen them go well passed 350K miles in pickups. They often outlive the body in the rust belt. Perhaps you can find a good used engine. My brother sold a 4 Runner V6 with 220K on it which burned no oil. The new owner, a car wise friend of his notes after another 50 it's still not using any.
 
Dig the old oil filter out of your trash and see if there's a gasket on it. If no, you could have double-gasketed the van.
 
Sounds like just a defective engine, but you did get a lot of miles out of that car. Pick up a used engine, put it in and the car will be fine.

With how cheap oil and filters are, it's cheap insurance to change it earlier to ensure the engine always has fresh oil in it.
 
Originally Posted By: GM4LIFE
Sounds like just a defective engine, but you did get a lot of miles out of that car. Pick up a used engine, put it in and the car will be fine.

With how cheap oil and filters are, it's cheap insurance to change it earlier to ensure the engine always has fresh oil in it.


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Toyotas don't last forever.If they did,they would have no reason to sell new ones.No 2 similar vehicles will last the exact same.For every 300K vehicle I am sure there are plenty that went poof at 80K.
 
Based on your post OP it sounds like the timing belt skipped a tooth or too which might've caused the sudden top end noise. You also stated that you didn't do any repairs so I'm assuming you never changed the timing belt and it's possible that it could've snapped. Before I would look into that I would check the used filter for a double gasket and I would check the filter you installed to see if it was the right one. For example a VO16 and a VO25 are the same size and they both fit GM's. A technician of mine installed a VO25 instead of a VO16 and the filter worked it's way off.
 
A girl friend or a daughter can be the largest contributing factor in the death of any automobile.

If the timing belt hasn't been changed in the last 100,000 miles, that may be the source of the noise and the failure.

Toyota engines that fail with 80,000 miles are very, very rare.

Regular timing belt service and a PYB change every 5,000 miles are usually enough to keep that 3.0 liter V6 rolling.
 
Originally Posted By: GM4LIFE


With how cheap oil and filters are, it's cheap insurance to change it earlier to ensure the engine always has fresh oil in it.


Amen to that brother. I am a member of your cult for sure.
 
Until we know what happened to the engine we're all just totally guessing. If the engine did throw a rod, it could have been a coincidence that it happened after running it a little low on oil.

Add me to the list of people suggesting that your oil level probably didn't get low enough to cause the engine to throw a rod.
 
My daughter came over(in '09) and told me her Honda('00 Civic) was making some noise so I went out and started the car up and as soon as it fired up I shut it off. Checked the oil, none, nada, nothing on the dip stick. Put in two qt's. and it just touched the bottom of the dip stick. It took 3 1/2 qt's. to get it up to the full mark, that dam car still runs good today.

The oil filter came loose and it didn't dump the oil out but it was like a very bad leak. Maybe 1 qt. every 100 miles.
She now checks the oil at least once a week.

If your engine is shot, you can find a low mileage one at a wrecking yard. That is if the van is worth putting a new engine in.

ROD
 
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