baffle appears to have contacted camshaft

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Guys -

Strange situation. A friend is looking at a used car, and brought it by for my opinion. It's an '06 Toyota Corolla in good shape and with low mileage (120K km) for the year. It's been owned by the same couple for the past eight years, and although they didn't seem to be mechanically-inclined, they were very nice people who had taken good care of the car. I drove the car and quite liked it - it's solid, and drives nicely.

The only concern I had was something I'd never seen before - the baffle just under the oil filler cap had been pushed down and had contacted something steel that rotates, either part of a camshaft or something driven off a camshaft. The baffle had worn through, and although I don't think there was still any metal-on-metal contact going on, obviously there had been. The engine sounded fine.

It's hard to tell when this would have happened. The oil had been changed regularly, but typically at a franchised oil-change place rather than at a garage or the dealer. I suspect someone put in a metal funnel and pushed it down so it wouldn't tip.

My concern is that the wear on the baffle could have resulted in some relatively large particles of metal getting into the engine and perhaps damaging a bearing or scoring a cylinder wall. The owners said the car didn't use oil between changes, but if the incident was recent (perhaps at the time of the oil change just a few days ago) there may have been damage done that hasn't shown up yet.

So, is it likely the engine has been damaged by this? Should my friend still consider the car? It is in good shape otherwise, and equipped pretty much as he'd like, including a manual transmission.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts about this!
 
Thats a pity. I'd be quite concerned about that as a risk factor, though you'll probably never know what effect it'd had even if you buy it.

What metal is the baffle made of? Steel would be worse than aluminium but neither are good

I doubt anyone else can really quantify the value of your friends peace of mind.

Personally, I'd only consider this if I got a really significant discount on the price, BUT that'd be a daft/nice move on the sellers part because the chances are another buyer won't notice it.

Console yourselves with the thought that at least you did. Sometimes you just have to walk away.
 
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Originally Posted By: Marco620
Pass,or buy as a buyer beware.


Puzzled. On a private sale, when does one do anything else?
 
How much do they want for it? As you figured out, some quick lube tech probably jammed a dispenser nozzle into the valve cover. I'm not sure this would prevent me from buying a ten year old car.
 
Probably as dishdude said. Probably someone had pushed an oil fill funnel in too hard. Oil filters do their thing. I would not pass because of this. Ed
 
Ironically what you discuss, I see the same down my oil fill hole. Can you show me a pic? I should be able to show you a pic of mine later today but the first piece of metal inside the fill hole seems bent on mine. Purchased mine at 80k kms and currently at 225k kms, no major issues to this point.
 
I would buy it, I have rebuilt sooooooooo many of these engines and this "baffle" is so EASy to push down and I have never seen it cause any damage of any sort...the part it would hit is solid and couldn't possibly get damaged by this "baffle"

05+ the oil burning issue is fixed, I would personally buy this 06 with low mileage.
 
Remove the valve cover and have a proper look at it.

That's the only way you can tell the condition. You could also see how clean the motor is at the top end. If it's a got a little sludge or varnish you might be able to scare them into getting the price reduced.
 
Originally Posted By: 01_celica_gt
I would buy it, I have rebuilt sooooooooo many of these engines and this "baffle" is so EASy to push down and I have never seen it cause any damage of any sort...the part it would hit is solid and couldn't possibly get damaged by this "baffle"

05+ the oil burning issue is fixed, I would personally buy this 06 with low mileage.


According to the OP, the baffle has a hole worn in it by a rotating component, so damage of some sort is a given.

I don't know this engine, but I guess the rotating component is a cam lobe or cam follower. I wouldn't be too concerned about possible damage to the cam lobe (though you could have a look) but I would be a bit concerned about the metal (steel or aluminium?) that got into the oil.

Certainly I'd care more about that than about low mileage or a theoretically resolved oil burning problem.

But at 10 years old I suppose you could live with it.
 
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Not a problem if the vehicle has been maintained per OEM. That baffle is made of a composite that becomes very brittle over time and can be broken very easy. The baffle in my 04 V6 is flaking off and nothing has contacted it accept oil being added to engine. Not a problem if vehicle is otherwise in good shape.
 
Originally Posted By: HosteenJorje
Not a problem if the vehicle has been maintained per OEM. That baffle is made of a composite that becomes very brittle over time and can be broken very easy. The baffle in my 04 V6 is flaking off and nothing has contacted it accept oil being added to engine. Not a problem if vehicle is otherwise in good shape.


Ahem..it only now emerges that this baffle is PLASTIC? Jeez!.

If that's the case its probably not much of a problem. If I bought the car I'd look into taking it out or replacing it with something that doesn't fall apart when exposed to oil though, since it could clog an oilway.
 
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If it is plastic, I'm relieved .. it certainly looked like steel to me. No photos unfortunately, although if my friend buys the car I'll likely be involved in the repair.

Will check back in once I know.
 
Originally Posted By: Number_35
If it is plastic, I'm relieved .. it certainly looked like steel to me. No photos unfortunately, although if my friend buys the car I'll likely be involved in the repair.

Will check back in once I know.
I don't know what the material in the baffle is, but I don't think it's "plastic." It's a porous material that looks like what was once used in in-line fuel filters on carburetors. Probably there to prevent debris following onto the head.
 
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