Bent cam bearings/rod?
 

I'm hoping some of you technical guys can assist me with an issue I am having.


2014 Scion FR-S Monogram. 28k Miles


As an instruction, 3 weeks ago I had just gotten my car back after being rear ended by some kid in a Jeep Cherokee because he saw my taillights "go off" so he thought I was accelerating. He rear ended into me.


That same night, as I was going home, the car starting having straight noises coming from the hood. Sounding like something wasn't falling properly in place. I pulled over to do a quick inspection. No smoke or damage or anything crazy. Kept driving and the noise got louder but only around 3-5k RPM. I was on the freeway on the way to a friends house who happens to be a mechanic to ask him to see if he can figure out what the noise was. Before I could even get half way, the car stalled out on the highway and went dead. I couldn't start up the car. It would attempt to crank but wouldn't start.


The next day I had the car towed to the dealership. At this point, it wouldn't even start, and the battery was dead, probably from trying to start it so many times. This was almost 3 weeks ago.


This morning I got a call saying the representative from Toyota who inspected the vehicle is denying the coverage for warranty. They're telling me the damage is due to a bent rod and cam bearings. The representative is claiming the damage is due to oil starvation. They also claim that there are missing service records so they are basically blaming me.


They were able to pull up all my previous service records with Toyota up until ToyotaCare expired for me. Since then I did my own oil changes, and only had to do once since it expired. I showed them the recent for all the OEM oil and oil filter that was purchased. They are saying I am missing a service record in between then and now. That oil change was done in August 2017. It hasn't been 6 months, and definitely hasn't been 7500 miles.


I am currently fighting with Toyota on this issue. I believe the representative who took a look has no technical background what so ever. There are no signs of purposeful oil starvation. The oil pressure light never came on, the car was not stuttering or driving differently, there does not appear to be any leaks, and the engine should not be burning oil. If it is burning oil, then they really should be covering it under warranty.


Are there any other things I can request of them, from a technical standpoint to help with my case? The service people from Toyota, who admit they don't have too much of a technical background have been helpful in trying to push to get the work done. It seems this representative, whom I've already filed a complaint with Toyota Corporate is the one claiming the damage was due to my own negligence.

**EDIT**

Also wanted to note, that this guy's description, sounds very similar to what I am describing.

https://www.carcomplaints.com/Subaru...e/engine.shtml

if you can provide that you bought the oil and oil filter with a receipt after your toyota care expired; i don't know why they would make it big deal about it. Unless the car was/is tuned. (unsure if bought used or new). that would explain some things. I don't know if toyota has a similar thing; but subaru has "Subaru Ambassadors" that don't work directly for subaru, but help with stuff like this. usually they have a facebook group or a local facebook page. other than that, call Corporate Toyota and complain?

I bought the car new, and it's bone stock. I am the only owner and never beat the car. It was spontaneous.

I assume they didn't say "cam bearings". I suspect they said rod bearings. Typically a damaged rod bearing is due to starvation often due to low oil. Why do they claim starvation? Are they saying the oil was low? Strange this all happened after having your car repaired by a body shop. Seems someone from that shop took your car out for doughnuts while bouncing the limiter.

Aparently there were some issues with early production models that had starvation problems but yours is a 2014. I would guess yours would be past that.

Hey @arren123, wouldn't it be interesting to know if he has an Eagle and #1 on his timing cover?

No, the service rep I've been dealing with said "Cam Bearings". He specifically said your cam bearings are damaged and a rod is bent. They're claiming oil starvation because theyre saying there are missing service records between my last oil change done with Toyota, but I provided them with receipts showing where I purchased oil and oil filter from and the date, which wasn't even 6 months ago. The oil was changed out in August 2017.

I don't believe it's the body shop. I trust the work they do and have always had work done there. Plus there is no where in Brooklyn, NY to be doing doughnuts.

Do you mind providing me details on starvation problems?

Well he probably misspoke or is blowing smoke. There aren't bearings on the cams.

Lets just say you did go past your oil change interval for a few K, it isn't going to cause starvation problems unless your burring/leaking oil during this extended interval. I am sure they would have told you right away if the oil was low.

There is speculation that the original timing cover design had some narrow oil galleries which restricted oil flow. There is also speculation that they were using too much gasket packing on the timing cover on early builds which was causing packing to come loose an block oil galleries. The original cover has an Eagle on the left hand (passenger side) bank with a #1 just to the top right of the Eagle. The newer cover no longer has an Eagle and has a #2 on it. Looking at the parts catalog it looks like they have had 3 different covers to date. I have a 2013 which was built 11/12 and it has a #1 on it. I'm guessing your car is at the dealer so you can't easily check.

What hasn't been said is if the oil was checked since August. The 14 had very few oil leak issues but that is a long time to go without checking. As said it could be presumed that they checked the volume at the tear down but if they really said it was "cam bearings" then they may not have mentioned it. Ironic that the linked item was due to no oil but the poster was sure it wasn't their fault since they check the oil "every 3,000 miles". There was a guy on here that didn't check it for 6 months and then blamed everybody but himself when it spun a bearing due to no oil.


So was the oil checked recently?


If it was indeed checked then we can move on to the next thing.

How fast was the other guy going when he hit you? Why aren't you going through your insurance company for this? Rear end accident + engine blowing on the same night sounds related to me.

My friends 2014 engine was assembled with way tooooo much silicone and when pulled apart at very low km it was already showing signs of oil starvation
due to restricted oil galleries form bits of sealant.

Had it been driven for much longer the engine builder said it would have seized for sure .:confused0068:

I would say there's a good possibility that your engine might have suffered the same issue .

I checked the oil probably a week or two before the car was rear ended. I checked it around when it started getting really cold in NY.

As for the rear end, we were in stand still traffic. It was a Jepp Cherokee. Upon impact, his license plate went right into my bumper and cracked it. He was moving from a stand still. I would say he wasn't moving too fast.

OK so oil level was know to be fine. That is important to rule out.

An update, i spoke with a Toyota customer care case manager. Received a call today and they reversed the decision and will be covering it under warranty.

I brought this up to the toyota rep. Not sure if it helped my case

That is great news!