Ahh the car just needs to earn your trust, just know that pretty much anything can be repaired. Allow the car to earn your trust again, put it through its paces.

At the cost of your modlist you might think you could cover an engine replacement or rebuild if it every happened.

Consider asking the dealership to check the oil pickup tube with an endoscope and look for any bits that shouldn't be there, run an oil analysis. And then, hope for a good outcome.

I'd also like to add that for a while I felt similar after I got the JO2 recall done, now I didn't have any issues yet (knock on wood). That feeling does start to go away as you push the car harder and harder over time. Like I said the car will slowly earn your trust again.

I rebuilt my engine and also worried like hell for a while. I've got about 13K miles since rebuilding and I am finally over it. I even listen to music while driving... sometimes. :)

I've owned 38 daily drivers in my life and am old. Put those two things together and it means I can "mostly" move past this stuff. A car is just a tool. And my FR-S is a FUN tool. 172,000 miles and 8 sets of tires worth. But I know it's not eternal. Stuff wears out. It makes new noises. It's got a couple of minor cracks in the windshield.


Of course, I'm WAY past the days of modifying a car. The only mod I ever did was get good tires. I figure I may have 30-100k left on it and they will be rough toward the end, I'm pretty sure.


It's a car. Expect imperfections. Drive it like you stole it and then replace it. Expect stuff to be less than perfect. Chasing perfection in a car only leads to an early grave. Use it. Abuse it if that's your fancy, but know that right now it is in the best condition it will ever be in, going forward, unless you rebuild it, which is rarely cost effective.


I guess, in a nutshell, what I'm trying to say is to lower your expectations. It's a really great car, but it's just a car. None of them are perfect.


BTW, if you are getting that clunking from the left rear, check out the flat tire replacement tools in the Styrofoam. They're probably bouncing around.

I wish I had read that before I penned my long post.


You nailed it.

His was good. Yours was elegant.

His was good. Yours was elegant.

I had My recall done in Calgary Ab Canada and within 6 weeks , End of June , it died on me. My dealer has had the car ever Since. They say they are trying to communicate with Toyota Canada , as they want them to pay to fix it. As it was the dealer whom did the recall, found the debris in the oil pan/pickup tube, should they not be the ones to pay. I think they will eventually, they just feel maybe Toyota never gave proper instructions, IDK. I don't know a much about cars, but is this debris in the pickup tube the issue that caused the car to die ? One you tuber said it was, any thoughts , help ? Thanks all, Susan:mad0259:

Yes, if they found and admitted that debris was in the oil pick up tube then they either did not clean off the old sealant or did not apply the new sealant correctly when they took your engine apart.

I would not worry about who pays for the fix as long as it is not YOU!

Nice to see the dealer is being truthful with the oil pick up findings. What likely happened is that oil flow was reduced because of the debris in the screen and the engine did not get enough oil and was damaged.

Hope it works out...keep us updated.

Having my car fail twice with the J02 recall ( 2 new/used) engines from Toyota before my car ran again) kind of bumped me into the "it's a car, it'll blow up" category. If anything, it kicked my ass into gear to enjoy the car while it runs. While I was shaken and initially hesitant to trust, I went 4.5 months without my car - when I got it back ,it was redline leaving their driveway. Enjoy it while it lasts, don't be afraid of it and then regret not driving it :)

out of curiosity's sake, when these recalled engines fail, are the dealers installing used engines or brand new ones? assuming they fess up.

I stand corrected. I said I had 38 daily driviers. I exagerated by ten. This is a sort of narcissistic post, but I used it as an excuse to go through the exercise of determining what I did actually own. In order of ownership:

1963 Rambler classic
1972 Vega GT
1954 Chevy station wagon
1972 Opel GT
1974 AMC Hornet
1977 Subaru DL (new)
1976 Saab 99
1980 Buick Skylark (new)
1954 Ford Pickup
1974 Chevy Pickup
1963 Rambler Station Wagon
1977 Dodge pickup
1984 Plymouth Reliant station wagon
1980 Dodge D50 pickup (turned it into a convertible)
1985 Plymouth full sized van
1966 Dodge Polaris station wagon
1994 Chevy Lumina
1980 Mitsubishi pickup (same as the dodge)
1983 Mazda GLC
1986 Mazda 323
1987 Plymouth Reliant
1988 Dodge Onmi
1992 Chrysler LeBaron Convertible
2001 Chrysler 300 (new)(142 mph governor, which kicked in on I-94 in eastern Montana)

And the cars I still own:
2006 Scion xB (new)
2004 Chevy Silverado Z71
2013 FR-S (new)
2016 Scion iA (new)