Smoke after hill climb (3rd gen taco), then blown engine.

[Sam Odio]

I've got a crazy story - and I'm trying to figure out if others have had a similar experience.

I bought a 2018 Tacoma and broke it in (3400 miles). I took it to Hollister Hills SVRA for its maiden off-road trial run. On what I’d estimate was a 35-40 deg 200-yard hill climb, the truck bogged down in a deep rut (attached photo). After turning it back on I got the low engine oil light but I couldn’t back down without risk of rollover. I eventually got the truck out of the rut with maxxtracks and a pull from my Land Rover. White smoke billowed out (smelled like antifreeze but I could be wrong) for about 30 minutes afterward.

I've found a thread on the Tacoma World forums where others have had a similar experience. Sounds like part of the engine is being flooded with oil on steep climbs.

Two days later the engine blew while towing a 3500lb trailer. Toyota is refusing to replace the engine under warranty. They are claiming it's water damage without opening up the engine (I did ford about 20 inches of water earlier in the day, but no smoke or loss of engine power then). Also, I'm pretty sure the manual claims you can ford water up to 27" deep.

I'm pretty bummed. After years with a rock solid LR3 I now have a $40k truck that, even when I do repair it, I wouldn't want to use to ford small streams or climb hills. I'm curious - has anyone here heard of this before? Also - has anyone had to deal with disputing a warranty repair? I would love any advice or tips.

 

[PetitFrereArmada]

Wow. you really messed up that truck. Well, keep on fighting about the warranty. Hopefully Toyota works with you.

 

[Sam Odio]

I just got a photo a friend took of the water ford. Very frustrating - if it was the water and not the hill climb, the water was not deep. Just barely deep enough to touch the skid plates, with the bow/splashes slightly above that.

Definitely makes me believe that they're in the wrong for refusing a warranty repair.

 

[Sam Odio]

 

[Dopesick]

Do yourself a solid. Print out the entire threads of people with similar failures. Contact Toyota of North America and FORCE the issue.

I've taken my Tacoma (3.4L V6 Pre-Runner), and 4Runner through the exact SAME obstacles @ Hollister, without any failures what so ever.

(Audio = NSFW - Song by Tool)
"Truck Hill".

 

[Watt maker]

I have seen a 3rd gen smoke like crazy on a steep hill before, no idea if it affected engine life after that. My guess is that it’s not the water crossing that made the engine blow, but oil was somehow introduced to the combustion chambers during that steep climb and basically hydro-locked the motor. This event probably over-stressed the internals resulting in your blown motor. The question is, did the oil pool up in the intake manifold and get ingested during the climb or is the oil pooling at the rear of the motor during a climb and getting pushed past the rings into the combustion chamber. I’m guessing it’s the latter of the two. I would call that an engineering flaw. So far, really not impressed with the 3.5 in these trucks.

 

[Ovrlnd Rd]

If they didn't tear the engine down before denying the warranty then just hire an attorney to send them a letter. Probably no need to sue but the attorney will at least get their attention. Denying a claim without fully investigating can be construed as "Bad Faith" on their part. They're probably just hoping you'll go away. You can always try filing with your auto insurance as it was "sudden and accidental" in nature but they'll likely deny it as a "mechanical failure" and tell you to go pound sand.

 

[Jerkeejoe]

That's a **************** warranty denial. I'd absolutely fight that tooth and nail. Feel free to send me a private message with your location and I'll see if I know any attorneys near you who might be willing to help (I'm also an attorney).

 

[rkj__]

Oh dear. That’s very unfortunate to hear.


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[blueranger501]

How do they know it’s “water damage”?

 

[Sam Odio]

The tech claimed water damage because water had “splashed around” in the engine compartment. Luckily the dealer was able to get that decision overturned and they rebuilt the engine under warranty.

Now however I have an “off road” truck that I hesitate to off road...I’m going to be contacting Toyota about a permanent fix. Otherwise I’ll just be blowing the engine again on the next hill climb...

 

[DaveInDenver]

Was it your dealer that denied it or an actual Toyota representative? Before you hire a lawyer make sure corporate is aware and it's not just the dealer jerking you around.

 

[Buliwyf]

Try another dealer. They don't want to work on it. Sadly, nobody wants to be a dealership tech anymore, so many of us are stuck with morons with a 3rd grade education posing as master techs.

It takes a ton of water to wreck an engine. (if engine and air intake are properly designed) Water splashes on the air intake, then gets atomized into a spray as it's pulled through the air filter. This is harmless, possibly even good for the engine. I don't bother with snorkels on fullsize trucks, because they can't ford any water around here deep enough to flood the intake. Our streams are too slick. too rocky, or too fast.

Unless your air filter looks like a muddy wet sock........

What does the engine sound like cranking over? How do they know it's blown?

Delete the pic of the water crossing, and never show it to anyone again. That's a bit splashy. That's not "fording" water.

 

[DaveInDenver]

The 2GR-FE they use in Lotus cars has a significant enough oil starvation issue that Moroso makes a special oil pan for them. I'd guess the high angle did that, starved the oil. It's not unheard of, all vehicles use engines designed to run flat. They aren't aircraft engines after all. But over time some are found to be worse than others and it honestly would not surprise me to hear this since the only truck the 2GR-FKS is used in is the Tacoma. It's Camrys and minivans otherwise.

 

[jasmtis]

The 2GR-FE they use in Lotus cars has a significant enough oil starvation issue that Moroso makes a special oil pan for them. I'd guess the high angle did that, starved the oil. It's not unheard of, all vehicles use engines designed to run flat. They aren't aircraft engines after all. But over time some are found to be worse than others and it honestly would not surprise me to hear this since the only truck the 2GR-FKS is used in is the Tacoma. It's Camrys and minivans otherwise.

You pretty much need a baffled oil pan for any non-dry-sump engine that's going to be seeing significant track time on a car with slicks that's going to be regularly cornering well past 1 g, they sell aftermarket pans or baffles for literally every popular track motor from the LS to the Coyote to Honda B and K series to BMW and Porsche engines. Not that this happening is remotely okay on a Tacoma that doesn't sound like it was doing anything it wasn't clearly designed and marketed to do, this kinda worries me honestly. Just baffled oil pans are a common precautionary upgrade for any track car on slicks so the Lotus thing in and of itself doesn't mean the 2GR is a flawed design. I wonder if the 2GR-FE pan is the same as the 2GR-FKS just for peace of mind. I took a quick look at the Moroso site and they actually make the same thing for the Jeep 4.0, no one's sticking that in track cars lol, it makes sense that you'd want them for off road applications for the same reason. Extended time at high RPMs with the oil in a funny spot, whether it got there from high cornering speeds or extended time spent pointed at the sky.