Need some advice. Long story short my good friend had my car while I was on vacation, he says he fears my timing belt may have gone, while he was cruising down the highway, he says the connecting rod punched a hole in the oil pan and that the car is leaking oil, but he says it still turns over? Anyway, I've been told a new engine would be 10-12 grand--out of the question, but that a used engine through Lexus may be around 3 grand. Huge let down, since I was going to hold onto this thing for a while,--may still. It's a '97ES300 with 130k miles. Is it worth having an estimate to consider repair options?

 

if your friend had your car, your friend should pay for the repair.
or at less pay half.
But if it was me, i would trade-in for a new car

 

Do yourself a favor, get on line with a used parts locater.....you should be able to find a decent mielage one for cheaper than that with a warranty.

 

Right but with installation, do you think I'd be that much better off?

 

why do we have to buy a new car? I would have a lexus certified to replace your engine. Expect to pay $4-6k for this repair. What happen to the egine though? The rod doesn't just knock a hole through the oil pan!
JPI

 

Yeah, that's what I was afraid of. I'm afraid the timing belt may have gone, could that have caused the rod to break lose? Hoping to know more soon.

 

i have never heard of rods punching a hole in the oil pan. if the timing belt broke, you have a good chance of bending valves. your car will not turn over if the timing belt broke. good luck.

 

I haven't either, unless the oil hadn't been changed in 50k miles, it had been in about 3200 miles.... I wonder if there's ANYTHING he could have done to screw things up?

 

This is a 97 ES300 so it's a non VTT-I engine.
JPI

 

Me too.

ES3- It's hard for me to believe your friend was just cruising and the engine threw a rod. I tend to think he was pushing it REAL hard.

 

Yeah, and probably no real way to know for sure, huh?

 

most of the time when the rod goes through the block there is not enough oil. something must have caused the bearing to seize up. oil pump failure? its way to hard to point since there are numerous unknown variables involved. your friend may not be telling you the WHOLE story.