The wife was driving our 2010 450h down the freeway an heard a bang, and all kinds of warning lights came on, so she pulled off to the side and had it towed home. What we found was a crack on both the upper oil pan and the side of the pan itself, and a big chunk of aluminum casting that fell out when it came off the tow truck. Can't really tell from looking at it if it was the result of debris from the road or something that happened internally on the engine, but it doesn't look or sound good at all.

I put some oil in it and tried to start it, which it did briefly, but it sounded rattly, and shut off right away. When I tapped the gas pedal, which usually makes it start the engine again, I just got a bunch of "check hybrid system" messages and it wouldn't start again. I'm not going to try.

I sent the pictures to our mechanic, who is actually a german shop, but he looked up some stuff for us and said that there is both an upper and lower oil pan, and it looks like both are cracked and both *should* be replaceable - but he cautioned that this may not be worth doing if the engine ran even for a few seconds without oil, and also that its possible the engine itself caused this by some kind of catastrophic internal failure. I'm guessing engine replacement is very expensive in these, which is too bad because even though we have over 200k, we did recently do the water pump and timing stuff and a bunch of other maintenance items, thinking we'd drive this car to the end of time...

I did call a Toyota shop and asked about this later, and was told that the upper oil pans are commonly replaced and fail on these for other reason related to a cooler hose issue. He said the parts and labor aren't hugely expensive, but wouldn't recommend it without inspecting the engine internals first.

What do yall think? And can you recommend a shop in the Houston area you'd trust?

 

Aaron,

I can absolutely recommend Bill English's Cars And Trucks located in the Stafford area. I've been taking my vehicles to him for 20+ years and you won't find a more honest mechanic in the world. He routinely posts on FB about what another shop or dealer was going to charge a customer for stuff and how much he saved them. Give him a call. It's worth the drive even if you're on the opposite side of Houston. 281-728-7388.

Good luck and please keep us updated!

Jeff in Houston

 

Metal breaking apart is 99.99% based on something hitting from the outside or inside. I suspect inside and at that time replacing the pan is a moot point and adding oil with qa gaping hole is a useless effort.

I would almost bet that you need a new/used engine. So decide if it is worth the money to get that done based on other general condition of the vehicle. As is is not going to get you much money [mechanics and avid flippers are your customers]. Junking it will get you $500-900 est.

So decide who is going to do your work, and save all the towing trips and go to that place.

If you decide on repairs, I would suggest stay away from rebuild and instead opt for a used engine. I would further suggest not to buy the engine yourself and let the mechanic purchase it and and warranty it.

Salim

 

Did you check oil level before filling? Maybe it wasn't too low. first thing I would do is see if the engine can spin freely. remove a spark plug or two, and hand crank the engine and see what occurs. may need to remove belts as well.

 

Its is not terrible job to remove both oil pans (and exhaust Y pipe), then you will see the connecting rods and bottom of pistons, I bet one of the rods is busted or a broke piston, scrap either way, but just a few hours labor to remove the pans. It can be done with jackstands and the engine in the car, for 2GR-FE 3.5L on 2008 model at least, same engine. At 200K I bet those pans were seeping oil anyway.

 

I agree with Mesquite77 that you probably have a broken connecting rod or bearing failure. That damage appears to be from something hitting the oil pan from the inside pushing it out such that the adjoining part of the block was damaged. Time to sell it for junk or buy a used engine. With that many miles it owes you nothing and it may be time to move on.

 

Time for a new/replacement engine.

The upper oil pan is not an failure point of the engine. It has no moving parts. The failure appears to be from a thrown rod caused by an engine bearing failure that impacted the oil pan. Generally happens if the engine was ran while low on oil.

 

Any followup?

Salim

 

Here's the sad story follow-up - It most definitely broke a rod or something bad, because there's also a large hole in the backside of the engine as well. As one of you suggested, we've called around to chop for a used engine and they are available but mostly they want a ton of money even for 150k plus used - over 1500 for most. We did find a few under 200k engines for about $1000, and it seems like if we had the timing belt, gaskets and tuneup items done at the same time, replacing it might not be such a bad idea.
We placed an ad to se what we could get selling it as is, and it wasn't great. Also, it seems that nearly 99% of the people looking for a used RX of this generation are from certain other parts of the world, and allegedly want to ship it there rather than drive it here. Very weird.

 

Call some automobile junkyards, also known as auto recyclers in your area and ask how much they would pay for your RX. They will pick it up etc.

Many of the alleged overseas potential purchasers are scammers who will try to send money by dubious means, often then saying they overpaid by accident and ask you to send back the overpayment, then you later find out the money transfer was faudulent and you have to pay back the bank the "overpayment" you returned. Even if legitimate it is not worth dealing with the payment and export issues. Just take what the local junkyard will pay and move on to finding a replacement vehicle.

Remember it also has a 15 year old hybrid battery and electronics that could fail anytime.

 

I've spun a rod bearing before. It wasn't too bad to put it back together. turn the crank, new bearing, good to go. just depends on how extensive the damage was and you won't know until you open it up. As far as I know, 2008 and past V6 don't have timing belt, they went to timing chain.

 

When you get the engine,

Buy the water pump, idler pulley, tensioner pulley/tensioner, and crank pulley. buy all OEM. before they install the engine back in the car. my 2c

 

Forgive me if this question shows my naivety - but could loss of oil via a rupture in the rubber oil cooler line cause a blow up like this?

I don't hear about these engines throwing rods often, wondering if it's just random.

 

,No we dont they are super reliable, years of evolution. "throwing a rod" has a lot of different definitions. spinning a bearing but the rod stays intact is one thing, for a rod to become detached or broken to the point it goes thru the engine case is quite a feat. dont think OP has confirmed what exactly occurred. engine will need take apart do to that, unless a rod was found sticking out of the engine case.

 

A few years ago, a 2010 RX350h was towed in with a "no start" complaint. I recharged the 12 volt battery, checked the PCM and hybrid computer for faults: nothing.

I lifted the vehicle and tried to rotate the crankshaft, but it was seized, and I found a hole in the block behind the air conditioning compressor. There was clean oil in the engine, seems the engine ran out of oil while on a trip and the customer refilled the engine with oil but didn't report the events that lead to the reason for the tow to the shop.