Well, thats that... My Engine is DEAD

[static]

Another one bites the dust guys. Today I got my engine check light... for the second time in 2 weeks.. not big deal right... wrong. Tonight driving I had a stutter a few times while I was in the second cam. Then on the highway I was driving it full out and then all of a sudden when the car hit 6k rpm.. it would stop accelerating and I would get a weird noise.... I put it in neutral and let off the gas.. and I saw the rpms drop to almost nil. I get off the high way.. and I"m in 5th going about 45 .. every time I hit the gas... I heard a loud rattling/clanking noise in the engine. AS soon as I pulled to stop.. boom.. engine dead.. and would not start again.

My celica is dead.. engine gone. End of story.. this ****ing sucks. :wtc:

[Chaos007]

Should of gotton a honda :rofl:


j/p sorry to hear that :(

[kaioshin]

DOH!!! Is there any chance of warranty work?

[larryd]

sorry to hear it Peter..

[nd4spd 4 a gt-s]

isn't that the worst sound ever???
i still remember hearing my motor clank and rattle then die one year ago. scary sound :(
i miss my celica

[DVDA]

ouch no warrenty?

[z6joker9]

sorry to hear man... what exactly happened to it?

[gts24]

man that sux dude. what's the plan of attack?

are you outta warranty?

[static]

Originally posted by nd4spd 4 a gt-s
isn't that the worst sound ever???
i still remember hearing my motor clank and rattle then die one year ago. scary sound :(
i miss my celica

Did you ever find out what exaclty happened? What broke??

[static]

I'm at 53K miles... so we'll see... My only hope now is a good hearted dealer... otherwise I'll be walking for the next year at least.

What exactly happened? Almost exactly what I wrote... basically the car stopped accelerating at 6 k... then stopped accelerating below 6k... then a loud rattle was being emitted.. then it totally died as soon as I came to a complete stop.. and thats that.

[dawgg]

drivetrain warrenty is 60k miles/5 years, no? Unless u have some crazy engine mods done.

[revelation2k]

i'm guessing taking the engine up to the lift caused it, so the engien cant take to much redline shifts and going up to the lift or else its gone just blow?>??? thats not right, i also have a 2000 Si and i take that thing up to redline everyday and it still runs great

[static]

My mods are:

Aem CAI
UR Underdrive Pulleys
TRD Exhaust

[liquid]

swap the mods, take it to the dealer, and you should be ok. you're still under powertrain warranty

[celica=love]

nice sig liquid....:headbang:

[LaW]

did the crank pulley destroy your engine??? :) sorry to hear about this peter

[kireisceli]

Oh no... I'm sorry Peter... :( :mad: WTF is up with our Celica's? :( Good luck going to the dealer *hugs*

[Camry2000]

Damn dude!

[NASupraMK3]

:( That sucks

[skatamatic]

man, that really sucks. i hope you can get it all taken care of under warranty though, be sure to let us know what happens. good luck!

[zcs626]

sorry to hear man

[coOOlcelica]

very sorry to hear that petter.........

[bug killa]

damn that sux bro... but i'm also wondering about those ur crank pulleys...

[revelation2k]

has this happened to any celicas with high mileage????

any1 driving around with over 60,000 mils with no problems?

[Unregistered]

I have a feeling the pulleys may have had something to do with it. These companies always sell them before they do long term test on them. Stock pulleys work as harmonic balancers (one reason why their heavy) that absorb vibrations from the motor. The different diameter of pulley could have probably had catostaphic(spelling) long term effects. All in all, some things are best left stock, Toyota engineers specifically used those pulleys for a reason, as with ecverything else on your car. Sorry to hear about your car, man. I would put all your stock parts back on and take it to the dealer.

[SlasherX]

damn that sucks!!

get the dealer to cover it.

you can join me now in the blown engine crew.

toyota, ford, don't matter, they all suck. :)

[Diesel949X]

Damn, sorry to hear man...

[atehrani]

That sucks big time. We're you low on oil? Do you think it was the crank pulley?

I have 40,000+ miles on my car, with no sever problems *knocks on wood*

[BRAK]

ITS GOT TO BE THE UR PULLEY'S! We have heard MANY stupid things done because of there pulleys! Remember the eclipse story .. where it fudged up there cars? I do ............. I wouldnt get pulleys unless a GREAT COMPANY made em ...... ex. TRD,TODA,JUN .. ect. If you got the original pulleys get them on there, and get your 60K powertrain warenty!
PULLEY ARE VERY ... VERY fragile on how they performe.

[Da Kine Guy]

Originally posted by static
My mods are:

Aem CAI
UR Underdrive Pulleys
TRD Exhaust

UR crank pulley......hmmmmmm

Sorry to hear it dude. Good luck getting it fixed or finding another car.

[ArchangelX]

I agree on the pulley....You better take that thing off.

I've talked to several different mechanics, mostly from the import shops, about the negatives involved with pullies.

Pullies are VERY important for your engine as far as the harmonics go, the wrong pulley will reak havoc.

:( I'll look up a few articles I've got saved on my hard disk, and post them here in a bit about the subject.

I was gonna get some, but did alotta research on them, and they'll simply FUGG up your engine if they're not made right.

Sorry, M8. I hope it gets fixed.

[nd4spd 4 a gt-s]

Originally posted by static


Did you ever find out what exaclty happened? What broke??

haha i need to find the repair order. i'll list all the parts that broke...2 pages :D

i know i streched out the 3rd connecting rod, bent a few valves, streched the timing chain and broke the crank sensor. that was the major parts :)

what was strange is that when i miss shifted it, it didn't blow up right away. i took it to the dealer and they fixed my timing and said it was fine. so i took it back home (from pa to ny) it was running fine. then a week later i felt a loss of power at lift. then it started ticking really bad untill it was very loud and then a bunch of crazy noises, then the car died :(

[static]

I wouldn't blame the pulleys until I hear an actual failure analysis for the engine. There have been people with failures like this who were running stock pulleys. Before I blame the pulleys, I'd like to hear someone give a good explanation of what type of failure they would cause and why they are so bad other than "I heard..." Motorcycles run with no harmonic balancer and do not have constant engine failures.

With there being a rattle sound, I would say something internal broke. A crank failure would be catastrophic and would show external signs. My car would still crank. My hunch is an oil pump failure, even though I saw no low oil pressure light. The 2ZZ-GE oil pump is known to be weak, and often fails on misshifts (even though I have never mis shifted my car). Another hunch is a fuel injector failure leading to a holed piston, or possibly a bad MAF sensor causing the same problem. I have been running my AEM CAI for almost 40,000 miles, and that likely ruins the MAF sensor over time. I have also seen a 2ZZ-GE engine in a friend's car just suddenly die in traffic and it had a big hole burned in a piston, which would come from a prolonged lean-run condition. Anyways, these are just my thoughts and I should find something out this week.

[atehrani]

Originally posted by static
...Motorcycles run with no harmonic balancer and do not have constant engine failures...

Motorcycles are two-stroke motors and do not have as many reciprocating parts. Although the MAP sensor theory does seem valid, however, I would imagine that the CEL would be on. Those failures would probably occur if the user ignored the CEL.

[TRD2000]

Sorry to hear that Peter, welcome to the umm...."club." I would take off the pulley, and leave the AEM unless you can take it to a dealer than knows you have not modded the car at all, regardless, GL with it, I know how some Toyota dealerships can be and I will always hate them.

[bickley]

Wow, sorry to hear that Static, I hope everything works out and let us know what it was that broke.

[PoweredbyRICE]

Originally posted by static
Another one bites the dust guys. Today I got my engine check light... for the second time in 2 weeks.. not big deal right... wrong. Tonight driving I had a stutter a few times while I was in the second cam. Then on the highway I was driving it full out and then all of a sudden when the car hit 6k rpm.. it would stop accelerating and I would get a weird noise.... I put it in neutral and let off the gas.. and I saw the rpms drop to almost nil. I get off the high way.. and I"m in 5th going about 45 .. every time I hit the gas... I heard a loud rattling/clanking noise in the engine. AS soon as I pulled to stop.. boom.. engine dead.. and would not start again.

My celica is dead.. engine gone. End of story.. this ****ing sucks. :wtc:

same sh!t happened with me..except i only hit lift in 2nd coming off an offramp and onto an onramp...and then a mile later clank clank clank...lets compare what are dealerships say via PM. my engine dont is dead too been without it for almost 2 months now...

[DaksGT]

Sorry to hear that bro, best of luck to ya, did you ever get a CEL with the CAI before?

[Jusone36]

sorry to read that peter. **sigh** i hope everything works out :rolleyes:

[Jesse IL]

Originally posted by atehrani


Motorcycles are two-stroke motors and do not have as many reciprocating parts. Although the MAP sensor theory does seem valid, however, I would imagine that the CEL would be on. Those failures would probably occur if the user ignored the CEL.

Try again guy. 99% of street bikes are four strokes. I ran an inline 4 CBR600 to 25,000 miles with a 13,000 rpm redline and no harmonic damper of any sort and had no crankshaft problems. And that is commonplace. I am sick of hearing people try and pin all their problems on things like Unorthodox Racing and crank pulleys and crap like that when they don't have a fundamental knowledge of the part they are ripping. I am fairly confident that the problem with Peter's engine will be unrelated to the crank pulley.

[static]

Originally posted by DaksGT
Sorry to hear that bro, best of luck to ya, did you ever get a CEL with the CAI before?

Yeah, I've gotten the CEL with my CAI.. and my CEL did turn on earlier in the day, but the car was running fine..... well at least it seemed to.

[schlegelbagel]

I"m so sorry peter. I hope things turn out OK in the end. :(

[static]

Well sh!t, they are diagnosing it as we speak... sucks waiting.

[Orion Pax]

Fux0r. :(

Good luck with the dealership. Hope they don't give you any BS. :mad:

[marcus_GTS]

Guys, there's a huge difference between bike engines and car engines. If a bike engine came from the factory without a harmonic balancer, then it doesn't need one. On the other hand, a car engine that does have a harmonic balancer probably DOES need it in order to ensure long life of the engine. Just the possibility of causing major damage to the engine is enough to convince me to stick with the stock crank pulley. I'm not saying that this imbalance is definitely the cause of the failure, but there's nothing here to say that it couldn't be.

[static]

Guys, and FYI.. my pulley has only been on for about 3 K miles... there are plenty of people with them, for much longer than I've had them.. and no issues.

[DaksGT]

I have my pulleys on for about 5k miles now, no prblems so far.

[Jesse IL]

Originally posted by marcus_GTS
Guys, there's a huge difference between bike engines and car engines.

If a bike engine came from the factory without a harmonic balancer, then it doesn't need one. On the other hand, a car engine that does have a harmonic balancer probably DOES need it in order to ensure long life of the engine.

Please explain these two statements. Fundamentally, both engines are the same. Torsional vibrations are going to act on the crankshafts of both engines. I will agree with you that a car engine is designed to go 200,000 miles (or some huge number). A bike engine very likely could suffer a crank failure in that amount of time. But we're talking about low mileage engines here, where fatigue failure is not an issue. And to set the record straight, the 3G Eclipse problem was not a mechanical failure issue.

[static]

UPDATE:

Verdict... I have a broken rod, and bent valves. Toyota REFUSES to cover it because of abuse. They slated abuse, because the computer came up with me going 84 mph at 6100 rpm.. that is their reason....

[Camry2000]

Sounds like a good case for arbitration. 84MPH at 6100 RPMs is not abuse as the car is designed to rev to 8300 RPMs.

[LimpMasterJ]

Did they say why it broke?

They pretty much have you by the balls with the abuse statement, no place is it legal to go 84mph on public roads.

[static]

Originally posted by THE FIFE
Did they say why it broke?

Nope.. no reason. Just my 'abuse'.

[blahx]

what if your going 84 mph on a track or road course?

[LaW]

but going 84 at 6100rpms is not abuse by any means...... if you can't do that on this car then why have it be able to go that fast? That is the worst **** i have ever heard

[krypticGTS]

i think u have the same problem as yoshi8me =\

http://newcelica.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=25760

[LimpMasterJ]

get a complete list of what failed in your engine. Your piston should have some sort of scoring on it from contacting the valves, it's going to be a lot more that 2 valves and a rod that's damaged.

[DaksGT]

Originally posted by static
UPDATE:

Verdict... I have a broken rod, and bent valves. Toyota REFUSES to cover it because of abuse. They slated abuse, because the computer came up with me going 84 mph at 6100 rpm.. that is their reason....
Can the ECU reallly record that?

[LaW]

Yeah daks i think the ecu keeps a complete reference to max revs and speeds obtained not sure exaclty what is kept on the ecu but its something like that...

[ringthree]

Good luck man.

[static]

UPDATE #2: Filed a claim with Toyota corporate. Called back my dealer and informed them, as well as asking for an appt. with Bob the service manager. The service guy was not very helpful, told me he'll have bob call me in the morning. All sorts of words were thrown around.. like 'racing' and 'abuse' of the car.. and that only "I know how I've been driving".. apparently the car only had about a quart and a half of oil in it too!.... and that I was losing oil because of the 'high compression' of high rpm driving... So I asked howcome my oil light never came on... just tap dancing.

Oh and my cel code was 1693 - some sort of internal failure.

[Jesse IL]

This is not an arbitratible issue. I talked to my boss about this. He used to work for GM as a service manager at the corporate level. Arbitration deals with lemon laws. This is most likely what they are trying to do to static:

A warranty denial like this would force Peter to get a lawyer since it is not an arbitration case. The dealership is banking on Peter not wanting his car out of comission and not wanting a hassle, so he will just pay for repairs. Also, every dealership has a warranty report, that tracks their expenses on warranty repairs. A large warranty report looks bad for the dealer. An engine replacement would be a big hit on the warranty report. The service department there is trying to keep that one out of there at all costs.

[Camry2000]

Deja vu. Same thing happened to Anna. Hmmm. Celica owners be sure to visit your friend the dipstick, no not that friend you had in HS. :chuckles: I'm talking about the one in the engine bay.

[Jesse IL]

I checked mine on Sanday morning believe you me. Level was right on and the good old Mobil 1 was amazingly clean for having over 3000 miles on it.

[Camry2000]

I use Castrol GTX 5w30, mineral oil. It never turns completely black, just a dark brown. even when I did not change it for 4,000 miles. I check my oil at least once a week.

[tuberider]

Dude, that makes me sick to my stomach that Toyota tries to pull that crap. Supposedly the engine was "designed" to take that kind of everday use. I guess I should drive like a grandma until I pay off my car....

[outhouse]

Dont let Toyota screw you over, as far as bikes give me a break on the harmonic balancer you guys dont know jack about bikes they balance those things so dam well theres no comparison and should not be brought up in this guys world of sht One point the pulleys will shorten the life of your crank there is documentation. Depending on who and how they were installed directly relate's to this guys problems. 3k thats a different story as some of these motors are known to loose rod berrrrrriiinnggss go get em and put the screws to TOYOTA before they do you and remember its the service guys job to say screw you john public look at the fine line and god bless they owe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[BlackGTS2002]

speed would have nothing ot do with it in this case....your engine failed at 6300 or 6100 whatever it was....end of story.

[static]

UPDATE #3: Ok so the dealer called, and he wants me to authorize a teardown that will run me about 500 bucks. He is also saying that he won't be able to put it back together. Now when I filed a claim with Toyota yesterday, they gave me the name of a customer relations manager that will be contacting me within 3 business days about the matter... So should I wait on this until I talk to this guy? This seems initiated by my dealer.. and i dont know whether or not I do this, if I'm screwing up my chances somehow of Toyota Corporate making them fix it. I dunno what I should do.

[LaW]

wait it out

[Phyreizes]

Originally posted by static
UPDATE #3: Ok so the dealer called, and he wants me to authorize a teardown that will run me about 500 bucks. He is also saying that he won't be able to put it back together. Now when I filed a claim with Toyota yesterday, they gave me the name of a customer relations manager that will be contacting me within 3 business days about the matter... So should I wait on this until I talk to this guy? This seems initiated by my dealer.. and i dont know whether or not I do this, if I'm screwing up my chances somehow of Toyota Corporate making them fix it. I dunno what I should do.

dude go talk to anna, this sounds almost exactly like her story! They also were trying to force her to go through the tear down.

she also had that problem of the oil disappearing from the engine. Ended up being a spun rod.

[David Draper]

Just wait it out. And yes, talk to Anna. Same exact stupid reasoning, same tear down proposition, and hopefully, same outcome. Wait a couple of days for Toyota.

[Jesse IL]

Originally posted by outhouse
as far as bikes give me a break on the harmonic balancer you guys dont know jack about bikes they balance those things so dam well theres no comparison and should not be brought up in this guys world of sht

Alright I give up. This guy obviously has no idea the difference between a balanced rotating assembly and a harmonic damper.

And wait it out. The dealer is just trying to strong arm you.

[Camry2000]

Wait it out and kick Draper in the nuts. Why? It will make you feel better. :)

[static]

UPDATE #4: Teardown in progress.

[LaW]

Originally posted by static
UPDATE #4: Teardown in progress.

I hope not at your expense

[Jesse IL]

Originally posted by LaW


I hope not at your expense

Its like Vegas man, the house always wins.

[LimpMasterJ]

Originally posted by static

Oh and my cel code was 1693 - some sort of internal failure.

That is a VVT-L malfunction. It would explain your lose of power in lift. It wouldn't explain the snapped rod though. Even if your valve timing went out of wack and you had piston contact, which would explain the bent valves, snapping a rod while doing so is a big job.

[ArchangelX]

:werd:

Tell them to go to hell and call up Toyota...

[GT-S Racer]

Sounds familiar. The oil pump is what broke on mine, and I had to have my entire short block replaced...and yes I also have the UR crank pulley. Sounds exactly like what happened to me. It was fully covered by the warranty and I did not remove the mods. It, however, took about 20 days to get my car back, and it hasn't run right since. Sorry to hear it happened to you too. FYI, I was later told that the short block alone costs $9000! Good thing you're under 60K. I have heard that sometimes the crank pulley has caused oil pump failures, perhaps due to the lack of a harmonic balancer, but that type of problem is usually only associated with 6+ cylinder cars. Good luck with the fix.

[static]

Originally posted by GT-S Racer
Sounds familiar. The oil pump is what broke on mine, and I had to have my entire short block replaced...and yes I also have the UR crank pulley. Sounds exactly like what happened to me. It was fully covered by the warranty and I did not remove the mods. It, however, took about 20 days to get my car back, and it hasn't run right since. Sorry to hear it happened to you too. FYI, I was later told that the short block alone costs $9000! Good thing you're under 60K. I have heard that sometimes the crank pulley has caused oil pump failures, perhaps due to the lack of a harmonic balancer, but that type of problem is usually only associated with 6+ cylinder cars. Good luck with the fix.

When did this happen? Can I get more info on your situation in case I have to fight these guys? Did the dealer take care of this.. or did u have to go through toyota?

[static]

UPDATE #5: Toyota engineers are out lookign at my car.. they are concerned about my S-AFC.. which was unattached but the wiring still there...... I"ll probably know tomarrow...

[LaW]

they might shove your nuts up your ass with that one........

[Camry2000]

Crap! Should have removed the S-AFC. However just a set back. Play the why did oil light never came on card.

[Drew]

Originally posted by static
UPDATE #5: Toyota engineers are out lookign at my car.. they are concerned about my S-AFC.. which was unattached but the wiring still there...... I"ll probably know tomarrow...

Yikes! I've seen many of Celica owners have their entire factory warranty voided by the SAFC before...due to the whole splicing into the ECU and all. Good luck.

[static]

UPDATE.. FINAL IT APPEARS: No coverage due to modifications.. I need a new short block.. blew #1 and #2 rods. And who the **** knows what else. I'm god damn done with this car. OH btw.. this is decided by Toyota engineers.. so no luck taking it somewhere else.

[Phyreizes]

did they prove it was cause of your mods?

[static]

Originally posted by Phyreizes
did they prove it was cause of your mods?

Not sure if they proved it.. but that was the final word. Apparently corporate called them today and gave the verdict. They were out yesterday looking at it. Not even sure which mods.. I got pissed and hung up the phone.

[Phyreizes]

Originally posted by static


Not sure if they proved it.. but that was the final word. Apparently corporate called them today and gave the verdict. They were out yesterday looking at it. Not even sure which mods.. I got pissed and hung up the phone.

to void your warrantly they have to know what mod did it... and prove that is caused the failure. People are allowed to do things to there car..

I would consider a lawyer...

[Chumpchiggy]

Originally posted by static


Not sure if they proved it.. but that was the final word. Apparently corporate called them today and gave the verdict. They were out yesterday looking at it. Not even sure which mods.. I got pissed and hung up the phone.

Peter, don't just drop this man... the have to have solid proof that your mod's were the cause of the malfunction. That is the law.... so don't roll over yet bro... Get them to prove it with evidence, or they have to fix it under warranty...

[gts24]

next stop. Yellow pages.

You'll notice that there's a whole set of lawyers that make their living on MORONS like this.

[Camry2000]

Sadly it's lawyer time. Continue to play why did the oil light never come one card. That and the why was my engine losing oil car.

[Drew]

No, it's now up to Static to prove his mods didn't blow his engine. Toyota has stated they have and tore down the engine to prove it...they have corporate engineers to back up their claim. They play the odds, that Static will not get a lawyer involved and that he won't be able to find another expert (mechanic, engineer, etc...) willing to testify in court that his mods did NOT blow the engine. That's the way the law works in these cases. If you ask for proof, they can simply give you their tech's report stating "Engine blew due to modifications." It is then your responsibility to prove otherwise.

[cruzerz545]

I was doing 85MPH at around 11-12,000 RPMS, misshift. Toyoter told my to F off too. Until I printed off all the PROOF that toyota celicas are sh!t, and told them my lawyer would contact them. I faxed them the proof which was copy/pasted postts from newcelica.org and other celica sites.
Also I pointed out the insert in my manual that says the celica can go 120mph in 5th gear.


They called me the same day to tell me they decided to cover it.








Originally posted by Camry2000
Sounds like a good case for arbitration. 84MPH at 6100 RPMs is not abuse as the car is designed to rev to 8300 RPMs.

[static]

Well.. basicaly last ditch effort. I"m going to bring them a list of names and dealerships that have covered this kind of problem before this week.. and ask them why I am being denied. I'm going to find out which mod they think did it too.

IF they won't cover it.. I'll either try to have them buy it back from me.. or I'll get it done half ass for cheap somewhere else and get rid of it. . Either way, my days in the Celica or over and done with. New car coming within 2 weeks.

[ishido]

Find out which particular mods were the supposed cause--they should be able to point to a particular one. Or at least get an official finding or report. That way you know what to argue on

[Kry]

sorry to hear that

[Magowin]

Damn dude that sucks I hate dealers. I would fight it though cause 6100 rpms is not even close to redline of the car. Now I'm all scared cause I'm still driving on my faulty MAF I better get a new one asap.

[LaW]

Originally posted by cruzerz545
I was doing 85MPH at around 11-12,000 RPMS, misshift. Toyoter told my to F off too. Until I printed off all the PROOF that toyota celicas are sh!t, and told them my lawyer would contact them. I faxed them the proof which was copy/pasted postts from newcelica.org and other celica sites.
Also I pointed out the insert in my manual that says the celica can go 120mph in 5th gear.


They called me the same day to tell me they decided to cover it.











They didn't have to cover that..... your fault man.... i'm lost on what goign 120 in 5th gear has to do with anything about your misshift that YOU ****ed your car up with?

[Griffin]

Originally posted by Jesse IL


Please explain these two statements. Fundamentally, both engines are the same. Torsional vibrations are going to act on the crankshafts of both engines. I will agree with you that a car engine is designed to go 200,000 miles (or some huge number). A bike engine very likely could suffer a crank failure in that amount of time. But we're talking about low mileage engines here, where fatigue failure is not an issue. And to set the record straight, the 3G Eclipse problem was not a mechanical failure issue.

The difference is mainly the length of the crank and the stresses placed on it with each power pulse. The longer the stroke the more stress. Bike engine tend to have super short strokes so theres not as much stressed involved.

Understand I'm not blaming the pulley here - just explaining the difference.

[Griffin]

Originally posted by DaksGT

Can the ECU reallly record that?

It can if a CEL comes on at the time. Vehicle speed and engine RPM are part of the freeze frame data for the code which is why I always tell everyone to go back to stock and unplug the battery for 5 minutes before taking their car in.

81 mph @ 6100 RPM is hardly abuse though.

[Griffin]

Okay - they said 6100 RPM and 83 MPH on the 1693 - which means this falls under the substandard oil pressure detection condition for VVTLi (The computer tried to apply lift and the oil pressure switch in circuit after the OCV detected a insufficient oil pressure)

This is consistent with the quart and a half of oil they found - obviously not enough to run lift.

There are 2 questions here - why were you so low on oil and why did the low oil pressure light not come on.

Your engine most likely failed due to inadequate lubrication due to the low oil level.

So that leaves the question of why did you have only a quart and a half of oil and who did your last oil change and how long ago?

[richmds]

That blows hopefully everything will work out so its not too painful.
It sucks when corporate places a final verdict, getting a lawyer is a new can of worms. To get a good one will suck as much money out of you as the dealer service is trying to.

[atehrani]

This is very unfortunate. I hope that Toyota will revise their stance and help you out.

[Chumpchiggy]

Static,

any updates on this...? Did you take them a list of names and Dealers yet?