Help Please! 2001 Rav 4 Engine Has Seized!

[SilverLady]

Hello, I'm a new member to this forum and unfortunately it is in unhappy circumstances that I have joined. I would really appreciate any advice, technical or experience anyone can share with me.

I drive (drove!) a 2001 Rav4 VVTi,2.0 Litre, Automatic, Petrol ,66,000 miles on the clock, bought form a Toyota dealership ( which I have had since 2011,in really good condition).

Background

Replaced Air/Fuel senor in 2013 and no other issues until now

A week ago the oil warning light kept flashing and then remained permanently on. I checked the oil level everything was fine, I even changed the oil but the warning light still remained on. I took the car to the garage and at considerable cost a mechanic had a look at it and informed me that the sump was blocked and needed to be cleared. The sump was cleared and oil put back in to the engine.

The oil warning light remained off and the car worked fine for 2 weeks then disaster struck. Whilst driving all the warning lights suddenly came on and then the car just stopped working. I called the AA who's mechanic had a look at the car and said that the engine had seized up. The car was towed to the garage that had previously fixed the oil problem and they had a more in depth look at the engine. They informed me that the Bearings and Pistons had seized due to the car not receiving the correct amount of oil for a long period and although the oil problem had recently been fixed it was already too late.

To fix the engine would be very expensive £1.500+ and that it would be a cheaper to get a recon engine or scrap the car or (scrap the car-which I do not want to do and financially can't afford to newer replacement at the moment).

So my question is does anyone know of a reputable company that could supply and fit a recon ( I am based in London) or breakers that they can recommend that may have an engine for my car,

Any help and advice would be appreciated.

Many thanks in advance for your help.

[gjnorthall]

A second hand engine will be at least 10 years old and there is a significant cost involved in removal and installation (around £400 including consumables). Warranties are usually pretty limited. Second hand engines go from around £200 for an unknown and untested unit to around £700 for an engine of known mileage that can be heard running.

I would be very careful about a reconditioned unit - there are loads of horror stories. Many reconditioned units are little more than spray and pray and personally, I'd only deal with a company who are members of a professional association. The most common is FER (Federation of Engine Remanufactures)

Realistically, repairing your engine or fitting a decent service exchange unit is going to be around £1500.

[SilverLady]

Many thanks for your advice regarding the (FER). I will make sure that I deal only with companies who are members if I go down the recon route. Although this is looking unlikely since your advice seems to be highlighting the repair instead.

I just have 2 questions : what is a service exchange ?

Also given my cars age and mileage do you recommend the fix / scrap.? If I were to scrap realistically I am right in assuming that buying another model for the price of the repair would only elicit either an even older Rav 4 or a different make of car.

[Mike169]

Hi, i know this may be a bit of a late question but has the car had regular servicing and the correct oil used on oil changes, just curious as to why the sump would be blocked and do so much damage to the engine?

As for scrapping or fixing it's a question of doing the figures depending on the condition of the rest of your vehicle and does the repair cost exceed or come close to it's resale value after being repaired?

A service exchange unit is usually you get someone else's old engine that has been fully refurbished/reconditioned and then they (The engine reconditioners) keep yours, again refurbish/recondition it ready for the next customer.

Of course the best replacement engine would be from a Toyota dealer service dep't but of course probably the most expensive but certainly worth the phone call.

Mike.

[Nigebob Squarepants]

Hi V,

sorry about your engine!

Personally I would get one from a breakers yard with the engine still in the car, try to verify mileage and compare the overall

condition of the rest of the car prior to it being written off.

Find a rear or side impact car, as you know these engines are regarded as being “bullet proof” so don’t know what went

wrong with yours ???????

I have had a quick scoot around the internet and found…

http://www.silverlake.co.uk/breakers/details/toyota/rav4/petrol/manual/753

It is a rear end shunt, NRG vvti, and 62,335 miles, located in Hampshire, manual.

I presume your gearbox is unaffected?

It might be worth contacting them to see how much they want for it including delivery etc.

Good Luck

[Nigebob Squarepants]

try this link…

scroll down the page and you will find 12 matching breakers with this engine! there are at least 2 with mileage of 60-70k

http://daautoparts.salvagemarket.co.uk/vehicle-list/details/2003-toyota-rav4-vx-vvt-i-1998cc-normally-aspirated-petrol-manual-5-speed-5-door-5-door-4x4--not-recorded--at-motorhog-co-uk-motorhog-co-uk---church-lane--/237940?x=0&type=0&make=TOYOTA&trns=0&fuel=1&catc=0&dist=0&sort=0&srch=RAV4

[Conrod]

A secondhand engine would also be my choice, as a so called "reconditioned" unit , could be little more that a coat of silver paint :(

Lots of good engines at breakers yards, just find one with sensible mileage.

[Mike169]

Hi V.

Looks like Nigebob Squarepants has done all the work for you, nice one Nigel.........you just gotta get a garage to arrange collection delivery to them and then let them fit it.

I think this is your best option and suggest let the garage do all the phone calls rather than put yourself in the middle of it all, easier that way, just give them the links of the different engines and let them make an informed/educated choice of which one to get i feel you will have more come back that way if things don't go 100% according to plan.

Mike.

[SilverLady]

A big thank you to all of you for your advice especially Nigebob - I will definitely be looking in to the links that you posted and taking all your advice( secondhand engine rather than a recon) Many thanks once again.

Mike - The car was regularly serviced and the correct oil used. I am not sure of the technical jargon but there was a fault in the sump that could only really be spotted by taking the engine apart . The fault let the oil do its work to maintain the engine but not enough so over a long period of time it became blocked. :(.

[gjnorthall]

If the oil light flashes or illuminates permanently - stop the engine and don't drive the car. It may be a pressure switch fault but equally it may be a genuine low oil pressure! Even if the oil level is fine, the oil pressure may be low and driving a car with low oil pressure will wreck the engine very quickly.

[Conrod]

This is the view of a good and bad oil pick up in the sump of an engine...

http://www.aa1car.com/library/2005/oil_screen_sludge.jpg

Although a vehicle may have been serviced, if the oil changes are left too long, carbon ( burnt oil ) builds up in the oil and is sucked up by the oil pick up.

Only way you can get an idea of oil condition ( when buying a used car )is to look inside the oil filler cap, if you can see the black carbon sludge....walk away.

[Raistlin]

I wouldn't the Aygo couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding :)

[gjnorthall]

Heavy deposits within the sump and on the oil pump screen isn't something that's very common nowadays. The problem is often caused by infrequent oil changes as pointed out by Conrod, and more particularly by using cheap mineral oils and cheap / unknown brand oil filters. Water / coolant ingress into the sump causes sludge formation and it's important to ensure that the PCV system is clean and working - this removes water vapour etc from the crankcase. The problem often snowballs - oil degradation leads to reduced oil flow - this increases temperatures at contact surfaces which causes more oil degradation.

Use good quality synthetic oil of the correct grade (synthetics suffer temperature degradation far less than mineral / semi-synthetics). Use quality oil filters and change oil and filter at the prescribed interval.

[SilverLady]

Hello

I still can't find a reputable company to but a second hand engine from I looked at the breakers previously mentioned and I also found a few online. But I am a bit nervous about buying an engine unseen /untested. I have still not found a garage in south London that is able to fit my engine ( even if I did find one ). Despite contacting those listed in my area from the Good Garage Scheme List provided by the AA.

Any more helpful suggestions would be welcome (scrapping the car at this juncture is not an option right now!)

[firemac]

Hello

I still can't find a reputable company to but a second hand engine from I looked at the breakers previously mentioned and I also found a few online. But I am a bit nervous about buying an engine unseen /untested. I have still not found a garage in south London that is able to fit my engine ( even if I did find one ). Despite contacting those listed in my area from the Good Garage Scheme List provided by the AA.

Any more helpful suggestions would be welcome (scrapping the car at this juncture is not an option right now!)

If you put your post code into the "find a member" page of this FER site, it will help identify if there are any suppliers in your area. There's no guarantee that you will find one with a RAV engine but at least these guys have a reputation to think about. If you find one, they may be able to make some recommendations about fitting it.

http://www.fer.co.uk/

Good luck.

[Conrod]

This company is in the south east, could have the knowledge to do the job...

http://www.tech-one.co.uk

[SilverLady]

Many Thanks to both of you for your help and advice. I will review the FER and the tech link.