Piston Rings?

August 20, 2004

Toyota want £1000 to open up my engine to establish that the rattling/lawnmower sound is in fact the rings sticking. The car is out of warranty, but has had full dealer serv history and has only done 37k miles. I have no mechanical expertise but from my limited knowledge, wear and tear of anything in the engine area should not be happening at 37k miles!?! The last service was done 4 months ago and the sound has been there for about 3 weeks and appears when accelerating. I have not seen blue smoke from the back, no pooling of oil on the drive and no white residue....

Any advice or help of where to go now would be great. I have suggested a part defect to Toyota but they have advised that unless they get paid to open this up, they cannot accurately diagnose. I do not want to fork out £1000k as I feel I have done everything an MR2 owner should be doing to maintain this car.

August 20, 2004

two options, either go to someone who is reliable and trustworthy to open up your engine. should be rectified for about £700 all in.

or source a used engine from some like 247spares.co.uk

i dont know anyone in the south who can help with a rebuild to do know a person in the midlands who will be able to sort it for you.

August 20, 2004

I have no mechanical expertise but from my limited knowledge, wear and tear of anything in the engine area should not be happening at 37k miles!?!...
...I do not want to fork out £1000k as I feel I have done everything an MR2 owner should be doing to maintain this car.

It could be the hydraulic tappets... have Toyota looked into this?

It could also be a leak in the exhaust manifold. Believe it or not, escaping air from a cracked manifold will really sound like this. Obviously the harder you accelerate, the more noticeable (sp?!) it will become.

The rings certainly shouldn't be sticking... even after 100,000 miles if well looked after... unless you're running higher boost and higher compression ratio.

Let me think some more... but don't Shell out yet... more guys and gals will chip in soon... (If it's out of warranty, I wouldn't take it to Toyota anyway!)

Oh... and I certainly think £1,000,000 (£1000k :P ) is a bit excessive to pay anyway!

:) :lol:

August 20, 2004

It could be the hydraulic tappets... have Toyota looked into this?

Agreed mate. Definately have someone look at the tappets. Give these guys a ring. They're not too far from you.

V-Spec Performance

Ask for either Lee or Howard.

:thumbsup:

August 22, 2004

It could be the hydraulic tappets... have Toyota looked into this?
Agreed mate. Definately have someone look at the tappets. Give these guys a ring. They're not too far from you.
V-Spec Performance
Ask for either Lee or Howard.

Yeah but the 3S-G(T)E engine hasn't got hydraulic tappets, they're shimmed, although it could still be the tappets of course. Sounds more like a blowing exhaust to me though.