It’s not every day that you see a new car come into the shop with a catastrophic engine failure – but sometimes it does. Today’s example is the new GR Corolla that didn’t just fail silently. Instead, send a rod through the block.
A busted Corolla was spotted recently road and track who has been pursuing records of the small three-cylinder engine detuning on a Youtube artwork page. While a finale has yet to be written in this tale, her other works have been a wistful tale of the enthusiast-centered hot hatch.
The first video shows the small three-cylinder already yanked from the Corolla and sitting on a shop floor. Alongside the engine sits the head (already separated from the block), as well as the car’s six-speed manual gearbox and transfer case.
From the outside, today it is clear that the engine has been damaged. For starters, there’s a giant hole in the mass. A look inside one of the cylinder banks shows that the connecting rod caused carnage in the casting. Both the rod and piston are missing from the bank as there are pieces of metal at the bottom of the block with the crankshaft.
The quick omission of the head also shows a great deal of catastrophic damage to the valves and casting, which likely began after a bottom-end failure sent slivers of metal between the piston and the head. Valves are bent and clamped in the casting, which means some serious interference must occur during failure.
In a separate video, the YouTuber pulled out the oil pan for further inspection for damage.
Among the metal cartridges were parts identifiable as the missing piston and connecting rod that formerly powered the cylinder (albeit now in a million small pieces, especially). There are also parts of the casting engine, oil pump, and balance shaft scattered about in the mess.
The YouTuber says Toyota hasn’t released the exact cause of the problem—most likely, it’s still working out the cause since it ordered that last little part (yes, it includes metal shavings and shrapnel) back. However, the shop speculates that valve float may also have occurred, which could indicate an over-rev condition, such as an accidental gear change – also known as “money shifting”.
However, the good news for the car owner is that everything will be covered by the warranty. In fact, Toyota is footing the bill to cover more than $32,000 in parts to replace damaged engine components. Call it a defect or just plain luck, either way, it’s a relief when the manufacturer foots the bill. We hope this isn’t the beginning of a pattern.
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