OT- Camshaft Failures

Toyota chases Tundra camshaft failures

Mark Rechtin Automotive News May 28, 2007 - 1:00 am

LOS ANGELES -- A batch of camshaft failures in 5.7-liter V-8 engines has dinged the launch of the Toyota Tundra pickup.

Camshafts in 20 engines have snapped, says Toyota spokesman Mike Michels. The outside camshaft supplier, which Toyota declined to identify, has traced the problem to "a metallurgical defect in the casting, a flaw in the metal which they have corrected," he says.

To date, Toyota has built 30,000 of the engines, and the company is determining how many might be affected. Michels says that it was "an early batch," and that "Toyota is confident in the production from that point on."

A camshaft is a spinning rod that opens the engine's intake and exhaust valves in sequence. Toyota's camshafts are designed to avoid collateral damage if they snap.

Toyota rushed the 5.7-liter engine into production in time for the Tundra's February launch. The 5.7-liter initially was scheduled to arrive this summer. But Toyota dealers and product planners told the manufacturing arm that the Tundra needed the big V-8 at launch because the 4.7-liter V-8 would not make a strong enough statement.

The 5.7-liter represents more than 70 percent of the engine mix.

Toyota's top executives repeatedly have stated their concern that Toyota is growing too quickly to keep quality at past high levels.

Toyota likely will not test each camshaft to see if it is prone to failure. Rather, customers whose camshafts fail will have their entire engines replaced.

One Toyota dealer service technician who declined to be identified says Toyota asked him to ship overnight a defective engine to its V-8 engine plant in Alabama.

"The guy was towing a small trailer, not under full load," the technician says. "Other folks have been towing 10,000 pounds with no problem."

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Reply to
Kevin Wolford
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But I thought Toyota's were perfect and didn't have these kinds of problems?!!?

Jeff DeWitt

Kev> Toyota chases Tundra camshaft failures

Reply to
Jeff DeWitt

Yep, especially when you compare them to Jeep.

Lee

Reply to
Lee Aanderud

Oh yeah, mine is sure a lemon, I only got about 300,000 miles out of the first engine and clutch.

Jeff DeWitt

Lee Aanderud wrote:

Reply to
Jeff DeWitt

I'll let you know when I get there... actually I won't because I don't seem to hang on to vehicles that long.

I think you are the only Jeep owner I know who doesn't have at least one electrical problem to report... a friend of mine threatened more than once to take his Grand Cherokee down to the mine he worked at and make his constant electrical problems disappear under 300 feet of dirt. Then there was the friend of mine in Denver who finally took his electrically challenged Jeep Comanche down to the "hood" and left it on the street, let a group of guys see him throw the keys in the bed and walked away, waited a few days and reported it stolen... it was found a week later and totaled by his insurance company.

Lee

Reply to
Lee Aanderud

Aside from the alternator going out once in all those miles I have had one electrical problem. The gages started acting wacky and finally pretty much quit. Turns out there is a stud on the side of the engine block that has a bunch of grounds going to it, took me all of five minutes to fix the problem and didn't cost a dime.

Jeff DeWitt

Lee Aanderud wrote:

Reply to
Jeff DeWitt

Never had any electrical problems with any of the Cherokee/Comanches I have had.(87 Comanche, 92 and 98 Cherokees)

The older Wag> Aside from the alternator going out once in all those miles I have had

Reply to
Transtar60

One of the more popular ways to dispose of a car in urban areas is to poke a hole in the rubber fuel injection rail hose and a spark plug boot, and go for a short drive on the expressway. When the thing catches fire, just pull over (leaving it run) and walk away. Guarantee it'll be ten to twenty minutes for them to get there and put it out. (Learned from a local officer and confirmed by a firefighter)..

Lee Aanderud wrote:

Then there was the friend of mine in Denver who finally took his electrically challenged Jeep Comanche down to the "hood" and left it on the street, let a group of guys see him throw the keys in the bed and walked away, waited a few days and reported it stolen... it was found a week later and totaled by his insurance company.

Reply to
Deepnhock

Might explain the reason I've seen three cars on fire in the last year... two more than I've seen in the previous 40 years.

Lee

Reply to
Lee Aanderud

As a retired automotive engineer, with a degree in Metallurgy, it doubt that "metallurgical defect in the casting," explanation. How miss-casting in the process would effect multiple casts, sounds odd.

An engineering defect sounds more like it to me. Me thinks Toyota will do some more of its "free technical dealer upgrades" without informing the owners, like they did with hundreds of their sludged up engines, to avoid a recall

Merphys law, when any manufacturer goes from selling it products in the hundreds of thousands, to in the millions, more of their bad ones will surface.

Now that Toyota is running with the big dogs, more of their problems will surface as well. Toyota was number one in recalls in 2006 and are number one so far in 2007 as well.

mike

Reply to
Mike Hunter

Clutch? Ya, right! ;)

mike

Reply to
Mike Hunter

If you are actually telling the truth, you should call his insurance agent. Insurance companies pay big rewards for insurance fraud information. It is crooks like him that cost us all more for insurance.

mike

Reply to
Mike Hunter

Probably one of the first things your insurance adjuster will look for as the cause of the fire. ;)

mike

Reply to
Mike Hunter

Nope. Rubber stuff usually burns up right after the plastic stuff... (Now go ahead an place the blame on the highway department, we know your style )....

"Mike Hunter" wrote...

Reply to
Jeff Rice

What 'rubber or plastic stuff' will you find in a modern high pressure fuel injected system? ;)

mike

Reply to
Mike Hunter

Like I'd be willing to do it in the first place... and secondly, I wouldn't know who his insurance company was back in 1990. I haven't talked to the guy in probably 12 years. Plus, 17 years later, how could I prove what he did.

Lee

Reply to
Lee Aanderud

Why, of course... You are right. How ignorantly stupid of me to use a generic word like rubber when describing a high pressure flexible fuel line. There are no flex lines, electrical connectors, or anything flammable of that sort on an engine any more. The sky is blue, and it gets dark at night too. Sheesh... Jeff

"Mike Hunter" wrote...

Reply to
Jeff Rice

Reply to
blacklarkviii

Actually the clutch was still working perfectly, but the throwout bearing starting squalling (too much stop and go on I-40). As it made no sense to replace just the throwout bearing I had the clutch replaced... then about 20,000 miles later a rod bearing started knocking so it was time for a new engine.

The guy who replaced the engine showed me all the parts they were transferring from the old engine to the new one and when he showed me the clutch he said "you know how to drive a clutch", I pointed out that it wasn't that old and he pointed at the printing on the clutch disk and said, "No, you misunderstand me, I'm saying you KNOW how to drive a clutch".

Yeah I do, only automatic I've ever had was my first car, a Hawk, everything else has been a stick shift since, and I've STILL never worn out a clutch.

Jeff DeWitt

Mike Hunter wrote:

Reply to
Jeff DeWitt

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