97 Camry threw a rod

I bought a 97 Camry 4 with 60K miles two years ago from the dealer. A few days later I noticed blue smoke in the morning startups. I took it back under dealer warranty and they overhauled the engine with new valve stem seals and rod bearings. It's just about to turn 100K miles and the engine has been OK since.

Threw a rod you mean it broke, right, or it just makes noise. Did you open to see if it really needs replacing. Was there the correct amount of oil in it.

Well; it's a mechanical device. Crap happens. It can happen to any vehicle at any time. By buying something that has a good track record you decrease your chances of anything happening, but individually any thing goes. Kinda like playing the ponies, bet on a proven one.

Sad to hear, but your only option is to replace and move on. :(

Our daughter has a 97 XLE at college with 110K, have fingers crossed it'll last til graduation, then the upkeep is hers. (she'll dump the car, hope I get first dibs at buying it back from her) Does use a quart of oil every 1500 miles but she drives 85 for hours at a time, and for an engine with that many miles that gets pushed like that, Daddy is still one happy camper. (perfectly normal in my book)

Sudden engine failure of this type is unusual but has happened. The reason the rod broke could be:

lack of lubrication (tho a lot of noise would precede the failure)

fatigued bigend bearing cap retaining bolt which broke (can happen when reused a few times or has manufacturing fault-cracked)

Very high oil-level in sump ( the crankshaft slaps the oil causing crank and possibley rod breakage)

"spun' rod bearing (bearing loses its locating tangs which stop it turning in the rod)

Jason

BZZZZZZT. Never happens. You cannot break a connecting rod or any portion of the connecting rod by simply over filling the crankcase. Steel is a whole lot harder than oil in a pan.

BZZZZZT. The "tangs" (as you call them) do NOT lock the bearing shells into the bearing saddle. They are there simply to index the bearing in the saddles so that any oil holes line up correctly. Bearings are held in place by being "crushed" into the saddles. This is why you do NOT reuse bearing shells once they've been torqued down.

portion

Hmmmm,.....I dont agree on this point,..Phil. If an engine has been badly overfilled the crank at high revs will find hitting the oil like hitting a piece of metal. You need time for the oil to displace. The other factor as you probably know, is aeration of the oil due the continual stirring....

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Yet in some drag-motors and the like, an addition tang is used to help prevent spinning.....