Hi all. I took my wonderful 1996 (160,000 miles) T100 Truck in last week for its free Head Gasket Recall. Turns out the engine has a far amount of sludge. The intake cam is ruined. The cam shaft has 3 areas where it is supported by pressured oil forming a hydrodynamicc wedge around the shaft. The sludge clogged on of these areas and both the cam shaft and the head are gauled up in that area. Toyota wants about $5000 to replace the heads and cam shaft and also rebore the engine. For about $2000 I can have just the intake head and cam shaft replaced.
This truck is a extra vehicle and I'm not prepared to pile money into it at this point in time (I'm in the process of finding a new job). I bought the truck 3 years ago used, so therefore I can not produce records of oil changes from the day the truck was first purchased, so Toyota won't do anything for me.
If I had known this engine had trouble with sludge, I would of had it flushed out 3 years ago and would of been using synthetic oil for the last 3 years to play it safe. If this had been done, then I'm sure my engine would still be running beautifully.
I live in Northern VA, where the cost of both living and service are sky high. I'm considering having Toyota clean out the engine, put it back together with fresh oil and seeing how long it will run on that. I may take my truck down to McCoy Auto in Southwestern VA and having them rebuild the engine for me. I think they would probably do a better job and more cheaply than the folks up here in Nova.
Ideally, I'd like Toyota to give me a new engine for my truck. Yes, I can hear you all laughing. I love this truck and am having difficulty believing that its engine has been ruined. I bought it based on Toyota's outstanding history of quality and I'm more than a little disappointed.
Please email any advice, comments, ridicule or scorn :o). snipped-for-privacy@comcast.net
Thanks,
Brandon