Toyota Owner’s Internal Lie Detector Saves His 11,000 Mile Car from Mechanic Incompetence or Scam

Sometimes a Second Opinion is Not Enough

Repeatedly I have recommended that when it comes to having repairs done on your car, it is in your best interest to always seek a second opinion about the repair―especially when the estimate sounds high, and you are not clear on what exactly is the problem with your car.

However, sometimes a second opinion is not enough.

Case in point: A recent Car Care Nut episode where the host discusses a Toyota owner whose internal lie detector apparently could not swallow the story his dealership and an outside mechanic were giving him regarding his 2014 Avalon that had only 11,000 miles on it.

Related article: Elderly Prius Owners Scammed by Dealership Garage

Here is the episode posted below; however, if you do not have the time to watch the entire video, immediately below the video are the highlights of the video followed by a discussion of what happened and why.

Toyota Engine Blown At 11,000 Miles? Please Get a Second Opinion ALWAYS!

The Story’s Highlight’s

1. The owner takes his 2014 Avalon to the dealership he bought the car from for a non-working AC system problem. Over a period of several weeks the dealership fires the parts cannon at the repair with a new computer for the car followed by a new AC compressor when the new computer did not fix the AC problem. AC presumably was then operational.
2. The car is driven very little afterward (about 500 miles) and the engine develops an overheating problem. The car begins to run very rough and is towed to dealership where owner is told the engine is blown and he needs a new engine.
3. The owner takes the car to another mechanic for a second opinion and the mechanic tells him the engine is blown and he needs a new engine. The owner presses the mechanic about how the engine could have blown and mechanic tells owner his car’s water pump fell off!
4. At this point, the owner’s BS meter was sounding off and the owner went for a 3rd opinion from the Car Care Nut host who is well-known for his no-nonsense Toyota repair.
5. Intrigued by how a Toyota Avalon with only 11,000 miles could be in such a state, the Car Care Nut host begins his diagnosis failing to find any indication of a blown engine problem. What he does find are spark plugs fouled with excess gasoline, and gasoline saturating the engine oil. He also found someone had done repairs that were questionable on the car.
6. The Car Care Nut host cleans spark plugs, changes the oil, fixes a minor coolant leak and the car now runs like new. A new engine was not needed, meaning that both the dealership and the outside mechanic were either very incompetent or attempting to swindle the owner.

Probable Scenario of What Went Wrong

The host of the YouTube channel speculates that the problem originated with the initial repairs done for a non-functional AC system. Failure to properly reassemble the AC work done led to a small leak of coolant, that although did not lead to the engine seriously overheating, did result in an overheating engine warning light the owner’s spouse observed.

When the car afterward began to run very rough necessitating a tow to the dealership garage, signs of dried coolant on the engine and a report that it might have overheated led the dealership mechanic and the outside mechanic to assume it was a blown engine that needed replacing. In short, malfeasance of both to accurately diagnose and check that a blown engine was really the problem.

The host believes that the engine running rough problem with misfiring was a result of “cylinder washing” in the car’s engine.

What is Cylinder Washing?

“Cylinder wash” in a car refers to a condition where excessive fuel enters the combustion chamber of an engine without being burned efficiently. This can happen due to various reasons such as leaking fuel injectors, faulty spark plugs, or incorrect air-fuel mixture ratios such as from a vacuum leak in your fuel system.

When fuel accumulates in the combustion chamber without being ignited properly, it can wash away the lubricating oil film from the cylinder walls. This can lead to increased friction between the piston rings and cylinder walls, resulting in accelerated wear and potentially damaging the engine over time.

As it turns out, cylinder washing can be so severe that it escapes past the piston rings and dilutes the engine oil in the oil pan below, reducing the engine oil’s effectiveness in lubricating and protecting engine components. Because the Avalon has a 2GR-FE engine known for its oil burning issues partially due  to low tension piston rings, it may have made the owners car susceptible to cylinder washing.

Bad Car Habits Some Owners Have

In the case of the car owner’s Avalon, the likely culprit of cylinder washing was due to the car having been started multiple times for very short periods which prevented proper burning off the fuel as the mixture is typically rich when starting a cold engine

It is possible that since the vehicle was rarely driven, it could have been the habit of the owner to start the car momentarily to ensure it would start and then soon after turn off the engine until the next time the car was checked.

Another cause leading to frequent starts and stops of a car engine is the habit of some car owners to use their car to drive to the end of their driveway to retrieve mail from their mailbox and then return to the house. I’ve seen elderly car owners and owners with health problems do this often.

In other words, frequent starting and stopping an engine with very short trips is bad for a cars’ engine.

How To Check for Cylinder Wash in Your Car

There are two simple ways you can check for cylinder fuel wash:

1. Pull out the oil dipstick and smell the oil on the dipstick. If it smells like fuel, then gasoline is getting past the rings and contaminating the oil.
2. Remove one of the spark plugs and examine it carefully. If the plug is fouling from fuel, it could have black, sooty powder on it and/or it might also smell like fuel and be visibly wet.

For additional articles about bad service from dealership mechanics, here are a few more for your consideration that serves as a warning to car owners needing repairs:

• Car Repair Scam Outed by Mechanic is a Lesson to Car Owners
• Toyota Mechanic Shows How to Spot Bad Dealership Service Departments
• The Most Common Damage Dealership Mechanics Will Do to Your Car

Timothy Boyer is an automotive reporter based in Cincinnati. Experienced with early car restorations, he regularly restores older vehicles with engine modifications for improved performance. Follow Tim on  “Zen and the Art of DIY Car Repair” website, the Zen Mechanic blog and on Twitter at @TimBoyerWrites  and Facebook for daily news and topics related to new and used cars and trucks.

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