2006 engine knock

2006 with only 60k miles, oil leak and starvation caused a knock, not sure if it’s a rod bearing or something else. Took it to a local shop, mechanic listened to it and said he suggest an engine replacement. Cost of engine plus $1000 install. My question is, should I drop the oil pan and inspect the rod bearings and replace if I find any needing replacement? Run a compression test? Take it to another mechanic? Or pay for the motor swap. No price on the rebuilt motor yet but rough estīate he gave was $7-$8k.

 

$7-8k for a 2uz sound about right, $1000 install is an amazing deal depending on what he swaps over. Where is the oil leak coming from? How long have you had the truck? How often have you changed the oil? Starvation? Oil pick up could be clogged due to bad oci. Could be a few things, need more info.

 

Shop around for a long block. That sounds pricey.

https://spprecision.com/products/toyota-2uz-fe-47-long-block-crate-engine-sale.html

if you're willing to do the work, and have access to the tools, a set of bearings should be less than $100 if the crank & rods dont need machining.

 

Starvation was caused by the leak, i.e. oil got too low?

 

I've owned the truck since new. I don't know where the oil leak is from, it's probably a slow leak that I didn't catch. I'll be honest, I neglected to change oil for over a year as it's not my daily drive hence the low miles. I have it parked in grass and didn't notice any dripping. It threw a check engine code a while back, was the code for secondary air injection pumps, although I do have the bypass. The truck would make a ticking sound the first minute of start-up and now that I look back, the ticking was probably due to low oil and not the pumps. The other day when I started it up, I heard knocking, immediately shut it off, pulled the engine codes P0022 and P0012, checked the oil and it was 4 quarts low. Again, totally my fault, just need to make a decision on what to do next.

 

Probably the reason for the high estimate is that I'm in Hawaii, and to ship a long block here must be super expensive. The mechanic said he would be checking with the local O'Reilly, probably because they do bulk shipments for their stores. Their website lists it for $4745 but that's not including shipping.

 

Stupid Q, but did you add back in 4 quarts and attempt to run the truck at all?

 

I topped off the oil, started it up, heard the knocking. It's a metal to metal sound, that increases as the revs increases. I drove it to the mechanics shop. I don't think the mechanic opened anything up, because he couldn't tell me what was causing the knock. He just said he rather replace the motor because going in for a rebuild would be too much labor and might reveal other problems.

 

Update: Found a mechanic willing to open up the 4.7. He initially listened to the engine, said the knocking didn't sound like a rod knock. He towed the truck to his home where he does side jobs and worked on it on his days off. This was his first time working on a Tundra, he has lots of experience with Hondas, Tacomas, Fords, and builds race engines, so I was confident in his abilities. He pulled the motor, took off the valve cover and heads, everything on top looked fine. Pulled the oil pan and found a spot where the piston was slightly hitting the crankshaft. The rod on that cylinder was slightly bent and there was binding at the wrist pin. Mechanic thinks it was the oil starvation, dirty oil, or both, that lead to it's failure. Replaced the bent rod and all crankshaft bearings with OEM parts, new OEM oil pump, NPR piston rings, DNJ pistons, Aisin timing belt kit, Felpro head gasket set, Felpro head bolts, thermostat, crankshaft and main seals, torque converter seal, plugs, oil, coolant, recharge AC. A few exhaust bolts stripped or broke, so he had to spend a few hours drilling those out and retapping. Heads were cleaned up and valves lapped. Total, including the tow $5746. Mechanic said he'll never rebuild a Tundra engine again, was much more labor than he expected, labor was around $4000. I went this route to rebuild because I could not find any company that would ship me a remanufactured engine to Hawaii. A few companies had used engines, all over 100,000 miles and prices ranging from $3200 to $6200. I also could have gone with cheaper rebuild parts, or more expensive, all OEM, we chose to go with some OEM and some after market brands with a decent reputation. Time will tell if we made the right choice.

 

Appreciate the follow-up on this one. Bummer on the cost, but awesome you're back up and running again.

 

Wow, for the amount of work done, that's fantastic deal these days!!

 

^^^
That and you now have an 06 with 64K still on the ODO but a probably well built engine that will go 100”s of K miles if taken care of properly….tough love all around !