Understanding a failure - twisted cam shaft

Hello all,

I am hoping to get some help in understanding this failure to hopefully prevent it in the future

Some background, I own a 2000 Toyota Tundra with the 4.7L I bought back in 2016 with ~80k miles. For about 1 year it was my only commuter vehicle until I figured out payments on a used Honda was cheaper then the gas I was spending traveling 95 miles everyday. From there on out it basically became my farm truck hauling wood, towing, etc.

The previous owner did the timing belt around 60k miles and I did all my own oil changes using Schaeffer's Oil every 5-6k miles or once a year, which ever came first. My friend told me about marvel mystery oil and I tried that as an additive a few times in both oil changes and gas. I hope that didn't induce anything.

Fast forward to this year April I was coming back from a trip picking up a old rusted delta table saw from a friend. The truck was sitting at ~130k miles and on the highway I started to hear a whistling noise. I looked around at the cab while driving for any open windows or cracks to which the truck started to jerk. I quickly started to pull over and the truck came to an extreme sudden stop.

I opened the hood and saw the left cam shaft per the images attached. When I checked the oil dip stick it was completely dry, I tripled checked it. The last oil change was done 2,500 miles ago. I got the truck towed to the nearest mechanic. I came back 3 months later to get some things out of the truck and re-checked the oil dip stick and there was oil at a nominal level. It made me think that maybe the oil pump at the time stopped and oil was moved somewhere and stuck?

Fast forward again to now where I have my engine replacement installed. It was taken from another 2000 Tundra that had a totaled front end with 120k miles. The mechanic who did the swap wasn't sure exactly what the failure was but thought it could of been a failed oil pump.

I plan to take the truck to a local mechanic in 2 weeks to inspect the timing belt and see if it looks like it was replaced around the 90-100k miles or if I need to do it now.

My questions are,

Has anyone seen this happen before? Does anyone have some clues to what happened from pics and description?

Is there any preventative maintenance I missed at 130k miles that could of prevented this? Or because I put such low miles on it should I be looking at time passed for certain checks?

Is there anything specific I need to direct the mechanic to look at with my replacement engine to prevent this from happening again?

I feel lucky that I am only out $3,500 bucks right now but I want to be vigilant in hopefully preventing this from happening again. The stars aligned that I found the engine and the only mechanic in the area that would use a "customer supplied part". I have called about 10 other mechanics in the quad city area where I live and all wouldn't touch it with a "customer supplied part" and I got quotes of $12-20 k + for the work + their supplied engine! I only paid $13k out the door for the truck when I bought it!!

Any advice, guidance and help is appreciated, thanks!

 

Sorry forgot to click the pictures to post!

 

Someone didnt check the oil and a bearing siezed. Happens all the time.

 

Yup. The whistle you heard was the bearing siezing. The fact there was no oil when you checked it immediately and a little bit when you checked it later tells me it was low to begin with. Oil pump could have seized but that wouldn't cause there to be no oil on the dipstick.

 

For the first couple years of ownership you should vehemently inspect fluid levels, seals, pressures, efficiency, all of it.

clean everything too much so you have to coat everything in a sealant. When leaks show up their traceable. Jack it up everytime you wash it, makes the wheels easier to clean and you can wiggle test the steering.

it makes everything so easy you can see problems coming months ahead and budget accordingly.

 

Well that’s a bummer. But you are right - the stars must have aligned for you to get that motor installed for $3500.

A spun bearing is usually caused by one of two things - lack of proper lubrication or excess heat. Usually the latter is caused by the former, but sometimes simply overheating the motor can cause it - the reason being it messes up the tolerances and the proper film of oil can’t be maintained (so really, it’s just improper lubrication).

As for a lack of lubrication, this can be due to several factors: wrong oil weight, old or dirty oil, letting a vehicle sit for long periods of time, overly extended OCI’s, fuel leaks washing the cylinders or diluting the oil, a bad or clogged oil pump, sludge, etc. I’m not going to necessarily point at the marvel mystery oil, but it thins out the oil introduces excess solvent in to the system; could dilute it to the point that it didn’t provide proper lubrication at some point or dislodge some gunk in the motor that eventually found it’s way in to an oil passage or galley and starved the bearing. Sometimes that damaged bearing can limp along for months or even years before catastrophically self destructing. Had a friend with a 90’s Chevy with a diagnosed bad bearing that we drive for years afterwards. It was used kind of as a gentleman’s farm truck and we continued to bucked hay and fixed fences with it.

I’ve also not a fan of yearly oil changes even with low miles, but we get four seasons which can be tough on oil. I‘ve also decided that the 10k OCI for the 5.7 with 0w20 (I know, not the same motor or platform as yours) is only good for a very particular use case - and that’s not my use case despite what Toyota may claim (though, if you read carefully, they don’t recommend that OCI for all 5.7 vehicles depending on usage).

Anyways, sorry for your trouble. I would guess that either the yearly OCI with over 5k miles, occasional use with longer periods of sitting, and perhaps the MMO treatment culminated to lead to its untimely demise. Or the oil pump decided to fail. With an empty dipstick, the oil was either very low or oil passages were clogged in the block, causing the pump to run dry, and the bearing to starve and die an ignominious death.

 

Stoopid ottokorrekt. Good grief…

 

Thanks everyone for the replies. It sounds like it was a big oversight on my part to do oil changes on miles. I live where we have 4 seasons with yearly lows can reach 0F and highs of 110F.

While my last oil change was written down 2,500 miles ago (didn't write date), who knows if that was 1 year or ever longer ago with the amount of miles I put on that truck! I am pretty confident I am using right weight but I will double check that every time

I will take your advice Mr.Bee and check all my fluids before driving each time, especially since the usage is low.

So is the recommendation for low mileage Trucks every 6 months for the oil changes?

 

Oil doesn't know how old it is, for short hops with the oil not getting up to temp , change it more frequent. Highway miles can be stretched out as long as your comfortable running the oil. Head over to BITOG, Bob Is The Oil Guy , and get more info and opinions you could ever imagine !

 

Bummer for the OP. But like the game of golf you're on a new hole now and get a whole nudder chance. Need to check the engine oil level on the dip stick every single week. Every week. A year or so down the road, if you see consistent CORRECT oil level results each week then maybe you check it every month. But you check it. Every month. You'll be much happier going forward.

 

Oil change intervals aren’t about oil “time in the truck”. Stuff will last forever in a bottle on the shelf. It’s all about contamination, especially with synthetic, as it doesn’t break down with heat like the normal Dino stuff. I don’t believe oil change intervals were the issue in your case, but lack of oil was. I check my oil when refueling out of habit. I change the oil in my 2000 once a year wether it needs it or not. I only drove it 2,400 miles last year. As it sits in the truck it doesn’t go bad, but it does absorb contaminants like products of combustion, dirt from the air intake and potentially moisture. Sorry about your truck, hopefully the new motor lasts the life of your truck.

 

Thanks Bammer I will check that forum out.

 

Not to flame a brand but why Schafers? You might have one of really very few oil related engine failures. I dont believe in "Boutique" lubes and working in the industrial pump world there are plenty around. An overtightened belt tensioner perhaps, a fluke of manufacturing, hard to say. Odd the oil lever was normal after you checked it after the failure.yet it didn't register when it happened. If the pump failed the crank bearings and a few other choice parts would likely have started knocking as well before it cratered. But...like the guys said, oil itself down not wear out, its the additive's that go south or it just gets plain contaminated. Id never do it but guys are running 20K between changes in some or the euro vehicles. For 45 years Ive been doing 5K changes with a filter R&R and using Chevron, Valvoline, Castrol or Wally world syns and yet to have a oil related failure. Glad to see you got it back in service!!