Solara Engine Troubles - Need some insight

[Jon11582]

Lemme start off by sayin the Sola is stuck at a mechanic and doesnt start right now.

First some background story. We use mobil 1 Syn w/ Mystery oil additive when we change the oil, and I always use premium gas even tho I have a 4cyl 5SFE, and the only engine mod I have is an Injen Intake.

So last weekend dad an I are doin some maintenance on the car, since it just hit 50K. I do the brakes and change the battery, and dad flush and changes the oil and the coolant.

So I got the brakes and battery done, he does the coolant, and asked me if I wanted to change the oil. I saw I only gone about 2.7K since my last change, so I said do it next week. We checked the temp levels after he did the coolant and it was a little high so we diluted it a little more, and that brought it down to normal. One thing I did notice was that after he flushed it, he put in pure coolant first, and then about the same amount of water, rather than mixing it in a bottle before putting it in, and he only flushed the radiator and not the engine block, but I didnt think much of it at the time. That was Saturday.

So I take it for a ride, actually all the way to long island and back on sunday (About 75 miles each way), then about another 60 miles on sunday night, as well as some other local driving. So I drove about 250 long miles since all that stuff was done. Monday I drive to work like usual, no issues 5 miles there and back.

On tuesday, do the same 5 mile drive to work. About 2 miles on the way there, I start hearing what sounds like knocking or scratching in my engine or below the car. I drive on it a little, thinkin a splash guard came loose (I stripped two of the bolts last weekend messin under there so it made sense).

Then all of a sudden, my engine cuts off, my CEL comes on and so I coast it over to the side of the road. I pop my hood and the engine blocks smokin from the passenger side, and theres a puddle of smoking coolant right inside hthe passenger side front wheel, under the the coolant reservior. I didnt see any leaks though, and wasnt sure where it was leaking from, but there was definitly a good sized puddle.

I went back and checked my temp and it was still in the middle where it should be. I let it cool for a few minutes and cranked it again, I think it starts, and it hit about 1K RPM and dies. I also checked my oil, and it looked pretty low even tho I only drive about 3K on it. Now when I crank it, it wont even start anymore.

Its at a Sunoco right now, courtesy of AAA, but does anyone know what it might be? I'm thinking let Sunoco do an oil change and a coolant flush, but I dont even know if that would get it back on its wheels if something else in the engine broke.

If dad broke my Solara, Im gunna make him buy me another car, or at least money to cover a 1MZ swap (its as good a time as ever).

So any of you motorheads think this is gunna be fixable by Sunoco, or is it RIP 5S-FE and I just start making plans to make dad get me a new engine/car?

[Qetesh]

I'm not a mechanic by any means, but did you check the hoses? If so, were they bulging, or soft? Did the clamps look to be tight? Is it possible that during the flush that the radiator or overflow perhaps sustained a small hole, thus causing it to leak?

Don't give up hope, let Sunoco do a diagnostic on it and find out what the problem is and go from there

Good luck and I hope you have your wheels back soon!

[Jon11582]

All the hoses were dry and looked fine...

I just got a call back from Sunoco. He said at least my timing belt went, and he said that means I need the water pump replaced and antifreeze changed. The smoking was probably from coolant overflow, cuz when hot coolant touches anything it smokes, so it prolly wasnt the engine that was hot since my temp guage was still where it should be.

Hes quoting me $545 for these 3 things. Its 45 in diagnosis and 500 in parts and labor. For that much, I think im better off doin a 1MZ swap. I know we got a few blocks for sale down in the for sale section, but how much you think that would cost in total? Im about to call my performance shop mechanic to see what kinda price hell quote me for the three things sunoco said and alternatively, how much hell charge me for doing a engine swap.

[Qetesh]

All the hoses were dry and looked fine...

I just got a call back from Sunoco. He said at least my timing belt went, and he said that means I need the water pump replaced and antifreeze changed. The smoking was probably from coolant overflow, cuz when hot coolant touches anything it smokes, so it prolly wasnt the engine that was hot since my temp guage was still where it should be.

Hes quoting me $545 for these 3 things. Its 45 in diagnosis and 500 in parts and labor. For that much, I think im better off doin a 1MZ swap. I know we got a few blocks for sale down in the for sale section, but how much you think that would cost in total? Im about to call my performance shop mechanic to see what kinda price hell quote me for the three things sunoco said and alternatively, how much hell charge me for doing a engine swap.

At least Sunoco got back to you quickly about the problem. I would never have thought about the timing belt, but it makes sense.

As far as the swap goes, Christmas is just around the corner

[SC V6]

I sounds to me like the coolant was over filled and ti overflowed out the res. and made a puddle.. why it won't start??? could have gotten too much pressure to where it cracked something somewhere and your engine got coolant into it... thus needing a new block.. I wouldn't just to conclusions.. was it smoking out the tailpipe pretty bad? if you are smoking out the exhaust most likly some seal/gasket busted and you are burning coolant... thats not good... if thats the case they might be able to get away with just putting a new gasket on... who knows.. only way to tell is to run the diagnostics, and if its necessary, to tare the block down and see what it is.. can't tell unless u tear it apart

[SC V6]

im not saying just to conclusions and tear the block down.. let the mechanic look at it and do his thing before you suggest anything... what I said is just my hypothesis... wouldn't want you to tear it apart and have it be something small... so.. my statement was just a insight to what it could be
later

[Jon11582]

well im lettin him dig in. If it goes fine with just the belt, antifreeze, and water pump, ill let em do it.

If he finds anything else wrong inside, Ill probably get it towed down to the performance shop and have them do the swap instead. (I did some research, im lookin around 3K for parts and labor for 1MZ swap) coz if the repair bill is over a 10 bills, then I dont think its worth it restoring the 5SFE.


I didnt check the exhaust, but i dont think it was smokin at all.

What Im think at this point was just the timing belt snapped, but the reservior was overflowin for a while, but since this is the first time i popped it, its the first time i noticed..At least thats what I think.

Unless it was leakin from the engine block, which probably more the case cuz the reservior was dry when I checked it...

Thx for all the words so far btw.

[Turbosolara]

I think you can pick up another 5sfe from junkyard for about $1000 dollars or less. it make sense to me that your timing belt is out because failure of your water pump. What cause the problem to your water pump? It could be that he didnt use OEM red coolant. newer toyotas's water pump need to use the the oem red coolant because it contain some sort of lubricant to prolong water pump life. The loud noise you hear underbody might the the water pump was struggling. Mercedes, GM, dodge, ford...etc are having similar of coolants.

[Jon11582]

He used Prestone coolant.

So u cant use prestone coolant? Would it make sense that id didnt cause any problems for 60 miles there and back the day after, yet acted up 250 miles later after sittin all night and driving it 2 miles?

[SC V6]

could have been the timing belt.. that would make sense...

[Jai_Jai_Binks]

Assuming thats a imz engine would be going to be in the ball park of $850
the wires and ecu (say another 250)
new motor mounts, used starter, coil, a/c pump, etc. - $300
used manual transmission w/ clutch (assuming...now $500)
We're at grand total of $1400, then labor is just $1600..intresting....Labor is way cheap for a swap IMO! Honda's ok i get it...toyotas' you might have engine codes that need to be debugged, and that process will take some time. Depending on how crafty you are with mechanics, I'd say your like additional grand from the swap and making it work (from your original $3K)

[SC V6]

I got a quote from the junk yard for the wiring harness.. they said its like 1000 for the wires w\ ignition coils etc, etc... dude.. u can expect this project to be at least double what you think it will be.. believe me

[bronzemaxell]

if you are handy and have a hayes manual, you can always do the timing belt and water pump yourself, we've done a 1mf-fe at home, for about 6 hours, oem timing belt, oem water pump and other drive belt probably going to cost you around $150 to $200 for parts, the hardest part is getting the big crank shaft bolt out.

if indeed your 5Sfe engine just need to replace timing belt and water pump, even if you do a 1mz-fe swap, you will still face the problem on replacement of timing-belt and water pump on the 1mz-fe because you may not know the history of the engine, and 1mz-fe timing belt and water pump is a little harder, hence, more labor cost, unless you just want a an exuse to do engine swap.

[Jon11582]

The shop I called quoted me 1200-1400 for just a swap, and 2000 for a build, with standard pricing (the guy I know there wasnt workin today so I wasnted able to find if he coulda gave me any kinda discount).

The one I was lookin at was the one for sale in the for sale section by Adam. It was 900 for a 10K 1MZ with bad rod bearings out of the Avalon. Because of the low milage and the fact that it came out of an Avalon, everything else is probably OK with it.

Replacing the rod bearings woulda been considered a build so that woulda ended up being pretty expensive. It still floats around 3-4K though, but I think my estimate is pretty accurate from the info I got. If I can find a good 1MZ, I'd be in even better luck, since I save 600-800 right off the bat since they dont have to "build" the engine. 1MZs have been used for years so I dont think it'd be too hard to find a good one.

I also found a 1MZ auto tranny out of a 93 camry w/ 106K on ebay for $350 that I could pick up. Its got alot of miles, but Toyota transmissions are built to last, so I dont think thats a problem either.

Wiring harness is gunna be the trickiest part to source.

I'm just keeping it as an option incase they find anything else wrong with my 5S-FE. If its really just the timing belt and water pump, I'll just let them do it. (If parts are 200 and it takes 6 hours, it would probably not be worth it to get my car towed home and to DIY. Homes about 40 miles away. 50/hr isnt that bad to begin with for mechanic work.)

If they find anything else wrong in thier run through, theres a very good chance I'd be considering the swap. I think Id pay up to $2.5K-3K over the price of repairs for a swap since the V6 went for about $2K over the I4 as it is. Its kinda close right now, but if the price of repairs jumps to something like $1K, the swaps gunna look alot nicer.

Thanks for all the insight so far, its been really helpful.

[Turbosolara]

go for 3SGTE!