"The Catastrophic Failure of a 3-Cylinder Toyota Engine: Exploring Possible Causes and Warranty Replacements"

April 5, 2023, 1:17 p.m
PiataAuto.md editors

The current Toyota GR Yaris and GR Corolla have one of the most fascinating 3-cylinder engines ever produced. It has an unusually large displacement of 1,618 cubic cm, although it only has three cylinders, and has proven capable of producing phenomenal performance, reaching up to 300 HP on the GR Corolla. More than that, they already existed try it who tried to take this engine to more than 400 HP, and it resisted. But one GR Corolla owner was less fortunate and found himself with his engine completely destroyed, a piston rupturing the block and causing massive damage to the point of total destruction.

Toyota has already agreed to replace the engine with a new one under warranty, which leads us to believe that the engine was stock, standard performance, with no unauthorized modifications. The engine and gearbox were removed from the car, and the damage found was filmed by the service staff and the owner of the car.

Thus, a piston with a connecting rod ended up in the oil sump, in its path breaking the wall of the cylinder in which the entire cylinder block was located all the way down. So, effectively, the cylinder has two major incisions, like the entire engine block.

When the oil sump cover was removed, piston marks and lots of small metal pieces from the affected components inside the engine were seen.

Metal pieces were still falling from the car when the plastic protection in the lower part of the engine compartment was dismantled. Since the cylinder block was broken, pieces of metal also jumped inside, from the moment these damages were produced. Being hot, they melted the plastic protection where they fell.

It also appears that the differential housing next to the gearbox was also cracked as an adverse effect of what happened.

As I said, Toyota accepted the warranty replacement of the entire engine and all related affected components, without investigating the cause of this catastrophic failure. But the service mechanic seems to suggest that one of the possible reasons would have been a mistake in the gears of the gearbox, when, for example, instead of engaging 4th gear on a downshift from 5th, you engage 2nd- and when you release the clutch, too high a speed can bring the engine to revs well above its maximum limit. There is no definite verdict, however, and Toyota only requested the parts from the service, so that they could do their own investigation.

See in the videos below what this engine looks like.