1zz-fe Warning!!! Rod Bearings and Lubrication - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

2001rolla · 06-23-2005, 07:56 PM

I recently pulled my original motor because it was making rod knock noise when driving. I spent the later part of today tearing apart the motor to see what damage had been done and found not one... not two... but three spun rod bearings and the fourth on its way to becoming damaged itself. I noticed the Main Crank bearings a little worse for wear as well and looking over the motor can see signs of damage due to lack of oil.

Now before anyone jumps out there and blames me for not keeping the oil up to level and changing it frequently enough I can assure you that I change my oil quite frequently and check the levels often. I am very anal when it comes to the oil in my car and run mobil1 Synthetic at all times.

Here are a few pics of the damage...

I am going to be contacting Toyota about this as it seems to be a problem with the oiling system in the motor. Looking it over I will have to toss the rods, get the crank reground and replace all the bearings as well as have the block pressure washed, decked and all oil galleys cleared.

Hopefully when the motor is back together it will be sporting sleeves, forged pistons and rods and a lowered compression to ready it for boost...

silverstreakin · 06-24-2005, 07:46 AM

all the rods look straight, why would you have to toss them? wrist pin area damage?? (forgive i dont know how the wrist pins goes in the 1zz)

anyway, what filter did you use. just the pics kinda look like trash damage to me. lack of oil usually looks a bit more like shit was burned.

either way im not tryin to cause arguements. that sucks

good luck on the rebuild. i wanna see some numbers on forged internals

2001rolla · 06-24-2005, 12:12 PM

I'm replacing the rods with better stronger forged rods so when I reinstal the turbo it won't bend a rod. I had been using Mobil1 filters and Mobil1 Synthetic oil. The material on the inside of the bearings has been melted away and rediposited onto the bearing surface.

dexter_5000 · 06-24-2005, 05:59 PM

how many miles on the engine and how hard was it run?

2001rolla · 06-25-2005, 08:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dexter_5000

how many miles on the engine and how hard was it run?

Roughly 60,000 and very f#$%&*g hard... The car was turbocharged but that would more than likely have caused the bearings to burn not disintigrate. I am going to be running performance bearings from MWR in the next motor to make certain this problem does not come back to bite me in the ass. I'm also going to have the oil galleys opened up and polished for better oil flow to the main and rod bearings.

Rolla97 · 06-27-2005, 02:53 PM

well hey, now you rebuild and turn up the boost

There's an upside to the motor turning to shit

94_Rolla_Guy · 07-12-2005, 01:14 PM

this is weird i just found the same thing in my 7A-FE that supposedly has 37,000 km

http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/t87412.html

I find this interesting because at the dealer i found out that 1ZZ-FE and 7A-FE bearings are interchangeable!!!!!!!!! or so it looked?

V6LE_CAMRY · 07-12-2005, 04:18 PM

To me it looks like that this damage was probably caused by a bad oil filter

that has happed to my car when i first got it, before i got it the previous ownwer had an oil change at a wal-mart and used a Fram Pro oil filter and when i took it out the fiter was almost bone dry, the car had already been drive for a few miles like that and for some reason the oil light never was on. so now i now to stay away from the Fram Pro series filters because they might come uot defective.

what brand or filter were you running in your engine and was yours full of oil when you took it out?

meicalnissyen · 07-16-2005, 08:27 AM

UH, wanna hear a nice one? My 11 year old has been doin well helping with oil changes and I thought was ready to solo last time we did it I just did a quick check on drain plug and filter torque he said I was good to go found out 368 miles later that he had put 1 quart of oil in to leave the level in the jug at the 4qt mark ARRRGGH
I never saw the oil light on, and had to drive another 150 with the level correct but not changed out.

will pull the valve cover and check cam wear today.
wish me luck

NO CAM WEAR LOOKS GOOD TO GO

should I contact those ztec lube dudes and fish for sponsorship bux ????

Cavi Mike · 08-01-2005, 07:53 PM

I was advised to stay away from Mobil 1 filters, they do a great job of filtering oil but they are very restrictive. This was a major problem specifically pointed out to me pertaining to the engine in my Nissan(VG30E). If your oil is changed at early intervals (3k miles using synthetic) a typical FRAM or Purolator is more than adequate.

JuNGLe ChiKEn · 08-15-2005, 01:51 PM

snap! the same shit happend to my car recently...its an 02 with about 76000 miles on it and i run it pretty hard but man! it started knockin the other day n its pretty loud. i havent driven it for a week, ive taken it to many shops and they tell me the same thing that either my piston rods or rod bearings are damaged and keep talking bout replacing my whole engine! damn this sux im gonna be broke

Triple Se7en · 07-14-2006, 01:46 PM

This engine is a mess. The owner was not anal about oil change intervals. Anal is 8K OCIs .....OR LESS - dependent on the number of months elapsed - dependent on % of city driving - dependent on how often my foot is all the way down on the accelerator.

I am anal about oil changes. If my dipstick is not clear at 1.5K of my 8K OCI using regular M-1, I shorten the OCI in half.

Now that's anal.

Flashmn · 07-14-2006, 02:19 PM

I wouldt not let an 11 year old do an oil change for me if it was my kid. Not because of mistakes, but because oil is carcinogenic and I'd like to protect their little skin.