Two weeks ago I had my brakes, oil change and rotation done at a shop I've known for years and the car was running fine. Last Friday night, when leaving work, the check engine light came up along with the VSC light - I thought, I guess I'll take it to the shop tomorrow and see what it could be. A few minutes later, the car starting making this loud knocking sound. I immediately pulled over, called AAA and had the card towed to the shop - by then the shop was closed so I stopped by the next morning. I turns out that a piece of the cam shaft came up and started destroying the engine. Interestingly enough, the timing chain looked fine, except that it had skipped. The piece of metal broke off other metal parts and bent another; basically I need a new engine.

The shop told me to take it to the Maroone Toyota dealer in Weston/Davie, FL because they think this should be considered a defect that Toyota should consider. So I did, but for now I have to wait until Monday before they can tell me if my extended warranty may cover the repair.

I think Toyota should cover this repair regardless of warranty - I'm not even supposed to check in the engine for service for another 6,000 miles. Now I am out of a car for the weekend and if the warranty doesn't cover, I am looking at spending about $4k in repairing or replacing the engine. Who can I call email at Toyota?!!??

I have always liked the color and special options of the Avalon. I purchased this car new after my first Avalon was totaled in an accident by a 16 year old that turned left on a red light. Fortunately I was not badly injured but my 1999 Toyota Avalon was totaled. When I replaced it with the new one, present Avalon, I was so happy about the color interior and all of the bells and whistles. I constantly returned to the dealer from which it was purchased for all of the maintenance and regular oil changes. At about 50,000 miles or a little before, I noticed a loud tick in the engine. When I mentioned this noise to the dealer upon 3 different maintenance checks, the mechanics could not hear what I was hearing. Then on the fourth visit, when the warranty was expired, they heard the noise and decided the problem was fixable but at a cost of $5000. I protested that I had told them about this engine noise several times before and until this visit they could not find a problem. I told them I did not think I should be totally responsible for the $5000 repair bill and they decided to have "Toyota" pay for part of the bill. As it ended up, I still paid almost $3000. The engine noise was gone for about a week when it returned again. I decided to have the oil changed from that time forward at a local Grease Monkey that had a wonderful reputation for service. The other day, while driving to my granddaughter's cheering event the "check engine" and VSP lights came on. I took the car to a different Toyota dealer and they replaced a coil in the car that caused the warning lights to come on. I asked them if they could check out the tick that still remained in the engine since it was a whole new set of mechanics. Their diagnosis was even worse...they said they found gold shavings in the oil which indicated that a bearing in the engine was bad and that the only fix for it was to totally replace the engine with either a whole new engine at a price of $16,000 or a used engine at a cost of $8000. While neither of these options is a good option for me, I opted not to have them go further. Please, if anyone knows of this problem and a less expensive repair, please, please let me know. What can I do?

At about 7,000 miles I began to hear a clicking in the engine. At around 19,000 miles took it into the dealer. Everything was hunky dory according to them. Kept getting louder until finally it was a real knock. Even my wife heard it. Finally at 39,000 miles they looked into it. Took the oil pan off, found shavings and subsequently overhauled the engine. Was without the car for 2 weeks. They provided a rental.

Now at 57,000 started missing intermittently. Dealer said it was coil. $289 for replacement of coil plus 85 for computer diagnostics. Replaced the specified coil. Still did it. Took it back. Another coil. This time another 230 or thereabouts. I am really worried about this car. Is it a lemon or what. I should have insisted on another car when at 39,000 miles it had to be overhauled.

This is certainly not the vaunted Toyota quality.