2008 Toyota Highlander: engine failure

Filed Sep 29, 2021 · Engine · CA

On September 25, 2021, my husband was driving our 2008 Highlander locally to the store. The low pressure light came on and said pull over immediately. He pulled over and and checked the oil dip stick and our car was totally out of oil. He also notice oil under our car and a line of oil going up the street. The following day, I contacted Toyota Experience Center and was informed their were no service campaigns on my Highlander. I had the car towed to my local mechanic and he verified that the car had no oil and replaced the failed oil cooler hose. My concern is that the oil cooler hose failed, draining all of the oil in minutes. I feel this is a safety issue because of how rapidly it occurred and If we couldn't immediately stop the car our engine could have seized up and made the car stop.

Filed Nov 19, 2020 · Engine · 119,000 miles · TN

The incident happened while I was driving my family north on interstate 81 at 1:00 am. We were traveling at about 75 MPH. In my driver-side mirror, I noticed what looked like a mist getting kicked up behind the car and covering the rear window. In the dark, I couldn't tell if it was water or some other liquid. The road was dry so my wife and I planned to get off on the next exit and inspect the car, we had children in the car, and stopping on the side of the road did not seem safe. While we were looking for the next exit, I kept looking for indicator lights to come on and checking the temperature gauge to see if I could discern if there was anything wrong with the vehicle. No indicator lights came on and the temperature gauge stayed within normal levels. Then after a few minutes, about 5-6 minutes, the engine seized. All of the indicator lights came on and the display said there was a problem with the vsc system. Thankfully the car continued to roll and I was able to pull the car to the side of the road and turn on the emergency blinkers and called for assistance. When finally we got the car towed to the nearest toyota dealership we were informed that the oil coolant line had "blown" and our engine had seized from a loss of engine oil. Two weeks before this incident the car also displayed the vsc warning so we had the car towed to beaman toyota where we paid 1818.60 to have, among other things, the water pump and drive belt replaced. Knowing we were going on the above trip we had all the recommended repairs performed so we could be confident in the car during our trip.

Filed May 22, 2020 · Engine · 119,000 miles · MD

While driving my car at approximately 55mph all the dashboard lights flashed and then the check hybrid system light came on and stayed on. It said that there was a problem with the hybrid system to pull over as soon as you could safety and to contact the dealer. Well the engine died abruptly and loss power immediately. Luckily I was on a one lane road with a shoulder and no one immediately behind me. The mechanic said that it was a lower end motor failure but really could not figure out what is wrong with it. In fact it is still at the mechanic's and they are still trying to figure it out. It appears that it may be the engine inverter but still not sure. This is a very unsafe situation and toyota should have address this. My car is a 2008 highland hybrid with 119,000 miles on.

Filed Mar 24, 2020 · Engine · 139,000 miles · CO

The rubber oil cooler line (part number: 040004-29131) of our 2008 toyota highlander burst at 139,000 miles causing an oil spill and complete and irreversible engine failure due to oil starvation while vehicle was in high-speed motion in a congested highway during icy-and foggy conditions. Driver managed to remove the vehicle from the road, not causing any accidents, just before the engine irreversibly broke and shut down. Two days prior the incident, oil-change scheduled service was performed by a toyota-certified dealership showing no signs of engine/engine oil-cooling line abnormalities. Defective software displayed warnings on the dashboard of low engine oil/pressure seconds before the engine shut down. This defective part has been specifically acknowledged in the toyota's 2014 "warranty enhancement program, ze2" for repairs at no cost until january 31, 2016 or past that date for "10 years from the date of first use or 150,000 miles, whichever occurs first." toyota claims they mailed a letter for "several months" after "late july 2014" for ze2 to owners but the owner of this vehicle neither ever received such letter nor was notified by toyota corp./dealership. Vehicle has been under *consistent, scheduled, and regular car services* since its original and sole purchase in 2008. This should have been a recall to the federal safety agency upon *unreasonably dangerous design* for using rubber pressurized pipes in v6 engines instead of metal-based materials, defective part awareness, incident history, and the extent of the high hazard risk that involves this part failure: oil spill (not oil leaking as stated in ze2) can occur at high resulting in a non-opportunity to prevent vehicle loss and high probabilities of crash, injuries, fire, and/or fatalities. This is also exacerbated by the embedded defective software in terms of poor timing to display engine failure.

Filed May 21, 2019 · Engine · 155,000 miles · NC

Vvt-I oil line failure causing complete loss of engine oil while driving at speed on a highway. Car had to be towed and repaired due to lack of quality parts used in the manufacturing process. Toyota identified this problem internally yet failed to take appropriate measure to identify all models equipped with substandard oil lines and, likewise, did not attempt in earnest to notify owners of affected models. The result of toyota's lack of appropriate effort in notifying owners resulted in oil line parts failures occurring outside of an extended coverage period instituted by toyota. Because toyota did not act in good faith, owners were not notified and were subsequently put at risk of oil line parts failures resulting in engine damage or even engine failure. Many of the affected models are still in operation and the drivers of these vehicles will have no idea until the part fails due to toyota's lack of appropriate action. Toyota offers no support for this defect outside of a warranty enhancement or limited service campaign which owners were not sufficiently made aware of.

Filed Oct 28, 2015 · Engine · 83,500 miles · IL

I recently noticed a rattling sound out of the engine area that occurs intermittently. It typically occurs after the vehicle sits for a couple hours after it has been driven up to operating temperature. The sound happens for less than 2 seconds. The toyota dealer in our area diagnosed the issue as a failure of the intake cam gear per toyota technical service bulletin 0094-09. The service advisor stated that if the issue is left unaddressed, it could lead to complete engine failure. He also stated that the updated cam gear made by toyota does not fit the existing camshaft. This means that all 4 cam gears and two camshafts would have to be replaced which dramatically increases the labor and parts costs. I was given the following quote for the repair: part's $3748.00 labor $2137.00 tax $348.00 total $6233.00 I took the vehicle to another toyota to confirm the diagnosis and they confirmed the issue and quoted me at a similar price to do the repair. Message boards all across the internet describe a similar phenomenon. After discussing the matter with toyota corporate, they agreed to cover 50% of the parts cost, but I believe this to be unfair because their updated part intrinsically and dramatically increases the labor and parts costs. Even though only one cam gear failed, the replacement of all 4 cam gears is now necessary.

Filed Jun 22, 2015 · Engine · 134,000 miles · MD

According to the following website, there is a known issue with a cheap part on the toyota v6 engines. There was even a recall for the part, however, I"m told my car wasn't on the recal list. Https://sites.google.com/site/toyotav6oillinescandal/ the issue at hand is the car has been to the dealer for all maintenance, so its not a neglect issue. The rear bank vvt-I oil line used in prior to 2008 (mine has this issue as well) is metal with a rubber host connecting the two. The hose ruptures, dumps all of the oil, which squirts onto the passenger wheel, in the brakes, etc. It can not only cause a fire in the engine bay (which it did not in this case), but it could also lead to an inability to steer or brake (neither were the case here). Lastly, 6 quarts of oil drained out in less than 60 seconds, and the engine could have seized. This is a seriour issue for a $35.00 part.

Filed Apr 8, 2015 · Engine · 115,000 miles · NC

I purchased a qualified pre-owned 2008 toyota highlander sport from rice toyota in greensboro, nc in february of 2013. Since that time, I have properly serviced the vehicle and retained all service records. On or about march 31, 2015, while I was driving home from work on I-40 (65 MPH interstate highway), the engine in my highlander suddenly stalled and the check engine light came on. I coasted into a rest area (luckily) and was towed to a service station in greensboro. A complete diagnostic was performed and it was determined that the engine failure was due to a faulty engine valve spring. Every mechanic I have spoken with have indicated that a valve spring should not break on a 2008 toyota with around 100k miles. I searched online and found that toyota has recalled hundreds of thousands of certain lexus models, including models from 2008 with the same 3.5 liter v6 engine as is in my highlander, for faulty valve springs that result in sudden engine stalling. Rice toyota has refused to provide any assistance, as has toyota corporation. Further, toyota corporation has refused to provide me with any information regarding the manufacturer of the valve spring in my vehicle and/or any indication if the same valve spring was in the recalled lexus modes. I have seen class action law suits filed against toyota for concealing issues with valve springs. This defect can be very dangerous as the vehicle stalls suddenly and without warning. I need assistance to motivate toyota corporation and rice toyota to correct a clear design and/or manufacturing defect that caused a potentially dangerous engine stall in the middle of a major interstate highway.

Filed Dec 29, 2014 · Steering · 125,000 miles · NY

Tl* the contact owns a 2008 toyota highlander. The contact stated that while attempting to park, the steering wheel seized. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the intermediate driveshaft detached from the mount due to a failed spiral cable assembly. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 125,000.

Filed May 21, 2014 · Engine · 107,472 miles · MA

Toyota's t-sb-0201-1 should trigger a recall!! My wife was driving her '08 highlander, with 2 co-worker passengers, to a funeral. On 95n in danvers, ma, a motor biker pulled alongside & flagged my wife to pull over asap as there was smoke coming from the engine compartment and under the car. After stopping the car & waiting for the smoke to dissipate,he checked & found there was no longer any oil in the engine, the oil had emptied from the engine the last few miles while on the highway. I arrived later that morning to investigate, to discover that the oil was below the dipstick. The bottom of the engine & entire underside of the vehicle, including the exhaust system, spare tire, wheel wells, right wheels & tires & rear liftgate were coated in engine oil. The smoke apparently was from oil splashing onto the hot exhaust system, & vaporizing due to the high temp, creating a potential fire hazard. We had the car towed to the nearest toyota dealership. They determined that an oil cooler line external to the engine - part of a towing option package the car has - had ruptured! The engine's oil had been pumped out by the oil pump. We have since discovered that toyota had issued a technical service bulletin - t-sb-0201-11 - in december 2011 which addressed "oil seepage" from this exact oil line. Now we are $480 poorer, & we could have experienced a $10 k engine failure due to seizing, & possible injury or loss of life due to this. This tsb was never performed on our car as we had never seen spotting in our driveway from this leak. The new part installed was redesigned as solid metal tubing to fix the original rubber hose with clamps. Instead of recalling all of the affected vehicles to replace this potential life taker, toyota simply swept it under the rug and only replaced them when someone saw a leak and only when they still were below their 36,000 mileage warranty. Crazy!

Filed Nov 12, 2013 · Engine · 200,000 miles · OR · fire

Tl* the contact owns a 2008 toyota highlander. The contact was driving 55 MPH when the vehicle began to emit a burning oil smell. The check engine lamp illuminated so the contact added oil to the vehicle. The contact stated that the burning oil smell still lingered and the check engine warning lamp illuminated again. In addition, a hose from the engine failed and spilled motor oil on the exterior of the vehicle. The vehicle was towed to the dealer for inspection where the contact was informed that the oil cooler line had exploded. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the incident. The approximate failure mileage was 200,000.

Filed Oct 7, 2013 · Engine · 84,000 miles · NJ

The vvt-I oil cooler hose burst resulting in a major engine oil spill in a residential driveway. The toyota dealership and toyota corporate headquarters refuse to assume responsibility for the defective part because the vehicle is outside the warranty period and because they claim there is no recall for this part on the highlander. This same vvt-I oil cooler hose has been recalled on 1.6 million us rav4's, camry's and other toyota models. Not only could a total loss of engine oil cause catastrophic engine failure, this issue can also be considered a safety concern. If engine oil were to have made contact with hot engine parts or hot exhaust piping, then a fire may have occurred which could have resulted in serious vehicular damage and loss of life.