That includes part of a piston exiting the engine and a hole in the transfer case
by Stephen Rivers
March 29, 2023 at 19:34
by Stephen Rivers
When things go bad in an engine it often results in an issue that slowly reveals itself over time. That’s certainly not what happened with one 2023 GR Corolla that experienced the kind of catastrophic engine failure rarely seen on new cars. The cause might still be unknown but Toyota has already agreed to cover it under warranty.
First spotted by the folks over at Road & Track, whatever went wrong in this engine likely began and ended in a short period of time. We say that because of the great and graphic damage done. And we know that because a technician working on the vehicle is documenting the entire teardown process.
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The side of the block has a hole in it that a Desert Eagle would struggle to emulate. The valves are smashed deeply into the head and there’s a second gaping hole in the transfer case. Rumors are swirling all over the place that this was a case of money shifting. That’s a situation where the driver accidentally shoves the gear lever into one far lower than intended. Go from 5th to 2nd when you intended to be in 4th and things like this can happen.
Still, there’s no concrete evidence of that so far. If it’s what went down and the poster, Simez Garage knows about it, they’re not saying anything. What we do know is that evidently, Toyota is covering the repair provided that they get all of the broken engine parts back.
“So everything’s going back to Toyota. Those valves bent and are wedged into the head… So likely valve float. What caused that valve float? Well, Toyota won’t release the information to me. Believe it or not folks, this is all warranty. Toyota has released all the parts. My parts list is at $32,000 so far and when they get here I’m gonna put this car back together,” says the owner.
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This certainly isn’t the first royally messed up GR Corolla but it seems to be the very first with a major catastrophic engine failure. We’ll keep our eyes out for more cases but if they don’t pop up, it just might be driver error that’s to blame.