Motorola

It was removed from the GS before Lexus axed the vehicle. The only car left that still has that engine is the IS/RC300 which is as old as the GS. It's been replaced by the T24A for the rest of the Lexus lineup.

LeX2K

Interesting didn't know it was phased out that quickly. 2AZ-FE or 1ZZ-FE is the worst Toyota engine IMO although admittedly i don't know much about the 8AR-FTS I do know it has 3 thermostats for some reason.

Lwerewolf

2ZZ-GE is better than the 1ZZ-FE?

The normal ZZs are quite fine, assuming that you haven't driven them with trash oil.

LeX2K

Completely different engine.
They are most certainly not quite fine I've re-ringed at least 5 of them myself the early ones burn oil like crazy. With proper ring land holes the engine is good but that doesn't help people with oil burners. At least they don't catch fire that is literally job one of any engine, don't burst into flames.

Striker223

The 1ZZ is perfectly fine, its replacement not so much....and the newer ones are even worse.

Striker223

Just decarbon them and tell owners to floor it when the oil is warm once a trip. Cured 4 cars for customers so far without having to do the nonsense of a re-ring, all 4 now make full oil change internals without needing to add oil. The small ringland holes and lazy owners who never floor it or change oil/throw cheap oil in is not a design issue IMO....

Not using an engine to capacity causes issues, and I see it the most with Toyotas because people are apparently afraid to break their unbreakable ultra reliable car by operating it within design limits?

Lwerewolf

Agreed. I'd be worried about the C5x transmissions on these more than anything.

Margate330

Do we know for sure neither of these two cars were modded in any way that could cause the fires?

SW17LS

Toyota would have cited that in their response since it would have been an easier out. Way easier than claiming it was because they drove 114 MPH once.

AMIRZA786

Personally I don't think denying warranty or warranty is even the issue here. If it does turn out they modified the engine in any way, then Toyota would have the right to deny the claim. So far that doesn't seem to be the case, as it's not mentioned in the letters, and Toyota would mention this in the letter as the main reason the warranty claim was denied. Secondly, I'm not an expert here, but I don't think it's an engine defect, but more the case of an underbuilt engine. A way underbuilt engine. I've tuned a few cars in my day, and I have friends who also tune, and as long as you don't exceed the "overhead" built into the engine and properly maintain the engine, then it shouldn't blow. In the case of the GR Corolla, it seems that the engine doesn't have much overhead, and Toyota went cheap.

When I say built, I mean using forged pistons and rods, oil coolers, bigger intercooler, diff coolers and a robust cooling system. Doesn't look like that was done here, my feeling is Toyota went cheap, and now you have two blown GR Corollas that we know about. I'm interested in seeing how Savagegees's GR Corolla holds out, in their case they are heavily modifying it

LeX2K

G16E-GTS engine has forged rods and crank with typical cast aluminum pistons. Block is a 3-piece design not sure how I feel about this. Engine is making 100hp per cylinder that's pushing things especially since the block is an open deck design.

AMIRZA786

You mean 100 HP per cylinder

Lwerewolf

Plenty of those engines in the Yaris, haven't heard of any serious issues. P.S. the G16E-GTS also has integrated main bearing caps.

Modern cast pistons can take a _lot_. Haven't heard of any issues with the G16E's pistons. The most common mod afaik is a high flow manifold catalytic converter (HJS w/ metallic substrate). I sort of don't feel the need to potentially introduce piston slap via forged & resp. slackier pistons.

Plenty of open deck turbo motors from BMW with only the typical rod bearing stuff to show for.

LeX2K

Thanks, corrected.
With what? The carbon is hard as a rock no solvent gets it off I've tried soaking the pistons for a MONTH (removed from engine) using various chemicals very little progress.
This isn't some holy grail nothing wrong with it but the strongest engine ever built in the 2JZ has no bearing girdle. Open deck is weaker no getting round it this is a compromise to increase cooling.

Striker223

The 2JZ is weaker than a stock LT, LS, 5.0, Hemi, B58, S58, Viper, 5.2 FSI, GTR, etc etc etc......it's not a weak engine but it's nowhere near the strongest engine ever.