Eric: not a fan of EGR systems John Deere tech: not a fan of EGR systems Kenworth tech: not a fan of EGR systems Cummins tech: not a fan of EGR systems...
I think this shows that it IS possible to design an engine with all the modern geegaws (cooled EGR, DI, electric WP, etc.) and not be overly complicated and hard to service like so many engines we see here.
Hate to burst your bubble, but everything you mentioned as “modern” has been around for the last 30 years and common for at least the past 20. But I get your point. Certain manufacturers, especially one that Eric is a huge fan of, intentionally complicate their designs to dissuade their owners and 3rd party auto repair shops from fixing them. There is zero reason from a financial perspective for an auto maker to build their cars to be easy to service, especially auto makers who have incredibly gullible customers who don’t care how expensive or unreliable they are, they just want the badge so they can brag to their neighbors and the other members at the country club.
I just did an oil change on one of these for a long time costumer. 198k miles. 5k mile oil changes. Drained oil and looked like it had 1k miles on it. Ow16 oil. Clean and clear. His on board mpg said 42.5 mpg. He has without fail changed his oil every 5k miles with 0w16 oil. No timing cover leaks. No other issues with the engine. Both rear wheel bearings have been replaced.
That’s 40 oil changes at $100 (typical dealer cost) for $4000 total. That could be a lot to pay to say your engine is like new when the rest of the car is losing value - which is mostly out of your control. You didn’t say the year or usage. Might be the appropriate thing for this owner, might not.
@@donniev8181yes, it’s that cheap for some people, myself included. Not everyone is in that situation, including the owner in the post who pays for someone else to do it.
loose the toyta "oil". 5 qts of whatever brand on sale (usually Walmart supertech that is around 19.00 oem filter FROM the dealer for $3-$5 and you got sub $30 oil change. Biggest factor is knowing it's done right. I do my Tacoma every 5-6k this way. Don't let the brand trick you, yea some have minor additive packages benefits but all oil must meet API standards and Walmart/costco etc all neet the best API rating for a DI car (ILSAC-GF6B or A.) if whatever brand has that rating your good to go. Dump at 5k and put fresh whatever in it (do use OEM or a high end aftermarket filter like wix XP., fram ultra synthetic etc. Tech tip, shop around at dealers to find really cheap oem filters. I ordered 10 filters for my Tacoma (the annoying media and oring nonsense) for $3.25 a piece. No box store or even online can match that price
Please don't stop releasing the videos on a Saturday night. It's morning in the UK and I don't get out bed until I've watched the latest tear down. Thanks for the great videos Eric, always fascinating and entertaining.
Those bearings end the "0w16 oil is too thin" argument. I've heard engine builders say these motors have low tension piston rings that can lead to scuffing the cylinders and oil burning issues. With Toyota building millions of these A25A engines every year, it's not unusual to see a few "bad" ones. Cheers Eric! Great channel!!
Absolutely. However, I would never use it on an engine that wasn’t designed for it! In most cases, manufacturers spec is correct, but the exceptions can save the engine!
@@I_Do_CarsI looked in other comments, but is there any way to test Toyota electric water pumps? I remember you also held onto the Prius electric water pump in a previous video.
@@duffman247in theory you could provide the pump power, ground and the PWM signal it is looking for to operate. I don't know if that's worth it. Might be interesting.
0w16 is too thin…for an engine that calls for 5w30. In the same way, 5w30 is way too thick for an engine that calls for 0w16 and would probably kill it quickly. Engines that call for thin oil typically use much tighter bearing and other clearances, along with wider bearing surfaces and different oil pumps designed for the thinner oil. TLDR, use the oil that is specified for your engine and it will be just fine. The engineers who built the engine are way more qualified to make that decision than you.
My wife's 2020 Rav4 has this engine, and I am *ruthless* on the 6mo/5,000 mile oil change interval. I saw this video come up and kinda gasped, then felt good to see this didn't look like some chronic issue. Great as always.
I am a Toyota tech in Canada. I have been with Toyota since 2018 when these A25A series engines were first being rolled out. In 6 years I have only seen one of these engines being torn down for warranty repairs, and I was that tech who repaired that engine. I had a worn out rod bearing on cylinder 4 if my memory is correct. That is really the ONLY major engine fault I have seen on the A25A engine at the dealership I work at. I have yet to see any cooling system related failures on these engines.
I worked for Toyota Australia. We replaced a couple of these under warranty. Sent them back to base or factory for inspection. Initally it was ring issue. The part numbers changed.
@@TeezerDriz Top Compression ring. Also, the gapping in the manual was also in a bulletin. We only had around 2 rebuilds per year. The engine shop was pretty much empty because we had access to long blocks.
We changed one of those on warranty not long ago. Broken top ring (cylinder 2 or 3, don't remember) but apart from that.. it seems like a pretty solid engine and so is it's 2.0l cousin, the M20A-FKS (FXS).
Eric, thank you for including chapters on this video. I do well with 15-20 minute video, but with longer ones like this I lose interest. Following along with the chapters makes it so much better. For me at least.
As always Eric, thanks for the Saturday night entertainment. Nice to see Mrs. IDoCars make a cameo in the video as well. I only wonder what's she going to do with 2 used timing chain guides? :D
Agreed, the intake side head bolts seemed to be, by all assumptions, correct torque, but the exhaust side all seems, a little... "less tight" based off the sound. Plus, when he flipped the headgasket, you could see how clean the steel was on the waterport lines, vs cylinder 4, that wasn't as clean. I think someone over heated it, and it lifted that side very badly, then became a slight coolant burner... which eventually got into a milkshake maker. And maybe the engines are so cheap from wrecked cars that, "cheaper to change it, than do a head gasket." happened.
Ok so I work on a fleet of taxi cabs we have all hybrid Camrys. Years range from 2014-2019. Our 2019’s are the most problematic at around 250 k I put a new cylinder head on them with all new gaskets and kick them out the door. Our 2014-2016 we on average get 500-750k on these cars pretty amazing. Definitely not a fan of the newer A25A engine. Lots of issues. Great video
I have a Corolla with the 2ZR-FE engine (2019, the last year before Dynamic force engine switchover) I get less MPG (like 30 instead of 38 to 40) but no EGR... seems like my engine will last longer than the new ones.
I bought a NEW water pump for my old Saab, years ago now, as a prophylactic measure, because when they failed, they put the fan straight through the radiator. But it didn’t work out as planned. The NEW water pump failed, immediately, destroying the fan and the radiator! Was I pleased? You bet…
@@marc-oliviercabot3380with labor, an A25A water pump replacement is under $800. They are prone to failure. Eric throwing it in the garbage would have been the right thing to do.
@@jeremysmith1777Is that for the Toyota part, in a Toyota dealer? And why do they use an electric water pump? Sounds like one of those stupid things Audi does.
Would you consider making a video showing how to remove difficult connectors, i.e. electrical, HVAC lines, transmission lines, etc with close-ups and the special tools needed?
Used to be a toyota tech. I replaced one of these short blocks due to the electric water pump failure and customers continue to drive. The electric water pump is suspect for me here.
If electric water pump fail it will trigger immediately a dashboard warning lights so if that’s the case then it’s a drivers error for continuing driving with fault
That engine shows signs of burning oil. The ring lands for one of those look terrible. Engines with low-tention piston rings will gum up the ring lands, score the cylinder walls and start to comsuem oil if you don't change the oil regularly. At 5000 mi not 7500 to 10,000. Oil is the key!! Keep it clean and use good oil and these engines will go 300K. This one was not well maintained. Love your videos! Thanks for sharing all the information too.
These are my favourite videos. I've seen endless components that have exploded, it's not very common to see ones that have failed, but not catastrophically. It gives us a chance to see the subtle wear and tear.
I have a 2016 Camry. I change the oil every 3k miles. I use mobile one ep oil and not the cheap stuff. I use a new Toyota oil filter each time too. I change the coolant and trans fluid every 30k. It may be overkill, but I don’t care. It has 100k and drives like it has 100 miles.
Speculations aside on how these fail, as someone with a RX350 with a 237k mile 2GR-FE, I’m just happy to see a tear down of any Toyota engine to see what’s behind the scenes
I work for the Toyota supplier that makes the exhaust manifold for that engine... this engine is used on all sorts of vehicles (very high volume)... like Frank's Red Hot, they put that "stuff" on everything! Said manifold is a complicated one... 4 runners and an EGR pipe with a cat on the end. Hence why you didn't get one with it. One of the trickier ones to produce due to all the pipes and welds needed to make it.
Toyota quietly replaced tens of thousand of those engines because of bad castings. Water and/or oil was seeping through the blocks. If it was oil, the engine was replaced. If it was water they snuck in block sealer. My 2020 Camry smelled like hot antifreeze during the summer. It was by accident I noticed block sealer was added to mine when I picked it up from the dealer for the third time because of continuous problems Toyota said were normal. Toyota didn't do a recall, they left it up to the customer to find the problem. More are getting out of warranty now, it might get interesting.
I bought a '20 Camary used and the service records were good. I will do my best to keep up with the maintenance. Oil change every 5k or sooner. After reading the comments i now know i need to watch out for water pump failure. Dig this channel!
I am currently a Toyota tech. Seen the water pumps go out and cause the coolant and engine oil to overheat. They will damage the engine and coolant system if not fixed.
I tore down one of these too. It got so hot the pistons melted to the cylinder wall. It was pretty unbelievable to see the damage inside of it. The bearings were perfect on the inside. If you want I have a lot of the engine still I would gladly donate if you cover the shipping lol
A lot of people mentioned that the water pump is usually a common failure for these engines around that mileage. The one I tore down died because of that sadly
I put a salvage engine in a Camry not long ago and it had no compression on cylinder 3 when done. So we ended up going to a reman instead. So that is two bad Camry engines right there, but for the 2009 model. ;)
Using the plier handle to loosen the oil filter was fkn funny! I saw that coming and had a good laugh when it worked. You're funny, good job. Also, good job on your real-time narration! As always, you've schooled yourself beforehand and never missed a beat as a result. Pure sheer genius at work. ;)
I love the channel, but I have a mild suspicion that Eric loosen the filter first before using the handle as shown. A properly tightened filter isn't going to be that easy to break free...
@@davidg3944 well, since when are all filters properly tightened to begin with? I've worked in the pit for two different quick lube chain stores, and I've seen some straight up dumb shit roll in...
The twin turbo 6s are under warranty, and Toyota will never let a bad engine replaced under warranty loose for people to analyze. Neither will any other manufacturer.
@@bigdaddymak1439 except its not caused by debris. Oil starvation causes bearing failures that creates the debris. Any engine builder will tell you if debris is in the eng it will blow up within the first or second oil change. Not 40,000 miles later.
@@fl_atv_riders4455 you're wrong it's only one bearing that gets starved. It just takes a while for it to get dislodged and clog the gallery to the bearing. Hyundai Kia has had the same issue.
@@bigdaddymak1439 In fact. My SiL's KIA goes in soon to have the engine assessed under the extended warranty. The oil cap floats when you loosen it well running.
I asked for an A25A video so thanks for doing one finally! They seem like a really well designed engine. A guy did 470k miles on his Rav4 hybrid so I don't doubt the longevity of the engine if taken care of.
Thank you Eric for tearing one of these down, ive not seen a single video about these engines! I just purchased a 2024 Camry SE and the car is a dream to drive. These engines have great heat efficiency, I can turn the car off and come back 4 hours later and the engine will still be warm. Change your antifreeze every 2 years people, it starts to get acidic after 30k miles.
@@donniev8181 The car care nut channel has a rebuild video for the A25A from when he worked at Toyota. A piston exploded causing a short block replacement.
@FrankySilverFace I don't think that was that was the A25A-FXS/FKS engine, I believe that was the older 4cyl out of a 09' Camry, but I could be mistaken. What is the specific title of the video.
I’ve made this comment throughout the channel already but please do a 2.4 2AZ. They’re blown up everywhere from bad piston rings and oil starvation, some are also known for head gasket issues. Wanna see you tear one down.
Thank you for what you do and sharing it with the rest of us. I enjoy both the engine tear downs and the car rescues. I am hoping one day you to tear down a BMW M54 engine. I have a 2002 E46 330i with 278K miles that keeps on running. Thank you again.
These are great engines. I bought a 2020 rav4 hybrid new and had it for 2.5 years and 46k kms. Stick to 8k km oil changes, no matter what the manufacturer says. They’ll last forever if you stick to that and use good oil.
The rumblings I’ve heard are these engines are vulnerable to “cylinder wash down” when the engine isn’t aloud to reach operating temperature. ie just moving the vehicle out of the driveway then shutting it off after only a minute or two. A few years of this procedure and this is what happens.
The non-OEM oil drain plug, plug gasket and oil filter were already telling to me. Somehow it's always the Toyota with aftermarket parts that have these strange issues
Engine overheated and caused a leaking head gasket and thats why it has one clean piston and one sparkplug the electrode was clean and wet looking ! You can bake new coatings on the piston skirts in your home oven and reuse them or buy new pistons if you end up boring the sleeves and put this engine back together.
@@theredscourge - Its not powder coating paint, it is liquid ceramics and it depends on the brand, some say not to use it in an oven you cook food in due to the chemicals in the ceramic liquid, other brands say theirs is ok.
those water pumps are pretty expensive. one of my friends has a 2019 and the water pump went bad at 75,XXX miles. the electric water pump was around $290..
Based on the evidence it ran low on coolant and got hot, overheating the engine. There was the corrosion internally where coolant should have been, the steam cleaned piston, and the brittle conduit pieces all over the engine which only happens from heat.
I don't know but on this Toyota Engines you only see quality and perfection all very well engineered and NO built in planned obsolescence like other manufacturers, that is why Toyota is the best!
Wow, wasn’t sure if I’d see a late Camry engine on your channel any time soon lol. I haven’t seen, or maybe you have tore down but I would have to look, 2.2 twin cam out of old GM compact sedans, late 90’s ford rangers engines, the GM 3.4 v6, I’m sure there are more, immortal engines out there, but I love watching your tear downs and especially the reliable engines.
The (darkly) funny thing about Scotty is thag when he eventually does die there won't be a video with him telling us that. Thanks as always Eric, compulsory viewing - in tribute to you I now carefully remove clamps before cutting hoses off, and send water pumps to the moon when I change them. +1 for the idea of merch too, I'd wear it!
As someone else said (and maybe more than one someone's) I would love to see a straightedge on the head and the block deck. I suspect the coolant went low (yes, I am looking at you, EGR cooler) and the engine got a bit toasty, leading to warpage. But, yes, it was caught early before anything catastrophic. I might dingle-ball those cylinders, surface what needs to be surfaced, replace the rings, and send it! Oh, and re-use those fantastic rod and main bearings as well. What the F is that coating? I need that in ALL my engines! Thanks, Eric, for the infotainment.
I built the top end of that thing. 😂 well, at least the camshaft housing. (Not tower)Those cam cap bolts are pre threaded by hand before being torqued by a machine. It hurt just watching you unbolt them. 😢
My mom’s 2019 Camry XSE (standard, not hybrid) had the transmission fail. According to our local Toyota dealer, the reverse and 1st gears were “shot”. I know very little about transmissions but there a definite grinding noise from both those gear selections.
Q: 2001 Subaru Outback LL Bean. It has always over the 13 years I've owned it had an issue where slowly uses coolant, a few pints per year. Normally this car sees about 2000 miles per year driving to and from the airport in Fort Lauderdale, since it is an "airport car", I fly for a tiny cargo airline in Memphis that paints the tails of the planes purple. Anyway, there are no leaks. This is a six cylinder engine, these don't have head gasket issues at all. Nothing in the oil, but the coolant overflow reservoir rises on long drives. I recently drove it 1050 miles from Fort Lauderdale to Memphis, and it pushed about 1/2 gallon of coolant into the coolant reservoir at a constant 70 mph with the AC cranking in 97 degree heat, I knew this because there was coolant spray on top of the engine from the overflow reservoir. The radiator cap is new, straight from Subaru and was made in Japan. The temperature gauge stayed right in the middle, where it always sits. Hmm.... Thoughts?
Check out the spark plug areas on the problem cylinder. I have seen several situations where coolant would get pumped out of the cylinder head due to cracks at the base of the spark plug tubes.
According to AMD on The Car Care Nut, those cylinders have what is essentially a spray-on coating that makes those blocks non-serviceable and pretty much a one time use.
I was thinking the same thing. Every cylinder had multiple dark vertical streaks. According to the car the car care nut, that block is done. I believe it was a 2AR 4 cylinder oil burning engine the car car nut was looking at in that episode. But he was adamant that when you see the dark, verticle streaking, even in just 1 cylinder, it's time for a new engine.
When I bought my most recent Toyota,a 2020 Corolla LE,I chose it because it was the last year you could get the tried and proven,for over thirty years 1.8 litre engine.I feel I made the right choice.I felt the new Dynamic Force engines were too new and had too many potential failure points.I also don't like that Toyota went back to an EGR valve on these motors,a potential headache of clogging up and needing cleaned.
We have a 2023 Corolla with the old 1.8, the 2024 we just got has the new 2.0. I personally can't feel much difference in power and I can't imagine the fuel economy is much better either. Only time will tell the reliability. All I do know is properly maintained that old 1.8 will go forever.
Im assuming you know but those 1.8s over those 30 years were multiple completely different engines, Toyota just has a formula that they follow and it works
Same, I have a 2019 corolla... it was mostly 2020 when they switched from the 1.8 2zr-fe to the m20a dynamic force.. mile per gallon went way up... about 20% higher... but i dont care. I still get 30mpg and I know its much more reliable. Taken care of these are 500k miles engines instead of 250k mile engines like the new ones (loosely speaking, there are exceptions)
Glad to see this teardown . My 2022 Venza Hybrid has the A25A-FXS . Think pretty much the same . I live in Phoenix, always hot here and did worry about the use of 0-16 oil. Had the car 3 years now with 34,000 miles . No issues yet 🤞🏼
0W-16 is a USA EPA compliance matter. No EPA in Mexico so Camry manuals in Mexico tell owners they can use 0W-16, 0W-20, 5W-20, and 5W-30 in the A25A engine. 10W-30 if winter temps do not get below zero degrees F.`
@zonie70 Thank You! I'm at 8000 miles on a 2024 Rav4 Prime and so far changed the oil at 800, 4000, and 8000 miles all on 0w-16. I'm debating moving up to a 20 or 30 weight at 12000 miles but we'll see.
Topical video is topical; I've got a 2024 Camry as a rental while my car is at the body shop (beware Subarus driven by kids). Thing makes okay power for what it is and is surprisingly eager to wind out when floored. Only getting 28-30 mpg though but that might be because I sometimes drive like Ayrton Senna.
Had a 2025 (!!!) Camry Hybrid rental last week and damn that thing would (briefly) light up the fronts when pressured. Which was often. I would never buy a used rental car based on the way I drive them. 90mph in reverse running late to the airport, every warning light blazing, "Yeah it's fine sure I filled it up no prob gotta jet."
As always very entertaining Eric, thank you sir. That reference went over my head until reading the comments and that's just hilarious 😂. To bad there wasn't any malice in the combustion palace but you can't win them all 😅!! Never change man!!!!
Hey Eric, I have replaced two intakes on a 23 and a 24 corolla with the M20A-FKS which is the same basic engine in 2.0 displacement. These intakes were replaced because of crashes - not mech failure; however I did notice there was white powder in the plastic egr feed pipe on the front, and I though it odd. Not a lot of powder, but some. These cars only had 12k and 8k miles respectively, but I think it's something to put in the back of your mind if you have one of these cars - to check the coolant levels periodically.
It is called a counter shaft. Fun Toyota fact from decades ago....the 5S-FE had a counter shaft in the Camry, but not the Celica. And it was hard to tell the difference.
I also have a 2019 Camry with the A25A-FKS engine with a mild stage 1 tune. Probably one of the highest horsepower naturally aspirated 4 cylinder engines short of a Honda F series or K series engine.
Eric: not a fan of EGR systems
John Deere tech: not a fan of EGR systems
Kenworth tech: not a fan of EGR systems
Cummins tech: not a fan of EGR systems...
Like a 3Letter gov Agency😮
I think this shows that it IS possible to design an engine with all the modern geegaws (cooled EGR, DI, electric WP, etc.) and not be overly complicated and hard to service like so many engines we see here.
Hate to burst your bubble, but everything you mentioned as “modern” has been around for the last 30 years and common for at least the past 20.
But I get your point. Certain manufacturers, especially one that Eric is a huge fan of, intentionally complicate their designs to dissuade their owners and 3rd party auto repair shops from fixing them. There is zero reason from a financial perspective for an auto maker to build their cars to be easy to service, especially auto makers who have incredibly gullible customers who don’t care how expensive or unreliable they are, they just want the badge so they can brag to their neighbors and the other members at the country club.
"I Do Cars" Saturday teardowns are the highlight of my week.
Highlight and early uploads are best cause Sundays are early alarm for work. It’s Eric video as end of day wind down
What a way to enjoy a Saturday night 🎉
Amen
i' Wish
I just did an oil change on one of these for a long time costumer. 198k miles. 5k mile oil changes. Drained oil and looked like it had 1k miles on it. Ow16 oil. Clean and clear. His on board mpg said 42.5 mpg. He has without fail changed his oil every 5k miles with 0w16 oil. No timing cover leaks. No other issues with the engine. Both rear wheel bearings have been replaced.
That’s 40 oil changes at $100 (typical dealer cost) for $4000 total. That could be a lot to pay to say your engine is like new when the rest of the car is losing value - which is mostly out of your control. You didn’t say the year or usage. Might be the appropriate thing for this owner, might not.
@pault6533 oil is cheap, engines are not. A 6 quart case of Toyota oil cost $40, $9 for oem filter.
@@donniev8181yes, it’s that cheap for some people, myself included. Not everyone is in that situation, including the owner in the post who pays for someone else to do it.
@@pault6533If the owner does his own oil changes, should be $35-40 tops each. Full synthetic oil and OEM filter.
loose the toyta "oil". 5 qts of whatever brand on sale (usually Walmart supertech that is around 19.00 oem filter FROM the dealer for $3-$5 and you got sub $30 oil change. Biggest factor is knowing it's done right. I do my Tacoma every 5-6k this way. Don't let the brand trick you, yea some have minor additive packages benefits but all oil must meet API standards and Walmart/costco etc all neet the best API rating for a DI car (ILSAC-GF6B or A.) if whatever brand has that rating your good to go. Dump at 5k and put fresh whatever in it (do use OEM or a high end aftermarket filter like wix XP., fram ultra synthetic etc. Tech tip, shop around at dealers to find really cheap oem filters. I ordered 10 filters for my Tacoma (the annoying media and oring nonsense) for $3.25 a piece. No box store or even online can match that price
Please don't stop releasing the videos on a Saturday night. It's morning in the UK and I don't get out bed until I've watched the latest tear down. Thanks for the great videos Eric, always fascinating and entertaining.
Those bearings end the "0w16 oil is too thin" argument. I've heard engine builders say these motors have low tension piston rings that can lead to scuffing the cylinders and oil burning issues. With Toyota building millions of these A25A engines every year, it's not unusual to see a few "bad" ones. Cheers Eric! Great channel!!
Absolutely.
However, I would never use it on an engine that wasn’t designed for it!
In most cases, manufacturers spec is correct, but the exceptions can save the engine!
Toyotas are well engineered for thin oil. Hyundai/Kia not so much 😂
@@I_Do_CarsI looked in other comments, but is there any way to test Toyota electric water pumps? I remember you also held onto the Prius electric water pump in a previous video.
@@duffman247in theory you could provide the pump power, ground and the PWM signal it is looking for to operate. I don't know if that's worth it. Might be interesting.
0w16 is too thin…for an engine that calls for 5w30. In the same way, 5w30 is way too thick for an engine that calls for 0w16 and would probably kill it quickly. Engines that call for thin oil typically use much tighter bearing and other clearances, along with wider bearing surfaces and different oil pumps designed for the thinner oil. TLDR, use the oil that is specified for your engine and it will be just fine. The engineers who built the engine are way more qualified to make that decision than you.
A little over 100,000 miles and the bearings look like new. Impressive to me.
My wife's 2020 Rav4 has this engine, and I am *ruthless* on the 6mo/5,000 mile oil change interval. I saw this video come up and kinda gasped, then felt good to see this didn't look like some chronic issue. Great as always.
I am a Toyota tech in Canada. I have been with Toyota since 2018 when these A25A series engines were first being rolled out. In 6 years I have only seen one of these engines being torn down for warranty repairs, and I was that tech who repaired that engine. I had a worn out rod bearing on cylinder 4 if my memory is correct. That is really the ONLY major engine fault I have seen on the A25A engine at the dealership I work at. I have yet to see any cooling system related failures on these engines.
I worked for Toyota Australia. We replaced a couple of these under warranty. Sent them back to base or factory for inspection. Initally it was ring issue. The part numbers changed.
@@royferntorp low tension rings? New part number a higher tension ring?
What do you think caused this one to fail - overheating?
@@TeezerDriz Top Compression ring. Also, the gapping in the manual was also in a bulletin. We only had around 2 rebuilds per year. The engine shop was pretty much empty because we had access to long blocks.
We changed one of those on warranty not long ago. Broken top ring (cylinder 2 or 3, don't remember) but apart from that.. it seems like a pretty solid engine and so is it's 2.0l cousin, the M20A-FKS (FXS).
Eric, thank you for including chapters on this video. I do well with 15-20 minute video, but with longer ones like this I lose interest. Following along with the chapters makes it so much better. For me at least.
As always Eric, thanks for the Saturday night entertainment. Nice to see Mrs. IDoCars make a cameo in the video as well. I only wonder what's she going to do with 2 used timing chain guides? :D
Did she get a water pump for Valentines Day?
@@richtes It went well with the piston mcnugget necklace he got her for Christmas. :D
It would been interesting to see if the head had gotten warped, by putting a straight edge against the surface of the head.
Agreed, the intake side head bolts seemed to be, by all assumptions, correct torque, but the exhaust side all seems, a little... "less tight" based off the sound.
Plus, when he flipped the headgasket, you could see how clean the steel was on the waterport lines, vs cylinder 4, that wasn't as clean.
I think someone over heated it, and it lifted that side very badly, then became a slight coolant burner... which eventually got into a milkshake maker. And maybe the engines are so cheap from wrecked cars that, "cheaper to change it, than do a head gasket." happened.
@@th3R0b0t - I just was surprised that someone would come to that conclusion with a Toyota engine! Hyundai maybe, but not a Toyota...
Glad to see Toyota still making engines that are somewhat straightforward to take apart.
Ive noticed they sure like layers in modern engines. Upper cam thingy, lower cam thingy, inner and out tim8ng covers. upper and lower oil pans.
Ok so I work on a fleet of taxi cabs we have all hybrid Camrys. Years range from 2014-2019. Our 2019’s are the most problematic at around 250 k I put a new cylinder head on them with all new gaskets and kick them out the door. Our 2014-2016 we on average get 500-750k on these cars pretty amazing. Definitely not a fan of the newer A25A engine. Lots of issues. Great video
What kind of issue do you see with them when they get high in the miles?
Please tell us what wears out at around 250K that requires cylinder head replacement?
I have a Corolla with the 2ZR-FE engine (2019, the last year before Dynamic force engine switchover) I get less MPG (like 30 instead of 38 to 40) but no EGR... seems like my engine will last longer than the new ones.
Eric considering selling a used water pump? I'm calling the police.
Well those are crazy expensive. At least they are in Canada.. often 800+$$..
I bought a NEW water pump for my old Saab, years ago now, as a prophylactic measure, because when they failed, they put the fan straight through the radiator. But it didn’t work out as planned. The NEW water pump failed, immediately, destroying the fan and the radiator! Was I pleased? You bet…
@@marc-oliviercabot3380with labor, an A25A water pump replacement is under $800. They are prone to failure. Eric throwing it in the garbage would have been the right thing to do.
@@yankee2yankee216Is it a V4? Those are Ford components…very short shaft on the water pump = lots of stress on the bearings
@@jeremysmith1777Is that for the Toyota part, in a Toyota dealer? And why do they use an electric water pump? Sounds like one of those stupid things Audi does.
Would you consider making a video showing how to remove difficult connectors, i.e. electrical, HVAC lines, transmission lines, etc with close-ups and the special tools needed?
Used to be a toyota tech. I replaced one of these short blocks due to the electric water pump failure and customers continue to drive. The electric water pump is suspect for me here.
Yes, there is a blown up Camry on my lot from a teen driver and failed electrical water pump, bad combo.
If electric water pump fail it will trigger immediately a dashboard warning lights so if that’s the case then it’s a drivers error for continuing driving with fault
People forget temperature gauges are a thing.
What are some of the signs of one going bad?
@@donniev8181 there are no signs other than a check engine light will show the second the water pump quits.
That engine shows signs of burning oil. The ring lands for one of those look terrible. Engines with low-tention piston rings will gum up the ring lands, score the cylinder walls and start to comsuem oil if you don't change the oil regularly. At 5000 mi not 7500 to 10,000. Oil is the key!! Keep it clean and use good oil and these engines will go 300K.
This one was not well maintained.
Love your videos! Thanks for sharing all the information too.
Was the one that caught the guides the real boss, 🤔 🤣 😂. I bet so, Eric didn't argue.
I never miss a teardown, my Saturday night ritual.
No uncle Rodney today though 😂😂😂
1st in New Zealand always waiting for a new vid to drop Sunday lunchtime 🇳🇿
Great! An appearance of the lovely Mrs. Eric!
These are my favourite videos. I've seen endless components that have exploded, it's not very common to see ones that have failed, but not catastrophically. It gives us a chance to see the subtle wear and tear.
Every week, more crammin' cap cracks loose. Good job, Eric. Good job.
I have a 2016 Camry. I change the oil every 3k miles. I use mobile one ep oil and not the cheap stuff. I use a new Toyota oil filter each time too. I change the coolant and trans fluid every 30k. It may be overkill, but I don’t care. It has 100k and drives like it has 100 miles.
Every single vehicle that has really high miles didn’t get there with neglected maintenance. Don’t ever apologize for that! 👍
Thats the way to do it.
Speculations aside on how these fail, as someone with a RX350 with a 237k mile 2GR-FE, I’m just happy to see a tear down of any Toyota engine to see what’s behind the scenes
I work for the Toyota supplier that makes the exhaust manifold for that engine... this engine is used on all sorts of vehicles (very high volume)... like Frank's Red Hot, they put that "stuff" on everything!
Said manifold is a complicated one... 4 runners and an EGR pipe with a cat on the end. Hence why you didn't get one with it. One of the trickier ones to produce due to all the pipes and welds needed to make it.
Toyota quietly replaced tens of thousand of those engines because of bad castings. Water and/or oil was seeping through the blocks. If it was oil, the engine was replaced. If it was water they snuck in block sealer. My 2020 Camry smelled like hot antifreeze during the summer. It was by accident I noticed block sealer was added to mine when I picked it up from the dealer for the third time because of continuous problems Toyota said were normal. Toyota didn't do a recall, they left it up to the customer to find the problem. More are getting out of warranty now, it might get interesting.
I never thought I'd see one of these engines on this channel. When you mentioned this, I had to see it for myself.
No Malice in the Combustion Palace….love it. Gotta stick that on tee shirt merch 😊
I gotta wonder if Eric borrowed that from the Three Stooges short "Malice in the Palace". en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malice_in_the_Palace
I bought a '20 Camary used and the service records were good. I will do my best to keep up with the maintenance. Oil change every 5k or sooner. After reading the comments i now know i need to watch out for water pump failure. Dig this channel!
My 2021 RAV4 is sitting at 73k miles. I will consider having the water pump replaced soon just so it doesn’t fail in the future.
Next time you throw a timing chain guide. You should do the swoosh sound from happy Gilmore when he hit the ball.
I am currently a Toyota tech. Seen the water pumps go out and cause the coolant and engine oil to overheat. They will damage the engine and coolant system if not fixed.
Please get your hands on a 2016-2018 6.4 Hemi 392. Would love to see that one time
"None of the plugs wre regapped by the pistons" awesome quote!!
I tore down one of these too. It got so hot the pistons melted to the cylinder wall. It was pretty unbelievable to see the damage inside of it. The bearings were perfect on the inside. If you want I have a lot of the engine still I would gladly donate if you cover the shipping lol
A lot of people mentioned that the water pump is usually a common failure for these engines around that mileage. The one I tore down died because of that sadly
*patiently waiting for the M20A-FKS teardown as I have one*
I put a salvage engine in a Camry not long ago and it had no compression on cylinder 3 when done. So we ended up going to a reman instead. So that is two bad Camry engines right there, but for the 2009 model. ;)
Using the plier handle to loosen the oil filter was fkn funny! I saw that coming and had a good laugh when it worked. You're funny, good job. Also, good job on your real-time narration! As always, you've schooled yourself beforehand and never missed a beat as a result. Pure sheer genius at work. ;)
I love the channel, but I have a mild suspicion that Eric loosen the filter first before using the handle as shown. A properly tightened filter isn't going to be that easy to break free...
@@davidg3944 well, since when are all filters properly tightened to begin with? I've worked in the pit for two different quick lube chain stores, and I've seen some straight up dumb shit roll in...
@@tomkzinti2760 Sure, but that's dumbassery as opposed to YT setups.
@@davidg3944 "set up" calm down its an engine channel.
@@Bigfoothawk What part of "I love the channel" do you not understand? Rhetorical question, as comprehension isn't your thing...
Great channel thank you for taking the time to record and share
@ 8:30 ish the reason for the fully compressed tensioner and slack in the chain is someone turned the motor over backwards.
The twin turbo 6s are under warranty, and Toyota will never let a bad engine replaced under warranty loose for people to analyze. Neither will any other manufacturer.
Multiple videos on TH-cam of that engine tore down. Toyota already said it's from debris in the oil gallery
there's a lot of crashed vehicles he could recover from.
@@bigdaddymak1439 except its not caused by debris. Oil starvation causes bearing failures that creates the debris. Any engine builder will tell you if debris is in the eng it will blow up within the first or second oil change. Not 40,000 miles later.
@@fl_atv_riders4455 you're wrong it's only one bearing that gets starved. It just takes a while for it to get dislodged and clog the gallery to the bearing. Hyundai Kia has had the same issue.
@@bigdaddymak1439 In fact. My SiL's KIA goes in soon to have the engine assessed under the extended warranty. The oil cap floats when you loosen it well running.
I asked for an A25A video so thanks for doing one finally! They seem like a really well designed engine. A guy did 470k miles on his Rav4 hybrid so I don't doubt the longevity of the engine if taken care of.
Do you know if it’s still running?
@@sammyjammy6647 Yes it was running fine, the dealer had it for sale for like $17k lol. 46 oil changes
Quality content,as always. Thanks
I really like your videos and your humor. been wanting to ask for a long time. Are the snack packs on the shelf for sale?
Thank you Eric for tearing one of these down, ive not seen a single video about these engines! I just purchased a 2024 Camry SE and the car is a dream to drive. These engines have great heat efficiency, I can turn the car off and come back 4 hours later and the engine will still be warm. Change your antifreeze every 2 years people, it starts to get acidic after 30k miles.
Damn, these new engines will be like the Palms Casino Resort for rats and mice then 😂
@@donniev8181 The car care nut channel has a rebuild video for the A25A from when he worked at Toyota. A piston exploded causing a short block replacement.
@FrankySilverFace I don't think that was that was the A25A-FXS/FKS engine, I believe that was the older 4cyl out of a 09' Camry, but I could be mistaken. What is the specific title of the video.
I’ve made this comment throughout the channel already but please do a 2.4 2AZ. They’re blown up everywhere from bad piston rings and oil starvation, some are also known for head gasket issues. Wanna see you tear one down.
I Do Cars, your dedication is paying off, keep it up
Great video.
I enjoy all of your videos
Appreciate the tear down but can't help noticing how this is absolutely ancient technology.
That's how Toyota rolls. A25A is actually Atkinson-cycle though.
Send this to "The Car Care Nut"
I’d love to see him tear down an engine. Would be a cool video
@@crazy4gta1He did, on occasion. Just not to Eric's level.
Car care nut would find a reason to say it was not a Toyota issue.
May the lord bless you and keep you.
@@crazy4gta1 He showed a Short block change on a 2ar-fe.
Thank you for what you do and sharing it with the rest of us. I enjoy both the engine tear downs and the car rescues. I am hoping one day you to tear down a BMW M54 engine. I have a 2002 E46 330i with 278K miles that keeps on running. Thank you again.
What a catch of those timing chain guides! Sign her to the St. Louis Rams practice sq.......
cool engine ya found eric thanks for snagging it and the teardown always interesting to watch
These are great engines. I bought a 2020 rav4 hybrid new and had it for 2.5 years and 46k kms. Stick to 8k km oil changes, no matter what the manufacturer says. They’ll last forever if you stick to that and use good oil.
The rumblings I’ve heard are these engines are vulnerable to “cylinder wash down” when the engine isn’t aloud to reach operating temperature. ie just moving the vehicle out of the driveway then shutting it off after only a minute or two. A few years of this procedure and this is what happens.
Nice to see one of these apart…
was considering a new camry soon,
1 semi bad engine…ill take those odds
The non-OEM oil drain plug, plug gasket and oil filter were already telling to me.
Somehow it's always the Toyota with aftermarket parts that have these strange issues
As someone with 60k on my 19 Camry 2.5, this teardown makes me incredibly happy with how well built this motor is.
Engine overheated and caused a leaking head gasket and thats why it has one clean piston and one sparkplug the electrode was clean and wet looking ! You can bake new coatings on the piston skirts in your home oven and reuse them or buy new pistons if you end up boring the sleeves and put this engine back together.
I sure wouldn't recommend using the same oven for food and for powder coating, sounds like a good way to bake cancer cakes
@@theredscourge - Its not powder coating paint, it is liquid ceramics and it depends on the brand, some say not to use it in an oven you cook food in due to the chemicals in the ceramic liquid, other brands say theirs is ok.
Did you notice the cam spinning at a different rate when you turned it over after removing the timing cover? Cool setup actually.
those water pumps are pretty expensive. one of my friends has a 2019 and the water pump went bad at 75,XXX miles. the electric water pump was around $290..
I was just asking about this engine. Thank you!
I would like to see the day that a current-day engine (with care) will routinely go "forever." Very few, for sure.
Saturday is complete!
Based on the evidence it ran low on coolant and got hot, overheating the engine. There was the corrosion internally where coolant should have been, the steam cleaned piston, and the brittle conduit pieces all over the engine which only happens from heat.
"the clickbait champion himself who dies 14 times a year" gee i wonder who he could _possibly_ be talking about🤣🤣🤣
I laughed hard at that one
Where's Scotty?
@@htimmermans1938we don't invoke The Unnameable One's name here. The algorithm likes him way too much.
Oh yeah, I forgot about that guy. Never really watched his content anyway.
Rev up your engines
28th! When she (I assume your wife) caught the timing guides, Why did she go from 30FPS to a jump cut at 60FPS?
Love your channel. Really cant wait til you get that 3.4TT
I would love to see you tear down a 2.4 SRT4 that came in the 2003 Chrysler PT Cruiser GT with the aluminum intake. If you can get your hands on one.
All right, I’m not someone to buy merchandise off of TH-cam
But how many are with me that we need I do cars T-shirts?
Yeah, with "It'll be fine" underneath.
There needs to be a shirt for Blue
Malice in Combustion Palace and Where’s Blue at least
I'd rather buy mangled piston/rod assemblies, cranks, etc.
@@TestECull that's what I did from that 3.7 a few days ago I bought a piston and rod
I was kinda hoping you'd test that electric water pump with, y'know, a dose of three-phase. That sounds like an Eric thing to do!
I don't know but on this Toyota Engines you only see quality and perfection all very well engineered and NO built in planned obsolescence like other manufacturers, that is why Toyota is the best!
Hey Eric. You said "pay attention to the scent of your exhaust"... I'm guessing that's for the telltale coolant stank?
Sure is!
Did you blow that motor up Eric? I think you did lol. Awesome channel man. Love your videos.
omg thank you for doing the a25a
Wow, wasn’t sure if I’d see a late Camry engine on your channel any time soon lol. I haven’t seen, or maybe you have tore down but I would have to look, 2.2 twin cam out of old GM compact sedans, late 90’s ford rangers engines, the GM 3.4 v6, I’m sure there are more, immortal engines out there, but I love watching your tear downs and especially the reliable engines.
I honestly thought that a few of those head bolts were going to sheer off
Man! I love your sense of humor 🙂
Those cylinder walls seem to be noticeably thicker than in most other engines that have been featured lately.
The (darkly) funny thing about Scotty is thag when he eventually does die there won't be a video with him telling us that.
Thanks as always Eric, compulsory viewing - in tribute to you I now carefully remove clamps before cutting hoses off, and send water pumps to the moon when I change them.
+1 for the idea of merch too, I'd wear it!
As someone else said (and maybe more than one someone's) I would love to see a straightedge on the head and the block deck. I suspect the coolant went low (yes, I am looking at you, EGR cooler) and the engine got a bit toasty, leading to warpage. But, yes, it was caught early before anything catastrophic. I might dingle-ball those cylinders, surface what needs to be surfaced, replace the rings, and send it! Oh, and re-use those fantastic rod and main bearings as well. What the F is that coating? I need that in ALL my engines! Thanks, Eric, for the infotainment.
I built the top end of that thing. 😂 well, at least the camshaft housing. (Not tower)Those cam cap bolts are pre threaded by hand before being torqued by a machine. It hurt just watching you unbolt them. 😢
I thought we would see something more dramatic. Nice clean teardown.
My mom’s 2019 Camry XSE (standard, not hybrid) had the transmission fail. According to our local Toyota dealer, the reverse and 1st gears were “shot”. I know very little about transmissions but there a definite grinding noise from both those gear selections.
Q: 2001 Subaru Outback LL Bean. It has always over the 13 years I've owned it had an issue where slowly uses coolant, a few pints per year. Normally this car sees about 2000 miles per year driving to and from the airport in Fort Lauderdale, since it is an "airport car", I fly for a tiny cargo airline in Memphis that paints the tails of the planes purple. Anyway, there are no leaks. This is a six cylinder engine, these don't have head gasket issues at all. Nothing in the oil, but the coolant overflow reservoir rises on long drives. I recently drove it 1050 miles from Fort Lauderdale to Memphis, and it pushed about 1/2 gallon of coolant into the coolant reservoir at a constant 70 mph with the AC cranking in 97 degree heat, I knew this because there was coolant spray on top of the engine from the overflow reservoir. The radiator cap is new, straight from Subaru and was made in Japan. The temperature gauge stayed right in the middle, where it always sits. Hmm....
Thoughts?
Combustion pressure in the coolant. Do the head gasket test kit.. Sorry to hear that..
@@adamads7004 I'm going to do a test of exhaust gasses in the coolant, they sell them at Autozone and other places.
Air bubble in the coolant system. Around the area where the temp sensors are located.
Check out the spark plug areas on the problem cylinder. I have seen several situations where coolant would get pumped out of the cylinder head due to cracks at the base of the spark plug tubes.
According to AMD on The Car Care Nut, those cylinders have what is essentially a spray-on coating that makes those blocks non-serviceable and pretty much a one time use.
I was thinking the same thing. Every cylinder had multiple dark vertical streaks. According to the car the car care nut, that block is done. I believe it was a 2AR 4 cylinder oil burning engine the car car nut was looking at in that episode. But he was adamant that when you see the dark, verticle streaking, even in just 1 cylinder, it's time for a new engine.
When I bought my most recent Toyota,a 2020 Corolla LE,I chose it because it was the last year you could get the tried and proven,for over thirty years 1.8 litre engine.I feel I made the right choice.I felt the new Dynamic Force engines were too new and had too many potential failure points.I also don't like that Toyota went back to an EGR valve on these motors,a potential headache of clogging up and needing cleaned.
We have a 2023 Corolla with the old 1.8, the 2024 we just got has the new 2.0. I personally can't feel much difference in power and I can't imagine the fuel economy is much better either. Only time will tell the reliability. All I do know is properly maintained that old 1.8 will go forever.
Im assuming you know but those 1.8s over those 30 years were multiple completely different engines, Toyota just has a formula that they follow and it works
Same, I have a 2019 corolla... it was mostly 2020 when they switched from the 1.8 2zr-fe to the m20a dynamic force.. mile per gallon went way up... about 20% higher... but i dont care. I still get 30mpg and I know its much more reliable. Taken care of these are 500k miles engines instead of 250k mile engines like the new ones (loosely speaking, there are exceptions)
Your videos are great to watch. Greetings from the Netherlands
On these engines, Toyota recommends that LOF change is 10k, I change my oil at 5k, and filter at 10k.
Id like to see a jet engine or APU teardown. Even a rotary piston engine or big outboard engine would be cool.
Glad to see this teardown . My 2022 Venza Hybrid has the A25A-FXS . Think pretty much the same . I live in Phoenix, always hot here and did worry about the use of 0-16 oil. Had the car 3 years now with 34,000 miles . No issues yet 🤞🏼
0W-16 is a USA EPA compliance matter. No EPA in Mexico so Camry manuals in Mexico tell owners they can use 0W-16, 0W-20, 5W-20, and 5W-30 in the A25A engine. 10W-30 if winter temps do not get below zero degrees F.`
@@4af That is very interesting information . Thank you for that . I wonder what some other countries call for ?
Are you using 0W-16 in Phoenix or did you go thicker viscosity?
@@Noypi54494 I’m using 0w16 , I just had to not worry about it.
@zonie70 Thank You! I'm at 8000 miles on a 2024 Rav4 Prime and so far changed the oil at 800, 4000, and 8000 miles all on 0w-16. I'm debating moving up to a 20 or 30 weight at 12000 miles but we'll see.
Topical video is topical; I've got a 2024 Camry as a rental while my car is at the body shop (beware Subarus driven by kids). Thing makes okay power for what it is and is surprisingly eager to wind out when floored.
Only getting 28-30 mpg though but that might be because I sometimes drive like Ayrton Senna.
Had a 2025 (!!!) Camry Hybrid rental last week and damn that thing would (briefly) light up the fronts when pressured. Which was often. I would never buy a used rental car based on the way I drive them. 90mph in reverse running late to the airport, every warning light blazing, "Yeah it's fine sure I filled it up no prob gotta jet."
As always very entertaining Eric, thank you sir. That reference went over my head until reading the comments and that's just hilarious 😂. To bad there wasn't any malice in the combustion palace but you can't win them all 😅!! Never change man!!!!
8:11 nice catch, blanco niño.
Hey Eric, I have replaced two intakes on a 23 and a 24 corolla with the M20A-FKS which is the same basic engine in 2.0 displacement. These intakes were replaced because of crashes - not mech failure; however I did notice there was white powder in the plastic egr feed pipe on the front, and I though it odd. Not a lot of powder, but some. These cars only had 12k and 8k miles respectively, but I think it's something to put in the back of your mind if you have one of these cars - to check the coolant levels periodically.
It is called a counter shaft. Fun Toyota fact from decades ago....the 5S-FE had a counter shaft in the Camry, but not the Celica. And it was hard to tell the difference.
I also have a 2019 Camry with the A25A-FKS engine with a mild stage 1 tune. Probably one of the highest horsepower naturally aspirated 4 cylinder engines short of a Honda F series or K series engine.