2003 Toyota Matrix damage to engine?

RYAN1012

MEMBER
2003 TOYOTA MATRIX

Engine Mechanical problem
2003 Toyota Matrix 4 cyl Two Wheel Drive Automatic 135K miles

hello,

my matrix had a tune up about 1.5 mos ago. The tech said the coolant sensor would need to be repl soon but not necessary at that time.

the car broke down on 3/2. Towed to a shop where they said the water pump and coolant sensor needed to be replaced. Gave them the go ahead to do both.

picked up the car two days later on 3/4. On 3/5, the check engine light came on. The next morning, while driving it back to the same shop, the car broke down again. Towed back to same shop and was told that there was prior engine damage that they didn't know about before and now are saying it needs a head job.

on a side note, they did refund my $$ for the parts but not the labor on the original repair.

my question: it seems that engine damage so significant that the car needs a head job was either caused by them doing faulty repair work or, at the very least, should have been noticed during the inital repair. They're stating it was there before the car was ever brought to them. What is more likely?

Thanks so, so much for any insight you can offer.

1 Reply

KHLOW2008

MECHANIC
41,815 POSTS

Hi ryan1012,

Thank you for the donation.

The initial recommendation for the ECT to be replaced and subsequent replacement of it and the water pump indicates a problem with the cooling system. I believe the CEL trouble code is related to them.

There should have been coolant losses issues and prior to the repair, the engine could have overheated causing the head gaskets to be damaged. This would mean the problem was there before they did the repairs.

If the above is true, you can only fault the shop for not doing a complete test after the repairs. When there are coolant leakages issues, in your case should have been from the water pump, it is not possible to perform any pressure test to to determine any fault with the engine before rectification. However after repairs it sometimes requires some running or a pressure test to get any reaults.

If you did not have coolant losses and overheating issues prior to the repairs, improper bleeding of the cooling system could have caused the overheating.

If the recommendation for the water pump replacement was due to leakages, why did they refund you the $ for it?