Toyota Repair: Re-call oil gel, valve stem seals, engine replacements

Question
Toyota 2001 Camry 4-cyl stick. 70,000. oil changed every 3-4000 miles by dealer only.Lots of smoke on start up, 1/2 qt. consumption between changes. Received re-call for oil gel.Autoway dealer saying it's probably valve stem seals. $8-900 repair. How do I prove they are wrong. Thanks

Answer
You don't. You must dissasemble the engine.

There is no recall. It's simply a good faith extended warranty that is issued on a good faith basis. There is no oil problem. It's pretty much just a lack of maintenance. The majority of anything ever done don't even qualify for the warranty. Very, very few are ever done.



Afew hundred engine replacements since say, '98-'00. When there are over 3.4 million engines in the US alone that were sold.



The engine is worth about $1000-1500, and say $500-750 labor for installing one. At retail price rom a dealer/supply chain, the engine would be no more than $2000 from what I know.