Are you aware of possible massive oil leaks associated with the rubber oil cooler lines on Toyota Highlander models from 2008-2013? I have a 2011 Toyota Highlander Limited with the 3.5 Liter V6 2GRFE engine with 102,000 miles.
My wife was driving it a few days ago when the low oil pressure light came on. She was able to pull over into a parking lot and shut off the engine. There was little to no oil on the dipstick when I arrived. I added oil and could tell that the leak was coming from one of those lines. I had it towed to my Toyota Dealership in Lafayette, La. They quoted me $550.00 to replace the original lines with the upgraded metal pipe coolant lines. There was no recall but there was a TSB issued for this back in 2014 and 2015. This type of rapid and massive oil leak can lead to total engine failure.
Apparently, this is a well known weakness which is why the all metal line kits are available everywhere.
https://standardautoparts.com/catalog-2/itemdetail/dorman-oe-solutions/625-022
Thanks Doc. We bought our 2011 Highlander used in January 2017 so I was not aware of the TSB that had been sent to owners before that.
Yes...it's over now, but there was a Toyota campaign to get them replaced to the metal ones. But I guess many people weren't aware of it back in the day. It's discussed in the Toyota forums a lot.
Thanks toyotagrl. Based on what I've read and researched over the past couple of days from Toyota forums and other places, it seems like those original rubber lines hold up until about 80,000 to 100,000 miles then they become ticking "time bombs". A lot of people like me with 100K miles or more are now experiencing the oil leaks so Toyota got away without changing out a lot of these because they were not leaking when inspected several years ago when the TSB came out.
After that many years/miles I guess just chalk it up to consumables & be happy she shut it down instead of speeding to an exit.
I would try an actual shop vs stealership however because that's steep for some lines. You can always ask if the parts are included for free due to the TSB but it's a big ask.
Thanks russelljkelly81. In addition to changing out the faulty lines with the Toyota OEM replacement metal ones, they will clean up all of the mess the spraying oil made on the undercarriage. But, I will ask for a discount and the Service Manager has worked to help me out in the past. Based on Scotty's advice, I changed that cartridge oil filter out last fall with the Baxter cartridge to spin on adapter. The spin on filter with it's anti-drainback valve and lower bypass valve may have helped keep just enough oil in the engine to prevent it from seizing up and being destroyed. I don't know for sure.....just speculating.
Let's hope so. You could get a compression test to know for sure.