Toyota/Lexus A25A-FKS Teardown… It’s COMPLETELY SEIZED! Will this become a Common Problem?

This engine is Toyota's newest 4cyl. The codename for the engine is otherwise known as an A25A-FKS. The A25A-FKS is a very popular engine and can be found in the Toyota Camry, Toyota Sienna, Toyota Avalon, Toyota Highlander, Toyota Rav4, and many other Lexus applications. They are generally regarded as being very reliable and are not plagued with many issues... Normally... In this video, you will see what will happen if you don't replace your WATER PUMP and keep driving!!! It is very possible this engine saw temperatures north of 300F before completely locking up.
This is not normal content for the channel, but I hope you enjoy it!
If you like what you saw, leave a thumbs up and subscribe! I will gladly look for other cheap engines to tear down!

[@4af]

On Toyota forums the electric A25A water pump has been failing all over the place at between 50,000-130,000 miles. Ditto the electric thermostat and coolant by-pass valve. Bottom line: the electrified cooling system of the A25A is its Achilles heel. The rest of the motor has lasted up to 502,000 miles with 4,000 mile engine oil changes. Owners need to occasionally scan the temperature gauge and be ready to call a tow truck BEFORE the gauge gets up into the RED zone.

[@WiseGuyzGarage]

I totally agree, the remainder of the engine appears to be extremely robust. A quick glance at the temp gauge would have prevented this!

[@diulaylomochohai]

which forums?

[@ActivityPhoto]

Maybe Toyota needs to add a bit of software to alert the driver that these parts have failed.

[@WiseGuyzGarage]

@@ActivityPhoto I agree, this can be easily added to the instrument cluster. Anything above 220f it can alarm the driver and request them to pull over.

[@EverydayJ1786]

the use of an orange fram oil filter says a lot about the type of person maintaining this engine

[@adriencampos7427]

A25A-fks tear-downs are hard to come by, great video and thanks for bringing us along!

[@WiseGuyzGarage]

Absolutely! Thanks for watching! Since it seems a lot of people have enjoyed the video, whenever I see any other Toyota engines local to me for the right price I might do the same thing again!

[@danguelph2676]

I mean yeah, if owner was driving with failed water pump after getting check engine light - this is certain outcome. That been said I think this is a first water pump I ever saw on A25A-FKS to ever fail. I think owner should buy a lottery ticket, he might win fortune.

[@XRobo13X]

no these water pumps are starting to fail I just changed mine this week

[@Truenewyorker106]

"Now I should be able to rotate the crank" proceeds to smash the pistons

[@WiseGuyzGarage]

I tried everything it would NOT budge lol

[@4af]

Interesting that the successor to the A25A, the turbocharged T24A-FTS, uses a conventional belt driven mechanical water pump.

[@WiseGuyzGarage]

Maybe the T24A-FTS had more clearance for one? Not exactly sure. There seems to be plenty of clearance on the A25A. My guess is efficiency, and MPG. Maybe further testing by Toyota revealed this to be an issue as actual road testing data started developing.

[@Michael-xz7mv]

I think thats the successor to the v6 engine they put in the highlanders. Not the a25a.

[@ActivityPhoto]

Nice job on the video. I am so impressed with Toyota's engine designs. It's no wonder they are so reliable.

[@WiseGuyzGarage]

Thank you for watching I really appreciate it!

[@MarzNet256]

Why can't the engine shut itself down when it severely overheats or better still, when the ECU detects that the pump is no longer drawing current?

[@WiseGuyzGarage]

I’m not exactly sure why they don’t have a feature like that to be honest. It’s very unfortunate

[@ActivityPhoto]

@@WiseGuyzGarage Just imagine your in the fast lane of a freeway doing 70 mph when it fails, then the engine shuts off. I'm sure Toyota doesn't want a lot of lawsuits when people get injured or killed when the engine shuts off in traffic to save itself.

[@hugoburns8344]

Noticed that main bearing oil clearance by engine service manual are not equal. For example, 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th - 0,014 mm standard value. 3rd - 0,020 mm standard value. What could be a reason for that? What's wrong with 3rd one?

[@WiseGuyzGarage]

Not exactly sure why it is like that. My guess is after the machine process from the block casting they discovered there was a small difference in the 3rd bearing, and adjusted the manual accordingly. But I could be way off with that LOL

[@zonie70]

My 2022 Venza has a A25A-FXS hybrid version . Glad to see a tear down of this engine . Mine has no serp belt for alt or ac , as they are electric driven . And no place for a starter either.

[@WiseGuyzGarage]

Toyota does hybrids very very well. In all honesty, if you just keep an eye on the temp every once in a blue moon to check on it, this thing can easily go 4-500k miles. The inside of this engine looks brand new. Thanks for watching, and sharing!

[@zonie70]

@@WiseGuyzGarage Sometime I do worry about the electronics in this car . And the fact the engine stops and starts sooo often . I have 30,000 now and it works flawlessly with no oil consumption. I do 5000-6000 mile oil changes. Thanks again

[@WiseGuyzGarage]

@@zonie70 I wouldn’t be too concerned about the start/stop. Toyota coats the bearings in order to prevent dry startup wear on the engine for that exact reason!

[@MikeHamMan]

I have a 2023 Venza and when I looked over the engine, I was baffled that I couldn’t locate the belts, I thought I was losing my mind for a sec, then I later found out everything you mentioned lol

[@fallguy4209]

@@MikeHamManhybrids don’t have lots of items to maintain or replace

[@hugoburns8344]

Still can''t get how variable discharge oil pump is controlled here. Yes, there's a short chain connecting crankshaft and oil pump, but it is just a driver. Well, there's something like a chamber in block, where they put pressure sensor. The pressure value comes to ECU. However, which way the ECU says to oil pump "more , less"? In other words, how does ECU affect the oil pump capacity?

[@WiseGuyzGarage]

The variable displacement oil pump is actuated by a valve and rod to control the amount of oil volumes that is allowed to enter into the pump itself! It’s really neat, never seen It before!

[@EverydayJ1786]

@22.40 , this statement is FALSE . the ONLY reason Toyota uses 0w16 in these engines is to satisfy EPA and CAFE laws here in North America . The same A25A engine in other countries run many other oil viscosities with the same bearings . from 0w16 all the way to 10w30 without any issue . Compare main and rod bearing clearances to other Toyota engines from 20 yrs ago and you will see basically no difference in specs . I cant stand this trend in spreading misinformation about Toyotas use of low viscosity oils .

[@hugoburns8344]

I noticed a huge tooth gear on crankshaft which supposed to be a driver for balancing unit. My question is, is crankshaft, connecting rods and pistons, this group in whole so much made unbalanced, so it forced Toyota engineers to implement pretty heavy tooth gear and balancing unit? In order to get rid of engine vibration. Vibration vs Weigth (fuel consumption). What do you think about?

[@WiseGuyzGarage]

That’s a great question! From my understanding they have a very large drive gear due to the actual weight of the balance shafts. The 2ar and 2az both have very similar gear tooth designs. You and I both know Toyota loves to overengineer everything to ensure reliability. It’s a wonderful thing they do that. Now, for the unbalanced portion of that, almost all 4 cyl engines are imbalanced from the design and nature of the engine. Fuel efficiency in my opinion comes mostly from the combustion chamber design, as well as the intake manifold. The extremely thin oil helps with the losses of friction from the oil. Hopefully that helps

[@mikedeans7228]

All we can do is guess/speculate what caused this mishap. I would have like to have seen the oil that was drained initially at the dealership. Ive read forums where those in the know speak of the EGR cooler you removed somehow allowing water/condensation into the oil on both dynamic force A25a and M20 engines. How much water is unknown but ive read threads where the engine oil appears frothy with water which would not help lubricate the engine bearings, pistons ect. Not a fan of electric water pump either with its historically short lifespan. My 08 Civic Si purchased new has its origional water pump at 16 years of age. Ive been researching this engine for some time now as i do all my own repairs and considered (past tense) purchasing one. PCV valve location is a PITA for example and not easily accessable as with most engines. EGR is overly complex. Water pump failure seems plausible in this case. Surprised how dirty intake valves were knowing this engine has port injectors as well as direct. Chain guides appear all plastic versus honda's metal and plastic design. Plastic bits all about combined with heat and time will fail eventually. Not my cup if tea.

[@diulaylomochohai]

Egr cooler contaminating oil with coolant…. Which forum? How are the owners responding? Just report it and wait for it to grenade?

[@diulaylomochohai]

What are u going to buy instead? Earthdreams are way more junk than anything out there now. Can only get the 2.0 civic

[@djroland1]

Pistons did move with a bit of persuasion...

[@WiseGuyzGarage]

A whole lot of it! LOL

[@ChumpyChicken2]

I’ve never heard of a problem with the Electrical water pump ever!on A25A.

[@WiseGuyzGarage]

That’s what I’ve heard as well! Although it doesn’t seem to be common at the moment, I have a few friends who work at Toyota dealerships and they are running into them failing more often. The bearings get seized on the motor and the motor fails completely. There is an issue with the motor in the Toyota corollas M20A engine variant with the electric water pump as well. Hopefully it’s not super common, as the rest of the motor appears to be very well overbuilt. Thanks for watching!

[@hugoburns8344]

Hi there, there's a need in some theory. 🙂 you told us that proper oil for A25A-FKS is exact 0w-16 grade (and even 0w-8, e.g. Corolla 2024), because this engine itself was designed for low viscosity oils. To be exact these engines line, I mean "dynamic force". Could you point out on those particular engine units which will suffer if owner use, say, 5w-30 oil. And please explain. Why? Also could you share oil clearance for mentioned above engine? -main bearings standard value and acceptable value; -connection rod bearings standard value and acceptable value; Thanks in advance!

[@WiseGuyzGarage]

I don’t believe running 5w-30 would be wise. Running what Toyota recommends is your best bet. The engine tolerance is 3 thousandths on the main bearings/rod bearings, according to the engine block. The 5w-30 would develop a lot of pressure even it being 30 weight oil. I’m not aware of the recommended clearances for the engine off the top of my head unfortunately. Thanks for sharing and watching!

[@hugoburns8344]

@@WiseGuyzGarage sorry, 0.003? In other words 3 microns. That is not true. 🙂 0.003 is most likely maximum taper and so called out of round value for crankshaft jornals.

[@wevonox7941]

5w-30 ? Well I have the same engine I tried 0w-20 and no difference from 0w16 in my car but I tried 5w-20 and I drained it with in an hour lol I drove and my usual testing my mpg dropped from 34-38 to 19-23 I also could tell the engine was working a lot harder. Went back to 0w-16 for winter and 0w-20 for summer days.

[@WiseGuyzGarage]

@@wevonox7941 This is great information! thank you for sharing! Its good to know that in a pinch it could work. (5w-20)

[@juanlcofre]

@@wevonox7941 Thanks for your info, I personally feel in a battle against Toyota Argentina, they are only using 5w30 for the scheduled services, no matter what i asked for. So after a little research about it, I had to abandon the official service and started doing it myself, with valvoline 0w16 and toyota filters.

[@diulaylomochohai]

how many miles was this motor?

[@WiseGuyzGarage]

Had about 123,000 miles on it. Besides overheating it looked practically brand new inside!

[@diulaylomochohai]

nevermind 2019 123k miles, looks brand spanking new inside

[@diulaylomochohai]

5 year water pump failure is worrisome

[@WiseGuyzGarage]

@@diulaylomochohai I couldn't agree more. It is something I think will be more of a age failure, rather than miles.

[@diulaylomochohai]

The a25a motor is only coming of age now i guess

[@andykwak3622]

hello jcap

[@WiseGuyzGarage]

Hello Andy lol