NHTSA Complaint #10314417 — 2000 TOYOTA CAMRY

MY TOYOTA CAMRY 2000 MOTOR BLEW UP WHILE DRIVING 55 MPH IN DEC, 2009. OIL LIGHT CAME ON JUST MOMENTS BEFORE IT STARTED KNOCKING. NO CHECK ENGINE LIGHT CAME ON. NO WARNING. IN AUG 2009 MY CHECK OIL LIGHT CAME ON AND I TOOK IT INTO TOYOTA. THEY SAID IT WAS JUST MY GAS CAP. IT CAME ON AGAIN THE NEXT DAY, I TOOK IT BACK TO TOYOTA, I TOLD THEM I SMELLED A BURNING SMELL. THEY SAID NOTHING WAS WRONG WITH MY CAR. I TOOK IT BACK A THIRD TIME AND TOLD THEM SOMETHING WAS WRONG. THEY SAID I COULD MAYBE USE A NEW OIL CAP AND PERHAPS USE A NEW BELT BUT NOTHING WAS WRONG WITH MY CAR. MY CHECK ENGINE LIGHT NEVER CAME ON AGAIN. (I BELIEVE THEY DISCONNECTED IT.) WHEN MY ENGINE BLEW IN DEC. 2009, I HAD IT TOWED TO TOYOTA. THEY INFORMED ME MY OIL HAD GELLED AND IT WOULD BE ABOUT $5,000 TO FIX IT. I TOLD THEM I GOT MY OIL CHANGED EVERY 3 TO 4 THOUSAND MILES. I DID NOT WAIT TILL THE 5,000 MILE MARK LIKE IT SAID TO IN MY TOYOTA HANDBOOK. THEY SAID SOMETIMES IT JUST HAPPENS MADAM. TOYOTA REFUSED TO PAY TO FIX IT. *TR