NHTSA Complaint #10354004 — 2000 TOYOTA CAMRY

I HAVE FOLLOWED ALL MAINTENANCE REQUIREMENTS ON MY 2000 TOYOTA CAMRY AND RECENTLY THE ENGINE BLEW ON A TRIP TO THE BEACH. I WAS PASSING A SLOW MOVING VEHICLE ON THE ALLIGATOR RIVER BRIDGE ABOUT 28 MILES FROM NAGS HEAD, NC. AT THE TIME I DID NOT OBSERVE ANY RED LIGHTS ON THE DASHBOARD INDICATING A PROBLEM. I HEARD A LOUD BANG, THEN THE OIL LIGHT CAME ON AND THE CAR WAS MAKING A FUNNY NOISE. I COULD NOT STOP ON THE BRIDGE SO I IMMEDIATELY PULLED OVER WHEN I LEFT THE BRIDGE. THE FIRST THING I CHECKED WAS THE ENGINE OIL. IT WAS COMPLETELY DRY. I FOUND A HOUSE NEARBY AND THEY GAVE ME TWO QUARTS OF OIL TO PUT IN THE CAR. THEY TOLD ME A GAS STATION WAS 15 MILES AWAY. THE CAR RAN FINE BELOW 35 MPH AND MADE A LITTLE NOISE. ABOVE 35MPH IT MADE A LOUD NOISE AND THE OIL LIGHT CAME ON. I MADE IT TO NAGS HEAD AND THE NEXT DAY I TOOK THE CAR TO A CAR REPAIR CENTER. THEY NOTIFIED ME AFTERWARDS THAT THE ENGINE WAS BLOWN AND THE ENGINE COMPARTMENT WAS COMPLETELY FILLED WITH A THICK SLUDGE. I HAVE READ THE PAST INFORMATION ON THESE PROBLEMS AND BELIEVE IT WAS DUE TO AN ENGINE SLUDGE BUILD UP. I WAS ALSO AMAZED THAT I DID NOT SEE ANY OIL WARNING LIGHT PRIOR TO THE PROBLEM. I WOULD LIKE THE MANUFACTURER TO CORRECT BY REPLACING OR REBUILDING THE ENGINE. *TR