According to Scotty Kilmer. This is the fourth time in a video he has made reference to the 2ZZ being crap. Be thankful that you have a 1ZZ.
Although Scotty knows his trade cannot see passed the actual issue which is outright abuse of the motor that makes the 2ZZ fragile when it is driven by idiots that cant shift or expect it to be a race engine which it is not. Those that had a bad experience also probably got one from a donor Celica that was abused by some kid and ended up in a wrecker because they totaled it.
The 2ZZ has a good reputation on most enthusiast forums and they have logged many miles to prove their longterm reliability. It is when they are raced without the upgrades they can blow up at those high revs that are sustained. As a street engine it doesn't need an aluminum oil pan or oil pump gears, it needs nothing except your attentiveness to make sure the oil level is adequately full. If anyone is stupid enough to miss shift or if they decide to take it to the track and race the piss out of it without checking the oil then thats on them. At heart its still an economy street motor, not a race engine. I run mine hard and go into lift every chance I get but I don't hold it at 8k rpms bouncing off the limiter or do parking lot donuts.
Although we have better choices now what made the 2ZZ great for the MR-S is very simple, its an easy and cost effective swap but also one that is light weight so it doesn't ruin the weight sensitive handling. With this one upgrade it brings down the 0-60 and quarter mile times significantly and just make it a screamer on the street without forced induction complexity and overall near factory reliability.
Can't stand that guy... Annoying as hell.
My 2zz gets run plenty hard too but it's just a street car for now. Hopefully some autoX in my future and supposedly a small circuit track in my area is in the planning stages. I don't plan on any sustained high rpm driving at least until I have my oil temp/pressure gauges in. I do have the MRW oil pump gears installed. Fairly expensive peace of mind, but cheaper than another engine. I'm currently installing the IJ crank scraper and lowering oil pickup tube to match up with the Blitz oil pan. All in all as long as I keep fueling in line, oil in the pan and don't cook said oil, I don't expect anything to go kaboom.
I tend not to listen to slobs who live in their own personal episode of Hoarders... This guy's garage is a mess, and I suspect so is he.
http://zero3nine.com/files/dospwn.gif
5 seconds was enough for him to annoy the crap out of me.
Cranky, cantankerous, sarcastic Scottish git whose interests are beer, cars, motorbikes and scuba diving.
Currently driving a 2018 sapphire blue Porsche 718 Boxster and riding a 2020 BMW S1000R Sport..
At first I liked Scotty years ago but over time I found so many inconsistencies and wrong information presented where I had first hand information. He is right about Toyota being the most reliable brand and the European cars not being the same quality or reliability. He also has some good diagnostic advise on how to find faults. Im sure in his practice that has spanned many years he has plenty of first hand information but its really sad that his point of view may not be accurate as things get revised or changed over time.
In those videos that he has posted about the 2ZZ being crap the commenters that own the engine say otherwise. It doesn't mean that is evidence but generally if there is truly a bad engine it would have a lot more negative comments and there isn't any.