Corolla Tsport VVTLI Engine problem

[Chalk]

Ok so i was driving home from work today about a 4 mile journey and i was just getting back into the village where i live about a mile from home and i noticed a slight knocking/vibrating noise coming from the engine. I had my windows down and radio off and quickly the noise started to get much louder. Within about 1/4 of a mile the noise had become really loud and sounded like a horrible knocking and banging noise coming directly from the engine. The best way i can describe it is like putting a brick and a peice of metal into a tumble dryer :shok:. Anyway i didnt notice any serious loss of power but to be fair i was just coasting the car. I then pulled over and stoped the engine was still idiling at 800 rpm and did not cut out so engine is not seized. The car was serviced a month ago with oil change, oil is toped up and checked reguly (and coolant) and there is no sign of a leak or any other damage in the enigine bay. The noise is coming directly from inside the engine cover. Engine temperature was fine and nothing else seemed wrong with the car. Mileage is 93000 miles. So guys....any ideas what might be wrong and as you can probaly tell i know very little about mechanics unfortunatly Oh and if its the worst case senario how much is a new engine?. The car is a standard facelift Corolla Tsport VF04HWC. Thankyou.

[alackofspeed]

Can't comment on the damage, but having recently acquired a VVTLi engine and put it in an MR2, I know that the cheapest way to acquire an engine is to buy a car and sell / bin the parts you don't want.

I bought a whole car for £1250, then sold about £500 of parts from it and binned the shell.

[RB Will]

I'm no mechanic but could it possibly be the gearbox and not the engine that is broken?

[RevTastic]

This sounds very similar to when my celica vvtli 190 engine went. Same noises by the sounds of it. I described it as someone playing with an electric jackhammer on the block lol. Engine wasn't seized but bottom had partially collapsed! Hunted around and got a recon engine £1050 on an exchange basis. I got an '06 engine with the updated piston rings. New engine has never needed an oil top up btw changes, unlike the old one.
Good luck with yours. Hope it's not terminal