This was a new DNJ brand valve spring. Installed during a full engine rebuild. The motor lasted 17k miles before this spring snapped in half and dropped the valve onto the piston head. Carnage ensued.

 

$3.99 special from Ebay on the "full rebuild kit"?

I use LCE or OEM and am trying to change all my installed aftermarket parts to oem (arms, linkages, balljoints)

 

Actually all the parts came from engnbldr. I belive the parts they sell are "DNJ" brand.

Does Toyota still manufacture OEM internal engine components like valve springs, etc? If they do I wasn't aware of it.

This actually happened about a year ago. I threw the pics in this thread to share because it's interesting and I've never heard of or seen a new valve spring break simply because it's faulty or just crap cheap metal. It's clearly a pretty catastrophic thing to have happen because of the chain reaction it sets off. It's a good warning and lesson to think hard about where you get your parts. If I could do it again I would have simply reused the original valve springs which were perfectly fine. Many of the rebuilt 22re motors out there really aren't even Toyota motors anymore - they are Chinese mystery motors that only look like a 22re.