Broke my timing belt. Options

[bccentaur3]

Hey guys. After droping my sister off, I was at a yield sign and was rolling in 4th gear. Well I thought I was losing power because I was at mayb 10 mph and had no power so I dropped down to 3rd gear. Well it just kept losing power and died. At first I thought I ran it out of gas, but no because I had a little over the last line. I was close to a gas station any way. Well went to get gas and gased it up and tried to crank it over and no go. So how long can my car sit before I can change the belt out? O btw today we had a wind chill of -35 degrees.

[rjbibeau]

only way to tell if the belt broke is to take off the valver cover and see if the cams move...do that first to rule out an issue with spark or fuel.

[bccentaur3]

How would it be a spark or fuel related issue? My car ran perfectly prior to this disaster.

[Hanyo]

doesn't sound like a broken timing belt. sounds more like a broken alternator belt..... ?

[bccentaur3]

You're kidding right? I havent even checked the alternator belt. What an idiot. Ill be back.

[bccentaur3]

WOW. I should've known better than that. The alternator belt is still good. Thanks a lot man. You had me running out side in -35 degrees.

[Bitter]

could be a fuel pump that just went bad as well.

[Supersprynt]

Doesn't sound like a timing belt, your motor would be making horrible noises if it snapped.

[bccentaur3]

hmmm. No horrible noise at all. I I peaked into the timing belt cover and it looked like my belt has slidded off the teeth of the cams a little.

[hurley97]

as far as I know a loss in power is not really a symptom of the timing belt breaking, usually the car will just die and not start again (it won't make horrible noises).

although it sounds like your "loss of power" was pretty much due to going 10mph in 4th gear.

This post has been edited by hurley97: Jan 29, 2008 - 9:44 PM

[bccentaur3]

How should I trouble shoot this guys? Its very hard to work on my car in this weather and I can't really drive my e30 because the blower motors gone.

[hurley97]

how many miles on the car? when was the timing belt done last?

[bccentaur3]

208,xxx. I don't even know when the timing belt was last changed.

After the car shut on me, it won't crank over. Oh btw the car like slowly lost power and died, like running out of gas, but I didn't run out of gas.

[Supersprynt]

If it broke you'd lose power immediately. And I'm fairly certain you'd hear the motor knock pretty badly before it died. Those would the be horrible noises.

[bccentaur3]

See the thing is, I didn't here a noise at all. Just a sudden loss of power.

[Supersprynt]

Well your saying a sudden loss of power and a slow decrease in power, which is it?

With that temperature maybe you have frozen water in your fuel lines, put some dry gas in see if that helps.

[hurley97]

208,xxx. I don't even know when the timing belt was last changed.

After the car shut on me, it won't crank over. Oh btw the car like slowly lost power and died, like running out of gas, but I didn't run out of gas.

then you should probably change the timing belt anyway. hopefully it is broken when you get in there, then you know for sure that was the problem.

and Erik, yes you would lose power immediately but it won't knock really bad or anything, it would pretty much just act like it stalled.

[bccentaur3]

Well it all happened soo fast. I was in 4th noticed that my car wasn't getting any power then dropped gear and then it started stuttering and then just died.

I'll try the dry gas tomorrow. I don;t think any auto parts store is open right now.

how would i get water in the fuel lines any way?

[Supersprynt]

and Erik, yes you would lose power immediately but it won't knock really bad or anything, it would pretty much just act like it stalled.

It may be an interference vs. non-interference motor thing.

Def. can be the belt, cold temps don't help - get in there and check. I think there's way to do it via rotating the distributor but I'm not sur ehow.

[bccentaur3]

Would someone find out how for me?

[Supersprynt]

www.google.com

[lagos]

take off the timing belt cover and look. pretty simple thing to do.

[bccentaur3]

I'll that that after class tomorrow and I just hope it warms up.

[Special_K]

Same thing happened to me, it turned out to be a loose ground wire that was preventing my car from starting.

[bccentaur3]

I dont understand how a ground wire can go loose? I didn't do any crazy driving.

[Supersprynt]

Vibrations are enough. Lock-tite is your friend.

[Hanyo]

WOW. I should've known better than that. The alternator belt is still good. Thanks a lot man. You had me running out side in -35 degrees.

the reason why i dont think its the timing belt is because if your belt snapped your car will shut off immediately. Like BOOM dead.

when an alternator belt snaps you run on the battery until your battery dies. This will take a while as your battery drains and your computer and ignition system slowly fails, you feel loss of power. I had this happen to me and had to floor it in first gear to slowly crawl my way back to my house.

easy way to check if your timing belt snapped is take off the distributor cap ( 3 scews) and crank the engine. If the rotor in there spins, then your belt is fine. If it doesnt not move then your timing belt has snapped.

Your engine ground can also cause this problem. Check the thick cable that goes from your valve cover to the radiator support. If in, doubt hook a jumper cable to the engine and the ground. See if it starts?

How does your car sound when you try to start it? Does it crank really fast or is it a slow unwilling crank?

[hurley97]

It may be an interference vs. non-interference motor thing.

exactly. if a belt breaks the car will just die, no abnormal noises or anything, just dead. if a timing CHAIN breaks you will hear it and it won't sound good.

[DEATH]

I think there's way to do it via rotating the distributor but I'm not sur ehow.

Makes sense. The distributer is attached to the intake cam so if he rotates it by the rotor and it moves - the belt snapped.
BTW - You keep saying the car won't crank. Do you really mean that or do you mean it will crank but won't turn over? If it won't crank it's not the belt. If the belt broke then the crank will turn with the starter but the cams won't so you will not get spark to the engine via the not turning distributer.
Can you clarify that point?

[bccentaur3]

Well the car cranks, but won't turn over, sorry . Well I got out to my car this morning, still cold and tried to turn the car on and it seems as if the battery is dead. After class I'll jump the car, but the battery probably died because I had my hazards on the whole night. I do the distributer cap after class too, hopefully won't get frost bite.

[Supersprynt]

Turn over is cranking...turning over isn't starting.

If you left the hazards on all night your battery is def. dead.

This post has been edited by Supersprynt: Jan 30, 2008 - 11:44 AM

[bccentaur3]

yeah, very stupid, but I'll check my timing belt and any loose grounds later and keep you guys updated.

[99GT]

-45 tonight in MN. Good luck man.

[rjbibeau]

that's what propane is for roasty toasty in my garage. so what happened to the 40 degree weather. where do you live i can prob give ya a hand on diagnosis?

This post has been edited by rjbibeau: Jan 30, 2008 - 12:32 PM

[bccentaur3]

I live in Fridley.

I have work tonight so I won't get to work on my car until tomorrow. Give me a call if you want to help. Tomorrow should be warmer.

[6G96GT]

and Erik, yes you would lose power immediately but it won't knock really bad or anything, it would pretty much just act like it stalled.

It may be an interference vs. non-interference motor thing.

Def. can be the belt, cold temps don't help - get in there and check. I think there's way to do it via rotating the distributor but I'm not sur ehow.

If the celicas are interference and he snapped a timing belt, than pretty much you can assume there's now bent valves, damaged pistons, etc., etc. I have a 96 GT I picked up almost 2 weeks ago (first celica ever) and I don't even know if they are interference engines. My talon was.

[blckcelica95]

and Erik, yes you would lose power immediately but it won't knock really bad or anything, it would pretty much just act like it stalled.

It may be an interference vs. non-interference motor thing.

Def. can be the belt, cold temps don't help - get in there and check. I think there's way to do it via rotating the distributor but I'm not sur ehow.

If the celicas are interference and he snapped a timing belt, than pretty much you can assume there's now bent valves, damaged pistons, etc., etc. I have a 96 GT I picked up almost 2 weeks ago (first celica ever) and I don't even know if they are interference engines. My talon was.

5sfe are not interference motors

[presure2]

it is very simple to tell if you have a snapped timing belt.
pull off the distributor cap.
try and start the motor.
if the rotor spins, the belt is still connected.
if it dont, time for a timing belt job.

[hjmw]

Hey guys. After droping my sister off, I was at a yield sign and was rolling in 4th gear. Well I thought I was losing power because I was at mayb 10 mph and had no power so I dropped down to 3rd gear. Well it just kept losing power and died. At first I thought I ran it out of gas, but no because I had a little over the last line. I was close to a gas station any way. Well went to get gas and gased it up and tried to crank it over and no go. So how long can my car sit before I can change the belt out? O btw today we had a wind chill of -35 degrees.

Remove the distributor cap and spin the motor, if the distributor shaft turns the cam belt is intact, however it could have jumped a few teeth which would put your valve timing out and cause a loss of power. Broken belt!!! it cannot run at all.

[trdproven]

From my experience, I've seen a car lose power and won't turn on again after your water pump goes. Also, Fuel Pump. Alternator is pretty easy to test because your car does not need the alternator to turn on, assuming you have a good battery, you can test the alternator.

[bccentaur3]

Alternator and battery still good. Havent had time to check the timing belt with the distributer cap removed yet. I'm actually going to bring the car into a shop to have the motor built next week. I'm meeting with the guy this weekend to talk things through with what parts to use with my motor. Told him I was going to boost it. I know I'm probably the dumbest guy on here to try to get a 208,000 plus motor rebuilt and ready for boost, but we will see.

[bccentaur3]

Update. I took the distributer cap off and cranked the car and I saw that the rotor spins, but really really slow. Is that still good? Does this mean the timing belt is still good? Am I even looking at the right thing, I mean is the rotor that silver arrow looking thing? And if my timing belt is still intact how do I check my fuel pump?

[bccentaur3]

Okay so when I put the distributer cap back on and tried to turn the car on and all I would get is that ticking noise I got when th cap was off. So Is my timing totally off? How do I set it back?

This post has been edited by bccentaur3: Jan 31, 2008 - 1:48 PM

[bccentaur3]

Come on guys, I need my car.

[DEATH]

Dude - it sounds like your battery is just dead and the loss of power you felt was the alternator dieing [which is what ran the battery down]. I don't mean to act like you're stupid but you should always check the basics first. Did you try jumping the car? After you jump the car let it run with the cables still attached to the other car [running also]. Then when you take the cables off after a few minutes of this the car should slowly die again as it drains off the power from the battery.
That clicking sounds like what it does when there is no power in the battery.
If you already tried to jump it - disregard the above.

[Supersprynt]

Well first make sure you put the dizzy cap on correctly or your timing will be way off and you may get a gigantic back fire or worse.

Secondly it sounds like your belt is ok - and you need to move onto other things, like checking for spark. Are you doing this with the battery on a charger? I can't help but think there's problem because of the extreme cold.

[bccentaur3]

WHile I was checking the timing belt, no I did not have the batter on a charger. The battery and alternator is good. I'll change the fuel filter first and see what happens. I have to wait until my dad gets home to jump my battery, because my girls car won't start probably the cold drained it and my e30's battery is dead now too. I'll get back with more info.

[nitrate]

Timing belt snapped eh?. You would know if that happed for sure. You would have an instant loss of power and the car would have felt as if it was braking hard as your engine really wouldnt want to turn over. You would not experience any loss of power befor the event it would be just like everything was normal then sombody removed the key whilst you are in motion.

Thats my opinion anywayZ

I bet its somthin and nothin if you ran rough befor the engin died.

Leigh

[99Celica]

Timing belt snapped eh?. You would know if that happed for sure. You would have an instant loss of power and the car would have felt as if it was braking hard as your engine really wouldnt want to turn over. You would not experience any loss of power befor the event it would be just like everything was normal then sombody removed the key whilst you are in motion.

my 89 has a loose ignition and a worn key so my key slides out while running