Questions and Answers
Camry Timing Belt
Q. I have a 1988 Toyota Camry with a four cylinder 3S-FE engine. It has an automatic transmission, power steering, air conditioning, no ABS. The car has about 150,000 miles. My problem started when the car died out as I was pulling up to a stop sign. After getting the car towed to the house I first checked for spark.
When I didn't get any spark I decided to change the distributor cap and wires, rotor along with the spark-plugs. Knowing that this was the unlikely cause for my dilemma, I proceeded to check the ignition coil with a Fluke 73 series 2 multi meter. But resistance fell within specs that the repair manual gives. The Secondary coil resistance, Air gap, the Pick-up coil resistance and the igniter also fell within specs.
Frustrated and confused I had my brother turn the car over with the distributor cap off. I quickly noticed that the rotor did not turn even though the crankshaft pulley did. The first thing that hit my mind was the timing belt. With one of the engine mounts off and the top timing belt cover removed I could see that the belt was in mint condition. Even more frustrated I had my brother quickly turn the engine over to physically see if the timing belt would move. So this is where I am at now. No movement of my timing belt.
I would be most appreciative if you could help me out with some advice.
A. I really hate to tell you this, but you have a serious problem.
When a timing belt goes, it's not that it broke, even though they do break, it's the teeth on the belt that get stripped.If you take the lower cover off, you will find the teeth on the belt around the crankshaft gear are gone. The crankshaft will turn, but since the teeth on the belt are gone, it will not turn the belt. You will have to replace the timing belt.
Now comes the bad news... since that is what's known as an "Interference engine" that is to say the valves and the pistons occupy the same place in the combustion chamber at different times, you have bent some of the valves. This is why it is critical to replace the timing belt every 60,000 miles. At this point in time, you should be on your second replacement belt.
You will need to remove the cylinder head and replace the bent valves and check the valve guides to see if any of them are broken.
I wish I had better news for you, but this is where you are right now.
Additional Information provided courtesy of ALLDATA
