Timing Belt Broke on 2003 Toyota Camry LE

Change the coolant and any other fluid with a service interval below the mileage and time on the vehicle!

Make sure who ever services your vehicle uses the correct things. Toyota ATF, NGK iridium plugs, Toyota coolant etc etc…Your original spark plugs should be good for at least 100k miles and you do not have spark plug wires since yours is a coil over plug ignition system. Also you don’t have to worry about a fuel filter, as yours is not considered a regular service item. Your Toyota T-IV ATF is called a lifetime fluid by Toyota, but don’t believe that. Just get drain and fill every 25-30k or so, no flush required, and you should be good.

This is so amazing how many good things have come out of my question, I am going make sure that I take care of all the service needs regarding transmission, oil change, air filter change, complete tune up, fuel filter replacment, coolant.Thanks to all of your folks for taking time out and helping someone like me who has no experince with something like this. Please feel free to add anything else as it comes to your mind.

Regards

Mind you, a complete tune up for your car means changing the spark plugs, thats it, so don’t get ripped off. Don’t let anyone change your fuel filter either, your car does not require it.

Don’t get too upset. There is no requirement to replace the belt on your car. (I think) How many miles on the car??

His belt broke. It should probably be replaced.

How many miles are on this vehicle?

97K , sad thing is I had already scheduled an appointmenet for Friday for timing belt oil change and tune up.

Is this a V6? The 4 cylinder has a chain.

“Don’t let anyone change your fuel filter either, your car does not require it.”

I strongly disagree. Just because a car manufacturer wants to appear to have a maintenance-free vehicle, that does not mean that a particular maintenance procedure should not be done. Over time, a partially clogged fuel filter will kill a fuel pump, and as a result, skipping the changing of the fuel filter is potentially a very expensive way of saving money.

Some car manufacturers are now also failing to list a transmission fluid change in their maintenance schedule. However, if the car’s owner wants to drive more than 100k before his transmission fails, he/she should change the transmission fluid every 30k.

No car ever suffered because it was maintained better than was specified by the manufacturer. On the other hand…

Good point. If this is a 4 cylinder that has a snapped chain then odds are the entire engine is junk. Not just because of the broken chain but because of the fact that if an '03 has been neglected bad enough to pop a chain due to engine sludge/lack of oil changes then it’s likely the entire engine is scrap metal anyway.
Pray that it’s the 6 cylinder.

Also, the people who don’t change fuel filters regularly are often the ones sitting on the side of the road waiting for AAA due to a premature fuel pump failure.

Toyota ATF, NGK iridium plugs, Toyota coolant etc etc…Your original spark plugs should be good for at least 100k miles and you do not have spark plug wires since yours is a coil over plug ignition system. Also you don’t have to worry about a fuel filter, as yours is not considered a regular service item. Your Toyota T-IV ATF is called a lifetime fluid by Toyota, but don’t believe that. Just get drain and fill every 25-30k or so, no flush required, and you should be good.

Good advise. The only thing I don’t agree with is keeping spark-plugs in there for 100k miles. They’ll be a b*tch to remove if kept in there that long. Also by removing spark plugs every 40-50k or so you can tell by looking at them how the engine is running or if it’s burning or leaking oil.

I agree 100% about the ATF. I have the same World ATF in my 4runner. It may not break down as easily as regular ATF…but it gets just as dirty.

Also, the people who don’t change fuel filters regularly are often the ones sitting on the side of the road waiting for AAA due to a premature fuel pump failure.

I agree with you…and I don’t understand Toyota’s design for this filter. There’s only one filter and it’s located on the pump that’s IN the tank. So to replace the filter you need to drop the tank.

Yes it is a 4 cylinder I guess I am in for a big expense, if it does have a chain and it snapped I don’t even know hwere to star and how much of a expense I am up against so I am just so sad as I let last of my savings into this car.

Do you know for sure it’s the timing chain? This is a very unusual thing to break.

This is going to cost you…just to replace the chain. Problem with chains when they break is they sometimes take things with them. I repaired a timing chain break on a Chevy Luv (Isuzu). When the chain broke it put a hole in the timing chain cover and destroyed the tensioner.

The first mechanic who looked at it at home ruled that it was the timing belt, it is going to a shop today, I reaaly wish he was wrong, so how do they determine if it is the timing belt/chain or something else?

Well, can you go by the shop and have him show you? Another problem-if it was the chain, it may have failed because of lack of very basic maintenance (oil changes). You’ll want him to check for other oil-related problems.

Timing chain failures are usually caused by lack of oil changes and/or sludging.
Since it is highly unusual for a chain to break, much less on an '03 Camry, I’d bet money this engine probably saw few if any oil changes in its short life.

If the maintenance was so bad that a chain gave up then one can only imagine what shape engine internals such as the crankshaft, camshaft, etc. is in.
If the valve cover is removed and sludging is evident then I’d say scrap the engine and find a good used engine because it would make not sense to install a new chain assembly on what would more than likely be a worn out engine.

As I usually do, I agree with ok4450.

The really bad news for samriz99 is that there is no likely cheap solution to this situation, unfortunately. You have to seek a mechanic whom you can trust to be both competent and honest, and then you have to ask him to find the cheapest solution to this engine problem. As ok4450 said, the cheapest solution (at least in the long-term, and possibly even in the short-term) may actually be a low-mileage engine from a junk yard.

If the original owner really sold you a car that saw little or no maintenance, I am confident that bad karma will follow him/her as a result of this scam. That is little comfort for samriz, but hopefully he/she will gain some learning from this experience, namely to have any potential used car purchase inspected by a mechanic of your own choosing prior to purchase.

If this engine is–as most of us are coming to suspect–filled with damaging sludge, a good mechanic could have spotted that problem fairly easily. Every life experience, no matter how negative, has the potential to be a learning experience. I just wish for samriz’s sake, that this learning experience was not such an expensive one.