# 1998 Toyota Tacoma - Jump timing?

**URL:** <https://community.cartalk.com/t/1998-toyota-tacoma-jump-timing/59056>\
**Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\
**Tags:** tacoma, toyota\
**Created:** [December 22, 2010, 8:58pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1998-toyota-tacoma-jump-timing/59056 "2010-12-22T20:58:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![birchdj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@birchdj](https://community.cartalk.com/u/birchdj)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 8:58pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1998-toyota-tacoma-jump-timing/59056/1 "2010-12-22T20:58:59Z")

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My son was driving the truck and he said it hesitated and then started to smoke a little then he smelled a weird smell. he stopped the truck and opened the hood. The smoke came from the front of the engine compartment. I went to get the truck after a couple of hours. I started the truck and it made a very loud noise, similar to rocks rattling, then stalled, about 3 seconds. I tried to start it again and it would not start. It turns over but will not ignite/start. It sounds like it is spinning with little to know compression. How can I tell if it jumped time? If the valves are bent? I want to cover all bases before I replace the engine.

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**Author:** ![jesmed1](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/jesmed1/32/2097_2.png) [@jesmed1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jesmed1)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 9:29pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1998-toyota-tacoma-jump-timing/59056/2 "2010-12-22T21:29:09Z")

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I don’t know whether this has a timing chain or a timing belt, but you could take off the cover and see if there’s (a) a broken belt or (b) evidence of slippage, like some broken teeth.

Then you could borrow/buy a compression tester and check compression in all cylinders. If a valve is bent, you’ll find out quickly. From the “rocks rattling” noise, that’s probably a good bet.

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**Author:** ![birchdj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@birchdj](https://community.cartalk.com/u/birchdj)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 9:50pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1998-toyota-tacoma-jump-timing/59056/3 "2010-12-22T21:50:54Z")

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I have taken the cover off and the belt is tight. Is there a timing mark?

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**Author:** ![jesmed1](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/jesmed1/32/2097_2.png) [@jesmed1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jesmed1)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 10:01pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1998-toyota-tacoma-jump-timing/59056/4 "2010-12-22T22:01:32Z")

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Don’t know which engine you have, but this shows the timing marks on the V6:

[http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/maintenance/timing\_belt/](http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/maintenance/timing_belt/)