she ain t quittin’ yet kevin. the girls got spunk, she s gonna beat that darn stubborn car, I just know it…
Good point DB46… If you have a moderately good ear…you can hear when a T belt has snapped or stripped etc… The engine does NOT sound even close to the same when it cranks…there are many reasons for this which i wont go into…but even a basic mechanic can hear the difference.
A quick n dirty EZ way to know the t belt is still alive is to remove the oil filler cap…and use a flashlight to peer into the darkness of the oil fill hole…have someone crank the engine…do you see movement? if you do the t belt is still there…if not…its toasted and needs repairs. You can also remove the uppermost T belt cover…near the valve cover and take a looksie…you can also verify the “Timing” of the belt when you remove this cover. Some engines can survive a t belt snap some cannot. Another quick test is a compression test…this will also verify that the T belt is alive…problem is…the belt can be alive…however it may have let the cams jump “Time”…meaning things are no longer “Timed” properly…Funny how I keep mentioning “Time” when referring to a “Timing Belt” isn’t it?
This may not be a T belt issue at all…could be no spark or something simple… VERY Difficult to determine these things from behind my keyboard. Most of the guys here could tell you what it is if the car was in front of us even for a brief moment. Its up to you to give details…and maybe up to us to ask you the right questions…at least thats how it is with this type of a format of potential car help.
Well I gave you a few tests you can perform if the mood struck you… so…do some homework and report back to us…
Blackbird
Agree,but I helped a little cute blonde New Englander one time,with a stalled honda(she was driving through hilly country and the car stalled(the gas guage didnt work,she always went by the mileage)I checked the spark,plenty and concluded ,she was out of gas)finally had to leave Her to another samaritan,who cured the problem with a couple gallons of gas.
I’.m not implying the other lady is out of gas,I’m just saying,"never ignore the obivious"The afore mentioned Lady,kept insisting She couldnt be out of gas(hadnt went enough miles)
If your pry bar isn’t working, slip a 2 to 3 foot piece of pipe over the handle and try again. The extra length on the lever can make your strength go farther. I’m sure you used penetrating oil to loosen the bolt, but have you tried heat to loosen it?
An observation . . .
As far as removing a balancer bolt . . . because it sounds like that is the bolt in question . . . my 1/2" air impact has removed them just fine, without counterholding the crank
I can see how a cheap 1/2" cordless or corded impact might not have enough power
It would be nice to know what kind of tool OP is using
Another observation . . . a harbor fake 1/2" air impact may also not have enough power to remove that bolt
I said “may” because I’ve never bought . . . or even used . . . harbor fake air impact tools
IF @Badwolf147 is going to try to do the timing belt herself, I’d suggest that she purchase a Haynes or Chilton manual…you’ll need it to referance the timing marks and help finding the parts that everyone here mentions. They are only about $20 and have enough info for the backyard repairs you may do.
Removing the inspection plate at the engine/transmission junction will be easy and then you can wedge something against the flywheel to keep it from turning while you remove the bolt on the harmonic balancer/crankshaft pulley.
Yosemite
When I mentioned earlier about bracing a breaker bar to loosen the crank bolt and then turning on the starter to break the bolt loose I should have also stated, when you do that you just touch the START position very briefly. On for no more than a half a second. Just enough movement to break the bolt loose.
I have my haynes manual and the Toyota repair manual I bought online, it’s from the dealer repair shop that apparently went out of business. I do most of my own repairs (everything except installing the transmission) including maintenance. So… please stop insisting the car is out of gas. I top off my tank every couple days, and have never had a problem with the gauge. I have never run out of gas in any car that I have driven… Also, no way on earth that I’m getting rid of the car… It has all the options and is in great condition besides the high miles and this problem. I’m pretty sure the car is just getting old and needs help from normal wear and tear. Cars don’t run forever unless you put some work into them.
OK… so the timing is “aligned”, however, there is no movement when cranking… and now the whining noise has stopped, it just sounds like it normally does when trying to start, but isn’t coming to life. That being said… I’m still going to try replacing that and the spark plugs and distributor when I get the chance, since I have to work this won’t be until next weekend, but might get to it earlier.
As far as the bolt, I’ve tried the air compressor previously but hadn’t tried the breaker bar /bump start method… I can take off my 1st timing cover, to see the adjustments. I hope I’m making sense, and apologize that I’m not a trained mechanic. I’m just taking stuff apart and putting it back together and reading my manuals.
That’s great that you have some manuals to help you.
Please don’t take anyone’s comments here as a slight on your abilities, or the quality of the car in question. No one here has eyes and hands on the vehicle and many times suggestions are thrown out that to you, make no sense.
Believe me, everyone here is trying to help.
You say that " OK… so the timing is “aligned”,…is that the marks on the harmonic balancer/ crank pulley. What method are you using to insure the timing is correct. I thought that the distributor was not turning.
It would be easier if you would stick to one post until this is figured out. You can’t expect the people here to be jumping from post to post and trying to figure this out.
The moderator will most likely combine the two posts when she figures it out.
Carolyn!!!@cdaquila
Yosemite
Yep,Ms Wolf no one is dissing you,90% of the time its ignition sometimes a bad fuel pump(we had a 2500 Chevy that would run just fine as long as you jumped up and down in the pickup box-the cure? a new fuel pump)Did you replace the igniter?(if in doubt start cheap)
If the crankshaft is turning but the timing belt isn’t then the cam timing can’t possibly be correct. I assume that the timing belt is driven by a sprocket on the crank. I guess there are a couple of possibilities in that case. Either the camshaft has seized up and the timing belt gear slots have been stripped by the crank gear or, the crank gear that drives the belt has a keyway that has broken and the drive gear is just slipping on the crankshaft as it turns.
If neither the crank shaft pulley nor the camshaft pulleys move when you are cranking the engine, that means there’s something wrong with the starting system. (Or the engine is completely seized for some reason. But I doubt this is the case as you seem to be able to turn the engine using the crankshaft pulley bolt, right?) Either the starter motor isn’t turning for some reason with the key in “start”, or it is turning, but it isn’t engaging the flywheel teeth.
I’m not sure if you are still trying to remove the crankshaft bolt. If so, I’ll tell you the way I did it on my Corolla. I had the same problem with the engine turning. On the Corolla pulley though there’s two little holes which – w/the proper tool – are used to hold the pulley (and crankshaft ) still so you can remove the bolt. I had to build my own tool, which was just a stiff rectangular strip of of plywood (appx 18 inches x 3 inches x 3/4 inches) with two wood screws sized and placed just right to fit into those two little holes in the pulley. Then I inserted the screws into the holes, and wedged the plywood against something under the car (or maybe on the floor, forget) so the crank pulley couldn’t turn. Then it was a simple manner to loosen the bolt with the proper sized socket and a breaker bar.
There’s another complication if you want to go further and remove the pulley. Just removing the bolt won’t allow you to remove the pulley, it’s pressed on so you have to pull it off. If you like to know how I did it on my Corolla, let me know. Like I say, I’m not sure why you want to do this at this point since you’ve determined the timing belt and valve timing are both ok.
I’m still leaning towards busted timing belt . . . unless I hear otherwise
Broken timing belt is a good call but could be a bad overrunning clutch in the starter drive. The starter motor armature spins but the starter gear doesn’t. The trans having recently been replaced means the starter was removed & reinstalled. Did it loosen up? Have someone watch the crank pulley as you crank the engine. If it turns the starter is OK. If you can see the valve train with the oil fill cap off, watch valve train while engine is cranked. If valve train is moving belt isn’t broken but could have jumped 1 or 2 teeth.
Yall know its a “No-No” to use an impact gun on the Crank bolt…Right?
Honda writes …" Not supposed to use an impact wrench for removing a crank bolt?"
No, I haven’t heard that before. Curious, what’s the reasoning?
I recall some of the folks here saying an impact wrench is a good method to remove a crank bolt. I don’t have an impact wrench myself, not a super forceful one anyway, so never tried it. But it seems like it might work pretty good, using the inertia of the engine instead of a tool to hold the pulley still.
Dare we ask…or are you going to keep the secret all to yourself @Honda Blackbird.
Yosemite
I had crank bolt that was exceedingly stubborn once. It was on a 3 cylinder Geo Metro of all things. I had to lock the flywheel with a screwdriver and then hang from a breaker bar longer than I am tall and jump up and down to get it loose. I must have been putting 800-1000 ft-lbs on the thing. No air impact would do the job.
As for the timing belt, I understand they are more likely to bust at idle than under load. I seem to recall an informal survey here and that seemed to be the case. My only busted belt was in gear going down the road though. The starter sounded very odd and had no resistance without the timing belt. I luckily had an old used one on hand and made it home on that.
That must have been one heck of a roadside repair. Doing a Timing belt on the side of the road. I keep the old serpentine belt under the hood in case, but never a timing belt.
Yosemite