I Dodged a Bullet!!

On a very cold snowy morning last month I started up the old faithful and boom! 2 seconds of idle and it died. I knew that sound. Snapped the timing belt. The water pump was leaking for a while and I knew the coolant would melt the belt, and it sure did. Due to Covid and being out of work for a month my timing belt budget was toast. Finally got the funds and courage to have it checked out...

Just got the call from my shop. All clear, new T-belt and water pump installed and she's all good to go! SO STOKED!!

 

Buy a Lottery ticket Today.

 

Very lucky

 

I'm starting to think this isn't as rare as people think. A lot of people with 00-04(non VVTI) have reported their belt breaking and the engine being fine.

 

Can you post a picture of the old belt if you still have it?

 

Good news for sure.

 

There’s plenty in that year range that “Dodged a Bullett” being reported….whether it be a post on FB, TS, TundraTalk etc….simply smoke and mirror talk when some say it is a given.

 

I'll do my best! I've seen photos of the belts after being soaked in coolant for a while. Turns them into mush.

 

How bad was it leaking? I suspect mine is leaking a little at the water pump but I'm only having to add a few ounces of coolant every 6 months or more.

How old was the belt and how many miles on it?

 

2UZ-FE is a low-interference engine, not a high-interference engine. There's a difference. If this was a high-interference engine, diff't outcome was likely. "At idle" / "Low RPM", i.e. not enough active kinetic energy to cause the type of collision required for catastrophe on a low-interference engine.

What saved OP isn't black magic fuckery. At low load/low RPM, especially what you'd see 2 seconds into idle, the force/momentum required to mangle isn't there.

Most folks on here who've bricked (like @thefish712) were running at speeds that'd put their RPMs north of 1500-2000.

 

Speaking to the choir.

Unfortunately we have had too many make the below type statement ad nauseam concerning all 1st Gens....

 

His truck is also an 05 with VVTI.

 

But to be fair, he was lucky. Had he thrown it in gear and gassed it out of the driveway, it could've been very different scenario. It's way more common to snap a belt under load than it is to snap one at idle. EDIT: And far more risk of damage on any interference engine when at higher RPM.

 

I will always agree with that

 

I'm about to tackle this job... just what I wanted to burn a 3 day weekend on

Glad your engine survived!!

 

Nice!! Good news is always a good thing!

 

It was intermittent. Some days a few drops, some a puddle. I let it go too long. Advise against that for you! I was adding coolant every day, about two cups or so.

 

Photos! Ugly. I did get lucky. So so glad. Truck runs great!

 

That is nuts! That doesn't even look too bad to me honestly. I have seen some that were twice as bad and still working fine.

That coolant is some nasty stuff on these I guess.

 

How many miles are on the truck? The rest of the belt looks pretty ding-dang good.

 

Yeah, my belt had a crack on the backside between every single tooth when I got the truck, but hadn't broken.

 

325K+ miles in Montana!(his vehicle description)

This gives me a lot of hope that I can hold onto my '01 for a few more years. Paid for and running great, and I like it.

 

247K. I have no idea when the last one was replaced, if ever. No record of it. It's really dry.

 

Over 330K now. I plan to keep this truck forever.

 

This was mine two years ago at 142,000+ miles. I bought a lottery ticket....but I was still 5 numbers shy of winning

 

Mine snapped when GF was drivin she was ideling in a parking lot when it happened potentially moving at 2mph. 2 weeks after I bought the thing... It's been sitting ever since finally got around to figuring out what was wrong with it.

I am working on replacing the water pump and belt now... Have everything taken off... Next steps are putting a new belt on the issue is I have no idea how to get the timing corrected since I couldn't line everything up first before removing the old belt....

I am just hoping for the best after all this work...

Anyone have any advise or point me in the right direction on how to put a belt onto a vehicle where the old one broke?

Can I manually turn the cams is that okay without turning the crank?

 

Do not turn your cams at all, at least not with any force. Did you try to start it after this happened? What I'd probably do is pull the valve covers and check which valves are opened. I'm wondering, if your cams are out of position, you may have already damaged something... That's just a guess, don't hold me to it.

 

Turn crank to timing mark, then back crank off about 1/4 turn.

This will put the pistons offset for clearance to rotate the cams.

Rotate cams to proper timing position.

Rotate crank to timing marks.

Install belt as normal/per FSM.

 

Sadly there were several attempts to try to start it after it happened. Initially it seemed like it may have been a fuel issue so took a few tries to rule that out.

She reported that she didn't hear any abnormal noise that the car just died. The start attempts didn't sound weird either.

Is it worth taking the valve covers off?

Does turning the crank shaft without a belt effect the cams?

Thank you for the guidance! Will check the FSM.

Is there no reason to worry about any sort of issue when turning the crank without a belt?