Snapped Timing Belt On A 1991 Toyota Corolla

[H3dg3s]

I'm hoping that somebody can help me with this.

I was driving to work this morning and all of a sudden I lost anything resembling power to the wheels. I popped the bonnet and had a look underneath to see what the issue was. I didn't spot anything noticeable straight away, so I walked to work (as luck would have it, i broke down 2 minutes walk away).

Long story short, I've got a snapped fan belt, AA are convinced my car is buggered. I however am hopeful that a change of belt will sort the issue, as far as I can tell (through the medium of google and a shedload of websites) my engine is actually one of the non-interference engines so i may have got away with what would really have effectively written off my car.

First things first, has anyone got any suggestions as to the best thing to do, should I take it to a garage and end up paying through the noise, or is this the kind of job I could do at my Dad's workshop over the weekend? I have fixed my car a fair few times in his workshop so I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty at all...

Is there anything specific that I need to be wary about when doing this, I've had a few warnings about making sure that the pistons are lined up properly and that the belts need to be tensioned correctly. But I'm sure there's probably a few other things that are easy to overlook and not think about until it's too late.

Now I'll need a car to cover me for the time being until I get this sorted out and there is a hire car company (1car1 if you're interested) near to where I work. I have hired a van from them before with no real problems, but that was about 3 years ago. Has anyone here heard anything about them as I tend to find that most review sites on the internet tend to be full of angry people with nothing positive to say.

[Mr Bonez]

If your engine is indeed non-interferenced then this fix should be doable for even a novice.

First thing first remove all plastic guards that cover the timing belt and the damper from the side of the engine. i believe that the bolts are 10 mm. You may also need to disconnect the alternator wires so you can remove a cover from over the top since the alternator wires are in this cover. And also the cover from the top of the engine to expose the cams, shoud be three 10mm nuts, two hoses and the plug wires of course.

Remove the spark plug from the #1 cylinder, this should be the one farthest on the left (while standing infront of the car) on the side of the belts.

place a solid object in the hole that is able to rest on the piston head and still be extended above the cylinder head, (make sure that this object has no parts that can fall off or crumble into the compression chamber) I normally use a socket extension

Next turn the damper with a ratchet or power handle from the bolt in the center of it, (should be an 11/16" Socket), (this is normally easier to get to with the wheel removed)

While turning the damper watch the object you placed into the spark plug hole, it should be moving up or down, the trick is to turn the damper in either direction until the object is at the highest position, this is known as TDC or Top Dead Center, make sure that you do this properly as this would cause your timing to be off if not done properly. It helps if you have someone watching it for you while you turn the damper.

Next check out the pictures and instructions in the link below, this will show you how to properly set your cams:

Setting Cams

You rotate your cams with a ratchet connected to the nut on the wheel shown in the image, turn clockwise only, so as to tighten instead of loosen

After setting your cams, loosen the timing belt tensioner so that it frees up a little, firstly place your new timing belt around the damper so that it can go around the teeth that are there for it then bring it infront of the tensioner and hook it around the camshaft gear (sorry i don't know the name of this thing, it is the one shown in the picture when setting cams). This task may be very difficult for one person to do so you may need to ask someone to push back the tensioner while you put the belt on. I find it easier to put the belt around the tensioner last. After you wrap the belt around everything, ask someone to pry the timing bely tensioner so thet is stiffens the belt, (i am not sure if there is a specific amount of force needed, but i put mine very tight so that it can't jump the teeth) with the tensioner held tightly in place, tighten the bolt ontop of the timing belt tensioner.

And thats it, just reassemble everything you removed and you should be good to go:

• replace guards over belts
  
• remove object from spark plug hole and place spark plug into hole and torque, be careful not to over tighten since this head is made of aluminum and can easily strip threadings
  
• Replace cover over cams and screw down
  
• reconnect hoses
  
• reconnect spark plug wires
  
• find a comfortable chair so you can sit back and admire your work while you sip on some beers :)
  

[GIDDLEPIN]

Here you go ;)

[Toyota Red]

Here you go ;)

Thanks for those piccies of the instructions. I also have a question, my timing belt was last replaced five years ago, but since replacement it has only done 22,000 miles. Anyone have a view on whether I should leave the replacement for a while in light of the low mileage(assuming it appears to be in good shape of course)?

[GIDDLEPIN]

Here you go ;)

Thanks for those piccies of the instructions. I also have a question, my timing belt was last replaced five years ago, but since replacement it has only done 22,000 miles. Anyone have a view on whether I should leave the replacement for a while in light of the low mileage(assuming it appears to be in good shape of course)?

Toyota recommended replacement is as follows:

--> 93: Replacement every 60,000 miles or five years, which ever occurs first.

94 -->: Replacement every 63,000 miles or five years, which ever occurs first.

If in doubt....Change it

Les

[Bizarra]

Here you go ;)

Thanks for those piccies of the instructions. I also have a question, my timing belt was last replaced five years ago, but since replacement it has only done 22,000 miles. Anyone have a view on whether I should leave the replacement for a while in light of the low mileage(assuming it appears to be in good shape of course)?

Toyota recommended replacement is as follows:

--> 93: Replacement every 60,000 miles or five years, which ever occurs first.

94 -->: Replacement every 63,000 miles or five years, which ever occurs first.

If in doubt....Change it

Les

Thanks for that, Les. Mine has only done a few thousand miles since it was renewed, but I wasn't taking the time into consideration. It is certainly more than 5 years. I should have thought- deterioration sets in with time :(

[kilowat3]

The exact same thing happened to me yesterday in my 1991 Corolla Wagon. Were you able to get this running by simply replacing the timing belt or were the valves bent?