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2002 x w/ 3.3L Chewed Timing belt Help!!

5K views 23 replies 6 participants last post by  dejablue 
#1 ·
the short

new timing belt after break --> Turn her over No Compression --> Obvious valve Damage.

The question

How hard/Expensive is it going to be to fix? Is it worth it?

The Long

driving the other day and engine died. not thinking i tried cranking it to get it going again with no luck. Called my mechanic buddy and he pulled the Cap and said to crank it with no movement. so he called it that the timing belt was shot. so being the optimistic man he is we got a timing belt and tore the front of the engine down to replace the belt. It Chewed the bottom crank section of the Teeth. with the new belt cranked it to see if she would start. NO COMPRESSION. buddy said pull the heads and buy some new valves and take it to a local machine shop to have the seats re seated. engine died at idle which would make me hope that there was no piston damage but from what i am reading it may need a whole new engine.

need some help i guess figuring this out!!

Haven't pulled the heads off as of yet was planing on doing it on Thursday or late wed.

Let me know your ideas .. oh ya it has 115000 miles on it 3.3l natural aspirated 2wd automatic
 
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#4 ·
Lol, I'm just trying to make sure his "mechanic buddy" isn't trying to get a lot of extra money out of him by telling him he has no compression and not really doing a compression / leakdown check.

Assuming things are TU, you have a few options. You can rebuild your engine, buy a salvage engine, or build an engine from a new short block. I believe you can get new head assemblies from places like Autozone for around $600-$700 each(including core charge). I don't know what a short block would ultimately cost you, but my bet is it's more than the truck's worth.

If you are sure it has no compression, then tear it apart and make a list. At that point you will have to do a cost effectiveness analysis to determine course of action. Make sure you check everything you can think of. Those worms HFD1 Tuner mentions above can get expensive.
 
#5 ·
Well my can o worms is getting large and I am doing all the work myself with some good favors called in it can get pricey real fast. valves are not too bad to buy a valve job should be around 300 bucks without installing guides. Just fyi the iron block likes to get pitted with the alu head so it may need to be milled to keep out the milkshake... a quick compression test will tell the tale. You can hear it too....spins over easy hence the wee weee weee sound of course you made sure t belt was installed right too?
 
#7 ·
Thanks for all the replies. Buddy is a Neighbor that i would take a bullet for and isn't taking any money he is just giving advise. um we checked and double checked the timing to make sure that we didn't get it wrong. the "weee weee weee weeee" is the compression check honestly we didn't pull the spark and put a compression gauge but the the behavior during start would suggest that the starter has nothing to work against, and the engine doesn't move at all like you would expect during crank due to fighting the compression. If you wouldn't mind elaborating on the Worms, and the Cast Iron vs alum problem. Like i said earlier the engine died during idle while at a stop light. i really hope that it didn't kill the guides as some have mentioned.

Thanks again for the Feedback!
 
#10 ·
Something doesn't make sense. Many people's timing belts have broken doing 70 mph down the highway with 0 damage to the valves. Sounds like timing is off. How do you know you have the correct timing?
 
#13 ·
I Haven't had a chance to Get any Pictures i haven't actually gotten any deeper into the engine than taking the Wiring Harness off actuall .. my job loves me :( .. so i would assume that if i got the timing wrong it would cause a problem while cranking it over at some point correct? meaning if i had the lets say crank off by a tooth after some cranking i would hear a clank or maybe have it seize up. so the day that we determined that the valves were gone i cranked the engine over in total time of about 3 min sporadically (several crank attempts).

Let me know opinions of what should be done before I dig in and start ripping off the intake to pull the heads. I'm dreading having to dig into this but can't afford to take it to a shop to get it fixed ..
 
#17 ·
Take the cap off the dist and make sure the rotor is pointing to #1 spark plug and the harmonic balance is on tdc move cam wheels to head marks put the belt on. I bet your 180 off.
Funny that you mention that because I was just thinking the same thing .. i haven't had the chance to tear into it yet so i figure i will go for the timing one more time.

Could you Please Give me some kind of walk through as to how you would do this repair so i can make sure that i don't get any of it wrong this time ?
:)

Thanks for all the Help Fellow Forum Folks!
 
#18 ·
Find the number 1 plug wire ,mark the side of the dist with felt marker ,pull the cap off .Click the starter till the rotor is pointing to the mark on the side of dist . Fine tune with socket or strap wrench on harmonic balancer to get the timing mark dead on top dead center. Remove the timing belt check your cam wheel marks with the block and marks on the belt. Once the belt is adjusted you can test start it with out putting the cover or the 3 small belts or radiator or fluids back in for no more 2 mins . If it runs finish the rest of the install ,if it does not you are already half way to pulling the heads. Let me know what happens.
 
#19 ·
Dennis, Thanks for all your help.

Here is where I went wrong.

ALWAYS FIND A MANUAL,
I was stupid and made a lot of assumptions, First was that I only listened to one person and didn't do my do diligence and check all possibilities before assuming that one persons opinion was correct.

The Problem was

I had the Timing belt on backwards,

I Figured this out by taking the time to find the link to the Manuals that have been posted to this Forum, Then reading that the Arrows on the timing belt point away from the block. Also i ran into the situation of not being able to find the correct timing mark on the block for the Crank Timing but reading that there should be 40 ribs between the two cams and 43 between the Drivers Side Cam and the Crank. I also Pulled the #1 Spark and turned the Crank Until I Found TDC. TDC Obviously lined up Purfectly with the Last Mark on the Timing Belt. after Adjusting the Belt Correctly I Cranked it over and well it started.
I didn't run it for more than like 5 seconds so I am not sure that it is 100% but at least now I know it runs.

Again, Thanks All for you Patience with me in my ignorance and thank you for all your support!

The last thing I ask is for suggestions as to were to get the Radiator Hoses that i had to mutilate in this process, I'm in the Mesa, AZ Metro Area and Auto Zone doesn't have All the Correct Hoses and Aside from going to a Dealer and ordering the parts.

Thanks!
 
#21 ·
Dennis, Thanks for all your help.

Here is where I went wrong.

ALWAYS FIND A MANUAL,
I was stupid and made a lot of assumptions, First was that I only listened to one person and didn't do my do diligence and check all possibilities before assuming that one persons opinion was correct.

The Problem was

I had the Timing belt on backwards,

I Figured this out by taking the time to find the link to the Manuals that have been posted to this Forum, Then reading that the Arrows on the timing belt point away from the block. Also i ran into the situation of not being able to find the correct timing mark on the block for the Crank Timing but reading that there should be 40 ribs between the two cams and 43 between the Drivers Side Cam and the Crank. I also Pulled the #1 Spark and turned the Crank Until I Found TDC. TDC Obviously lined up Purfectly with the Last Mark on the Timing Belt. after Adjusting the Belt Correctly I Cranked it over and well it started.
I didn't run it for more than like 5 seconds so I am not sure that it is 100% but at least now I know it runs.

Again, Thanks All for you Patience with me in my ignorance and thank you for all your support!

The last thing I ask is for suggestions as to were to get the Radiator Hoses that i had to mutilate in this process, I'm in the Mesa, AZ Metro Area and Auto Zone doesn't have All the Correct Hoses and Aside from going to a Dealer and ordering the parts.

Thanks!
I'd like to know what you told your "Mechanic Buddy"! Ha ha ha I would have told him to go back to school cause "YOUR DOING IT WRONG"!!!! Tell him that your internet friends know more than he does!!! LOL
 
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