BMWSTOY

Not sure how I made it home. Check out this - lost one bolt and the other is broke off. Heard this piece rattling on my belts.
I drove about 100 miles after this broke off. I am sure the timing belt was going to fail real soon.

BMWSTOY

Can anyone explain how I was able to drive for 100+ miles. Is this just a tensioner on the timing belt or is this a spring to hold the tensioner pulley in place at the proper tension? I wonder what the inside looks like, it appears that there is a seal that should be on this and a pin according to pictures on the 5VZE on Pirana's timing package on eBay. But I have a 3VZE?

leebee

thats your belt tensioner, you might have dodged a bullet. youll definately want to tear into the front end of your motor and check for damage. do the water pump, t-stat, all belts, idler pulley and inlet pulley while you have everything apart.

youll also want to verify that your cams and pistons are 'in time' as that tensioner may have let things jump a little bit. there is a platic cover for the end where the little pin is, you may want to scour some auto recylcers and see if you can get a complete ass'y.

this might be of some help:

http://personal.utulsa.edu/~nathan-b...67timingbe.pdf

keep us posted.

lee

TNRabbit

You are probably alright. That keeps the tension on the idler pulley, but I don't think it's loose enough without it to actually jump time unless you were really giving it a workout. It may have allowed the idler pulley to rub against the plastic cover, though.

I agree with leebee; you dodged a bullet!

BMWSTOY

Well here goes, all parts are ordered and the tear down will begin - I have been stuck away at work for a month now. I will try to remember to photo everything - hoping it will also help me keep track of where everything goes. I know I don't want to read "Timing Belt" threads any more after this, I think I have read them all, some a few times.

BMWSTOY

Here is what I am replacing:
1. Timing Belt
2. All 3 Drive Belts
3. Idler Pulley #1 - no telling what it will look like without the tensioner on it.
4. Idler Pulley #2 - upper. I have expected this to be the cause of a noise rattle for a while now.
5. Water Pump and Thermostat. While I am there.
6. A new Tensioner - the cheapest part of them all.
7. 2 bolts, need to extract one - it busted off, the other is just MIA - causing the part to grind against my motor and belts for a while - photo above.

BMWSTOY

It is going much better than expected - I have not even asked my father-in-law mechanic for help yet. So Here goes the photos and the advise for others that will follow me. I dont have the parts yet, but really wanted to get going on it, expecting the worse.
Pic #1 - the START
Pic #2 - Be Careful, the coolant and the oil lines are really close - I will not be using my coolant over as it is now ruined (and I have done this part before- darn)
Pic #3 - Expecting damage, but all looks good so far.

BMWSTOY

The timing belt looks good for not having a Tensioner on it. Wondering now if I needed to do all this work - but in the end I will be happy.
More pics:
Pic #1 - The Tensioner Pulley #1. Here is where I thought there would be damage of some kind - but it looks good and spins good. It is going to be replaced anyway.
Pic #2 - I read every Timing Belt thread there is on here, because I was so worried about that 181 Ft lb Crank Bolt - well - it came off, guessing it was about 80 ft lbs, not 180. I used a CAM Shaft tool ($30) to hold it just to see totally not expecting anything to happen and wala - off it came. Then the Pulley itself would not budge. The Tool you see is a loaner from the local Auto parts store - If it looks crooked - its because it is - but it worked great.
Pic #3 - The Timing Belt is Free. Now I am looking at that water pump and it looks fine, but since I am in here, off it comes, but I think I will wait until the new one arrives in the mail.

I want to take the time now to THANK EVERYONE who has ever posted a Timing Belt issue or water pump issue Thread - it was a lot of reading, but wow I sure learned a lot! So as I continue, THANK YOU Now hopefully I can be of help to those out there with 2nd Gen Runners and 3VZE's that want to tackle the Timing Belt or water pump.

BMWSTOY

Its Time to put it all back together - the parts are in. Thanks Toyotapartsales.com - great pricing. It is a little more than ebay or parts dino, but I have Toyota parts and that makes me more comfortable.

BMWSTOY

First change is the H20 Pump. Mine looked fine, but who wants to come back in here anytime soon. Its really amazing that the Dealership wanted $300 to replace this once they are into the Timing Belt change - the part is $84 and comes with the FIPG already in place. For those who are needing to replace the water pump - it was a piece of cake once your this far - the hardest part was getting the old seal off. A little scraping and cleaning and its ready to go.

BMWSTOY

The new water pump is on with no problems, the new #2 Upper Idler is on with only minor problems - Toyota did not want you working on this without removing that brass line (I don't know what it is, but I am not removing it) so out come all the flex extensions. The belt is on and all lined up, but I am waiting on one last part to come in the mail - the #1 Idler pulley.
Caution - do not test the timing (as I did) without the tensioner on the belt - per the FSM - due to the lack of tension, the belt sliped one tooth, so I had the pleasure of doing it all again. The way it sits now appears correct - I will test it once I put on the new #1 pulley and the tensioner. Questions anyone? Now I really wonder how I drove over 100 miles without the tensioner on the #1 pulley if it slips with me turning it with a wrench?

Bumpin' Yota

who knows but the one good thing is that the 3vz-e is a non interference engine so even if the Tbelt had slipped one or one dozen teeth, nothing would get bent up. It just wouldnt run very well (1tooth off) or wouldnt run at all (more than 1 tooth)

Glad it turned out to be easy!

Im inthe middle of a top end rebuild on mine!

navyredneck

Thanks for the nice writeup. I plan on tackling mine this winter (too hot to wrench in this heat if you don't have to).

Was this the first timing belt replacement ever for your 4runner? 118k is pretty good for one belt...

Bumpin' Yota

well i suppose SC could indeed be hotter than FL but even still, a 6' beach umbrella and a 26" high volume fan go a LONG ways even in the worst heat!

1styota4X4

great info...i thought i had something major wrong...till i found out there is an idler bhind the timing cover near the water outlet...did yours kinda growel when the car was running??? can you replace that with out haveing to pull the cam gears...im hopeing i can do it with out the timing belt only has 30k miles on it and i thought you could go atleast 60-75k miles on them.....any info you have would be great....


thanks

J

thefallman

yeah well i my water pump went out about 2 years ago middle of winter. i got to replace all that. outside at 10 degrees. IT WASNT FUN.

BMWSTOY

Info to the questions: This is my runners 2nd timing belt - previous owner had it done at 56K. You can replace the upper idler pulley without replacing the timing belt - there is a thread on that with some good pics too. Mine did not growl, I only had a tapping noise prior to my tensioner breaking - which was likely the tensioner or lower idler #1 bearing tapping up and down. I was thinking on not replacing my upper idler, but when I got the new one - wow, what a difference. The new does not make any noise at all. I could hear my bearings and and it had an ever slight wiggle on the old one. The new idler is supper tight. That is why I am replacing #1 too, why not - better safe than go through this again and be stranded somewhere.
Another benefit of my project is with the water pump out, I completly drained/flushed my engine - used a shop vac too - so it is complety free of "GREEN" coolant and I am going back to Toyota RED after reading up on the differences.

BMWSTOY

If anyone would like the full size (1MB) photos, I can email them. I have to reduce them to post in here as you know.

BMWSTOY

Last part arrived in the mail and on it went - the part that started this whole project: the TENSIONER and the Tensioner Pulley - or Idler Pulley #1. And a photo for the engine back together and - hey did something right - no extra parts!
Now for the really hard part - the wait... I used Permatex and I will give it the 24 hours it asks for, that way I can increase my odds of it holding on the upper inlet. Tomorrow the coolant and the turn of the key.

BMWSTOY

While we wait for the results, one last photo - for those of you who love the TRD stickers, here is my Dealership cover-up of the 2 holes they drilled when they sold the vehicle - this goes over both holes after I filled them with silicon.