pat24

so my 1988 4runner has been siting for about 2 months now in my driveway and it refused to start so day i started doing allot of work on it and it finally ran "it was my spark timing" i felt dumb when i found this out so me and my friend hoped in the truck and started driving on my lawn just to get it moving. we where chugging alone when my friend decided to put it in 4wdL this made are adventure so much more fun i was driving around at about 2000 rpms give or take going about 5 mph when all the sudden a snap happened it sounded like a belt snapped and whipped around so i push the clutch and the truck died at first i thought it was the timing belt but i looked and it was still in good shape all the other belts are fine but my ac belt because it fell off a while back can any one help me i don't know what is up with this stupid truck and i dont want to get rid of it it is a 1988 4runner 3.0 v6

n4ynu1010

So you heard a "snap" pushed in the clutch and it died ..............and now it won't run or start at all ?

Jay351

Can you be a little more specific on your question?

Give us some more info please, Does the truck run? If not does it turn over? What have you checked so far?
You were on grass when you were driving around in 4wd right?

pat24

well it cranks but make bads noises not like it did about 10 minets befor it happened kinda like wine it wont start at all

pat24

and i was just driving on cut grass when it happend nothing to extream i put it in 4wd to see if it stilll worked

Targetnut

if the spark timing suddenly went out of whack to cause it to not start to begin with, then it is likely that there is something that caused that.

One candidate would be a very loose timing belt that was just about to fail completely jumped time on the driverside cam spocket.

By turning the distributor to get the ignition timing back in then running it the timing belt probably just failed completely and now the cams, and distrbutor are not turning.

It's not certain, but that's my bet.

n4ynu1010

So its not turning over , starter not engaging or solenoid is engaging yet sounding funny and not turning motor over ?
Starter excessively loose - not engaging , check here just for GP if motor not turning over.
I would be checking my timing (motor turning yet sounds strange and will not start)(timing belt) , if you want to know if cam is turning then take cap off of distrib. and turn motor over manually or with stater and see if rotor button is rotating then remove your timing belt cover and check belt & timing marks to make sure they are aligned and has not skipped a tooth or is not broken - motor will sound strange is cams are not turning or even if cam timing is off quite a bit.
I have seen (or heard) this sound you seem to describe and in my case it was a broken crank both times - I hope thats not what your problem is but if it is it would be fairly noisey and the harmonic balancer would have some considerable play in it if you were to put a wrench on the balancer bolt .

It could be alot of things - you just need to eliminate them one at a time

Chrisnxl185

hey guys, i am the friend that helped him get it running.
I was talking about the noises of the engine before and after it died with another buddy. He said something about rod knock. When the engine was idling you could hear a klacking noise. That seemed to come from the right side of the engine.

thook

Can-o-worms....

So, you all did a lot of work to it? What all did you do?

n4ynu1010

Not good but could be valve train and not be that bad , get a stethoscope and listen and see if it is stronger at the bottom of the block or the head/valve cover

n4ynu1010

If its the bottom of the block then he could be right , if its the head then have to pull the covers and check clearences , tappets etc .
If its sounds like clacking/slapping noise then it possibly could be timing belt smacking cover , maybe belt damaged or tensioner broken also , zero in on the sound and then check from there but I wouldn't run it much , if its a rod then it would be better to fix than have it come through the block .
Could be a wiped cylinder and piston slapping the bore , wrist pin even , start simple and work from there , zero in on the sound and go from there .