Well I was working out of town on them tornadoes that came throught Georgia last week. I got to the hotel and called the wife to find out if everything was ok. she said "yea everything is good but the 4Runner." When I asked her what happen she said it made a loud pop and stoped running. The pop she heard was the radiator blowing. It quit running cause th timing chain had jusped time and the heat had warped the valves. Then I get home from storm trouble and she says "Are you gonna take me to work or let me drive you pick-up?" hmmmmm let me see.

Was there any warning for her, or could it have happened to whoever was driving it? Was it unavoidable?

I have a similar story except mine was avoidable. My wife and I were married, not kids yet. She's driving her Tercel. Doesn't notice the temp gauge pegged on hot (bad thermostat). She drives it until it quits on her. You guessed it: Warped head! Well, $650 to fix that. I promptly traded it in 3 months later on my current Runner.

My ex girlfriend took her Cherokee to Jiffy Lube for an oil change even though I told here a dozen times to avoid that place. They drained the oil, filled up the washer fluid, vacuumed the interior, and replaced the oil filter. They forgot one minor thing. To put fresh oil in the truck. She drove it home and blew the engine. $2800 and a new engine, paid for by the jaskasses at Jiffy Lube. I'm just glad it wasn't my truck.

whoa just goes to show "you get what you pay for" applies when servicing vehicles, sure a jiffy lube may be cheaper than a certified dealer but you also may get some 17 year old who can barely locate the oil filter in the first p[lace doing your oil change. (or doing it yourself and knowing it's done right of course)

Isn't this a good thing? I'd love a new engine courtesy of Jiffy Lube.

I was talking to someone who used to work at one of those oil change shops. He said if the car was too hot and the filter was too difficult to get to, they would just wipe it off and make it look nice and change the oil only.
I would imagine that his shop is not the only one that does that.


Hmmmm, new engine huh? Maybe I should go there for oil an see if I can win the lottery and get a new engine on them.

no there was no real warning. the runner had been running warm for a while, but not hot enough to really hurt anything. My wife is good about watching the guages. I have been planning on replacing the radiator but due to al the storms lately I haven't had a chance. Well you see what working all the time will get you.

Just out of curiousity how many miles are on your rig and was it overdue for the new belt? perhaps it went the other way around. timing slipped, motor got hot, rad blew, head gasket went went see ya.... I have nightmares about such things too. Bought our runner for the wife as an anniversary gift (I always wanted one) I work out of town but still have been doing lots of mods to it...(she wished I'd "just leave the damn thing alone") and one day I'll call home and the thing will be wrecked and I won't get 2 cents for most of the extra money I've dumped into to get it just they way "she'll Love it" hee heeobtw Semper fi yoda! love the EGA there.

don't be too hard on her dude. My wife detailed the rearend of a minivan with my runner ($7000 on my 4runner and another $6000 on the minivan) one night when she was only going to the grocery store 2 miles away. When I asked her where it happened she tells me and that place was about 10 miles from the house. I was miffed, what were you doing so far away, oh they didn't have what I was looking for at that store so... I got over it. keep your chin up.

It took weeks for everything to get worked out, meanwhile she was without transportaion. Who do you think drove her to school and work for those 4 weeks? Yours truly. Also, they gave her dad a hassle and said they weren't going to pay for it, but he's a lawyer and he made some phone calls. The ended up paying every penny. What a bunch of idiots. I wouldn't let them put air in my tires.

The runner has 140,000 miles on it so it was kinda overdo for a timing chain, but it ran good, a little warm but good. Just all of a sudden boom there it is broke.
I have never once been hard on the wife about it, and I was so far away working on a storm. I am a lineman so when the lights go out, I go to work.

Ahhh, it should have gone at least 400k on the original tbelt! just kidding. a bit overdue is an understatement, haha. that's cool. a lineman eh? over here in Houston our power guys suck, what are the chances of getting you to come over and school them? they just leave the lines down for as long as they can get away with it, however, that may have something to do with our corrupt mayor, soon to be ousted from his high horse and Houston can finally start making some headway toward the future again.

So, it's kind of a good thing that she blew up the Tercel, huh?

I don't know any of those lineman in houston but I do know that there is a lot that goes into puting powerlines back in the air. you probly live at the end of the line so it takes a while to get power to where you live so they can turn your lights back on.