Ok so I decided to take a small road trip to Yuma,az to see a friend of mine who I haven't seen in awhile due to the marine corps. Had fun, his new girlfriend is chill as all hell. Anyway. Going out there the truck performed beautifully getting 24.5 miles to the gallon!! I thought the troubles were over. I thought wrong. As I'm leaving Yuma, about 60 miles out, I notice the charge light is on. Ok, so my alternator is shot. Please get me home. So I keep goin, no radio or anything, until I get back to San Diego. In groasmont I heard a loud rattle as I'd step on the gas, oh crap timing chain. So I slow down and start praying. It gets much worse so I take the nearest turnoff, which is the one to go to my house. As I apply the brake and slow down, the engine stalled and would not start back up. So I coast to the shoulder and pull over. I notice all kinds of steam coming from under the hood. I open the hood and I see one belt GONE and the other hanging off the pulley, intact. So I wait for it to cool down and try starting back up. All that spins is the starter. So I call a tow truck and have it towed to the mechanic who rebuilt it. (still under warranty!!!) and it's sitting there til tomorrow when he opens. Does it sound like the motor seized? The coolant resoiver had coolant in t, so I'm sure it didn't run out of coolant. Any ideas of what might have happened?

 

I can`t tell you what happened, but what ever it was it does`nt sound good. Just don`t let the mechanic try and blame what ever happened on you.

 

oh man, I so feel for you...

I've owned mine for 14 years and i'm just trying to get up the courage to rebuild it myself. That's why I'm here.....

reading... reading... reading...

learning... learning... learning...

I hoping not to botch things up myself.

(but I'll defiantly post the pics when it happens)

probably cry for lots of help here too

If it's warranty hopyfully you're all good though.

 

just because there is coolant in the overflow does not mean there is coolant in the radiator. Everyone assumes this and gets in trouble. Now i'm not sayin thats your case. Let us know what happens.

 

Yep you're screwed

 

well yeah, obviously.. lol. i know it was LOW on coolant, but the radiator was still bubbling, so i assume there was still some coolant in there. and yeah im still pretty irked. im really wanting to sell it and buy a newer taco (pre 2004) but the last thing i need right now is another monthly payment.. already got a student loan payment, insurance, rent, cell phone. and im trying to move out of my parents house LOL!
honestly, im hoping it needs a new engine, like the block and head are FUBAR, just so i know its got a FRESH engine in it, instead of my old block with a new paint job. for now im back in the expedition.. which has a misfire in cylinder 6... tune up needed BADLY.
and for the record.... MCAS YUMA is BAD ASS!

 

okay, talked to the mechanic. he says since the belts came off, its considered an accident and the shop that did the engine will not honor the warranty. however, he is going to put a belt on before the tow truck gets there to take it to the engine shop, and just tell them that it overheated. he also says that its also not their problem because none of the gauges work. (the temp gauge works fine, the gas gauge works fine, what else do they need???). either way, im not planning on paying ANYTHING, and if he wants to try to charge me another 2200, to court he is going.

 

Didn't the gauge show it was overheating after the belt broke?

 

No... But I'm sticking to that story. It did start going up though that's one reason I pulled over.

 

okay, update on this. it broke down again. this time on my buddy from work, who is a former toyota/honda mastertech. he says the thermostat was stuck, since the lower hose was cold, the top hose was hot and coolant was spewin out of the cap. he thinks the head gasket popped between a cylinder cuz its cranking with what seems like no compression. i had it towed to my shop last night, and me and my buddy will be looking it over today. he drove it for less than 10 minutes when the engine just shut off, didnt make any kind of noise or anything, just shut off, like a fuse blew or something, so its highly unlikely that it overheated badly enough to pop anything, its doubtful it even overheated at all. will post up what we find wrong with it.. anything i should check while we have the valve cover off and the cam/head up?
oh, and i am NOT getting the original mechanic involved, because he wanted me to pay him another 600 bucks for the "warranty" work, and i told him to pound sand. havent heard from him, and want to keep it that way.

 

jesus your truck reminds me of my truck LOL

 

Update: 60lbs of compression in each cylinder. What does that mean I've never ears of that...

 

Smells like you cooked the rings out of it.

 

fun.... if thats the case... how hard are rings? can you replace them with the block in the truck?

 

No, motor must come out, just easier to work on. Listen, I see different dates on your posts back to Feb. What happened between March and May? This thing couldn't live running hot for 3 months. Is the timing chain in time?

 

IF you've got 60#, I'd pay the $600

 

If it overheated that badly there is no repairing it in the truck, the block and head both are probably warped and need surfacing. Could of melted pistons and cracked valves and also cooked the bearings. Time for a complete rebuild. The second the charge light came on the water pump quit pumping and everything went down hill from there

 

thats the thing... the period between it wasnt really being driven. id move it around to keep the battery fresh, and drive it to work once in awhile, but other than that i didnt drive it much. i let my cousin use it to go to el centro, and it behaved well both going there and coming back. was running better than ive ever seen it. now the other day i let my buddy use it, and even he said it was running perfect, then the next day it dies on him, now this. isnt there a temp fix i can do just to get it running so i can sell it as a running vehicle? im SICK of putting money into this thing!

 

Hey, here's something to check that happened to me today. This is a severe case, you probably don't have this, if it runs whenever it feels like. Girl drags in her 2000 VW Jetta, 4cyl no start. She says it just died. Knows nothing. Spins over no compression. I check timing belt, dead on marks. Do compression check, all holes 60lbs even with oil. She then says it has been running hot, pegged gauge a couple of times. I lift off camshaft to close all valves and put air into each cylinder. #1 blows into #2. #3 blows into #4 and vice versa. Popped headgasket basically all four holes no compression. I put one spark plug in every other hole and add air, air comes up into valvetrain area so the rings are cooked too. She gets motor. You should try this before doing motor bottom end. 50/50 chance of rings ok if you end up with same result, minus air into valvetrain area. Now I know there are other supertechs who have seen it all, but this is a first for me only 30 years in this crap. Keep us informed.

 

Ok put oil in cylinders one and two. Checked compression. Went up to around 85. Looks like the rings are shot. Man I am so wanting to call the bar on the mechanic who did this motor. So as of now I'm stuck with 2 options. Option 1 is to sell it as is and get as much as I can for it. Option 2 is to drop a used motor in it and sell it running. I'm kind of opting toward option 1, because I am sick of dropping money into this thing, and I don't need 2 trucks. In the future I'm planning on buying an old 4runner and fixing that up. Unbiased toward the forum this is, and keeping in mind m situation and this trucks history, plus the fact that I'll be selling it anyway, what do you guys think would be the wise choice?