My sister took her Rodeo in for a new Timing belt & tensioner 11/05 to shop A (odometer = 80,000)

11/06 she blew the head gasket & on the receipt from shop B there was a note that there was oil leaking round the timing cover which they recommended monitoring (odometer = 95,500)

she had to take truck back to shop B due to a bad O2 sensor and replace the spark plugs

Couple of days ago, she heard a bad noise and she lost all power. A belt with "teeth" from the front of the block had gone through a plastic cover and was to the side. It was towed to shop B.

After they looked at it, they said that they didn't know what was wrong and that they were waiting for someone from their other location to look at it. My sister asked specifically whether it was the timing belt that was off, to which he said he didn't know.

Today, he tracked my sister down (made several calls & looked up her work number that wasn't on her account there). He said that the bearings on the timing belt pulley locked up. He said that they were sealed.

He knew the timing belt had been replaced a year ago and he said that my sister needed to talk to shop A.

My sister asked him whether they removed the timing belt to replace the head gasket a few months ago. He said they only loosened them and they didn't have to remove it and the pulleys to replace the HG.

Haynes manual says the pulleys and belt have to be removed to replace the HG.


I have a very limited knowledge of engines and no experience with this engine.

Any ideas/suggestions on the probable cause? How should she handle the situation? What's the likely damage to the engine?

What's standard procedure for pulleys when the timing belt &/or HG are replaced?

Thanks in advance for any & all help!

You will probably need to be pretty patient with the responses on this one. There aren't too many of the newer 4 poppers here on the board.

Joe

Thanks, I actually warned her about that when she asked me to post the matter. There doesn't seem to be quite the following and aftermarket for this engine as the 22re. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" /><img src="/forums/images/graemlins/notooth.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/ignore.gif" alt="" /> So, I also posted it on PlanetIsuzoo.

But, I'll take even general mechanical suggestions on this one to start out (not engine specific). Can the improper installation of the timing belt cause the pulley bearings to fail? If yes, how so? Or, does this sound like a lie to cover up? Are the pulleys usually replaced with a timing belt if the pulley bearings are sealed?

Thanks again!

I'd say no.



I'd say if you asked for it, yes. If you didn't ask for it, probably not.

Joe

Thanks BigPoppa!

After re-reading my questions, I think the question I meant to ask is: Whether it sounds like a pulley bearing failure is the cause?

The guy asked my sister about the racket the pulley was making before it failed. But, as she told him, she says there wasn't any noise until right before the failure (immediately before).

In other words, the way the shop has handled it, it seems like they are trying to come up with a plausible cause for which they aren't responsible (since it's going to be major work). However, this shop has a good rep and maybe this engine has bad juju.

Was the belt broken? There's really no way to tell if the bearing caused the failure. If the belt is broken it's maybe a good sign pointing that direction.

Joe

Hmmm, I don't know. She said that it looked like it wasn't broken, but that it had come off.

Thanks for the help!

I HATE TO BE THE BEARER OF BAD NEWS BUT IF YOUR SISTER CAN SEE THE BELT PROTRUDING FROM THE FRONT CVR SHE HAS SERIOUS PROB, WHEN THE BELT BREAKS OR IN THE UNLIKELY CASE IT DID COME THE PULLEYS IT WILL DO SERIOUS DAMAGE TO THE ENG , IT IS AN INTERFERENCE ENG MEANING THE VLVS WILL HIT THE PISTONS NO DOUBT ABOUT IT , FIRST THE BELT ALLMOST HAS TO BE BROKEN IF SHE CAN SEE IT , WHEN THE HEAD WAS REPLACED , IF BY CHANCE THE BELT TENSIONER WAS SET TOO TIGHT THE BELT WOULD HAVE A VERY SHORT LIFE , AND PROB BE MAKING A HIGH PITCHED NOISE AT THE SAME TIME , COULD THE TENSIONER AND OR THE IDLER PULLEY CAUSE THE PROB IF THE BEARING FROZE UP ,MOST DEFINATELY , BUT THERE IS JUST ABOUT NO WAY OF KNOWING WHAT HAPPENED UNLESS SOMEONE WHO KNOW,S THIS ENG COULD TAKE A LOOK AT IT, GOOD LUCK JERRY

I have to say, I can't imagine how the shop could have done a HG change without removing the timing belt. I would think that the HG work would have resulted in at least a readjustment of the timing belt when buttoning everything back up.

James

Thanks for the input guys!

Yeah, I knew the result isn't good.

Another question: rebuild the 4 banger or replace (and if replace, with what engine)? Looking for keeping costs as low as possible, but also want value.