Alright, so I was driving home in the 2000 Camry LE 4cyl (5sFE I think) from Miami one day and I see the low oil warning light come on. I immediately threw it in neutral then the temperature shoots way above hot. As the temp shot up the car stalled. I open the hood and see the timing belt sticking threw the side of the timing cover.
Well I got it home and did a compression test and that failed. It gave something around 50. I pulled the head but don't how to check it. What I did find was that the water pump pulley was bent about 20 degrees which explains the temperature. The timing belt teeth were eaten off by the seized up water pump pulley. There is also plenty of oil inside of the motor (according to the dip stick). There are carbon flakes on the pistons which just need to be vacuumed out.
Since the compression read really low, doesn't that mean something in the head is messed up? The crank seems to spin freely. I took the oil filter off but I can't seem to get it open without sawing it. If I use a saw, that will just defeat the purpose.
Any help to getting this thing fixed ASAP would be greatly appreciated!
If the timing belt is broken or slipping then the valves won't be opening and closing at the proper times, so compression readings won't mean much. Your engine is supposed to be non-interference, meaning that the pistons won't hit the valves even with a broken timing belt. So you should be ok again once you get the timing belt and the water pump replaced.
BTW, the timing belt on my '97 Camry I-4 just snapped last week and it's running fine again with a new belt (also replaced the water pump, tensioner, assorted seals, and the other belts while things were apart anyway).
3 lifters fell out of their spots on the head. Is guessing where they go a good idea? I'm of course going to clean the head from any sand/dirt/etc as well prior to reassembly.
I'm hoping I can just replace the water pump and timing belt with the it being noninterference. Thanks for the help
Yeah, doing a compression check with a broken timing belt accomplishes nothing, and why did you pull the head to change a timing belt? The low oil light and overheating would be due to the fact that the oil pump and water pump were no longer turning due to the broken timing belt, so taking the head off doesn't really make sense.
As far as the lifters, you can't guess where they go. The shims that sit in the buckets determine valve lash, so now you'll have to take a feeler gauge and measure clearance on those spots to make sure they're in the right place.
Put the exhaust cam in first, followed by the intake. The marks on the back of the sprocket will line up like this:
If you didn't install the service bolt in the intake cam sub gear to lock it in place before you took it out, you'll have to put the shaft in a vice and use something to line the holes up first. I always used a big pipe wrench, worked just fin.
I'm unsure of how to proceed because the service bolt was never put in before it was taken out. The teeth are uneven. Apparently it is two gears and the service bolt was to keep the teeth even. I don't have a vice to use without damaging the cam. Once I get it lined up, do I just play the cams in there matching the timing marks horizontally?
The sub gear is now aligned thanks to a local shop. My only other challenge is figuring out which dots need to be lined up. On one of the gears are 3 dots. 1 big dot and 2 smaller ones. I have the Haynes manual and it confuses me even more.
Is that service bolt too long? The haynes manual says 16-20mm. That bolt is shorter. It does hover over one of the journals. And when I try and put the exhaust cam in, the bolt will touch a lifter. It hasn't yet because I saw it wouldn't clear. Maybe I'm not lining it up with the correct holes..
The way I'm lining it up is with the intake cam knock pin set at 80 degrees left of zero which leaves the larger of the 3 dots at about 90* to the right of vertical. Then when I'm attempting to put the exhaust cam in, I line the 2 dots next to the larger dot on the intake cam. Is this correct? If so, I guess I need to shorten the service bolt.
The factory service bolt is shorter, but it doesn't really matter. If the bolt it going to hit a bearing cap, just leave that one out until you have both cams in and secure with a couple of caps, then remove the bolt, install and torque all the caps (torquing is very important here, btw).
As far as the marks, there should be two sets of marks on each gear. Look at the picture I posted, its right from the factory manual. One set of marks will line up, and the second set of marks will be above those. So the exhaust cam will have a set of marks at about 3 and 130, and the intake cam will have a set of marks at about 9 and 1030.
You can also look at the cams themselves to make sure you are on the right track. Cylinder # 1 will be at TDC, which means that both sets of valves are closed and the intake cam will be rotated down next.
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