4AFE Timing Belt & Interference Engine

[scizen]

I had a 92 Corolla with a dohc 16v. Tbelt broke at 59925, just 75 miles in the warranty. 1k miles later, after replacement, the #4 cylinder slowly lost all compression and ran like crap. My theory is that the exhaust valve got very slightly bent and began to burn and erode with hot gases on the power stroke.

Now that experience tells me that that engine was an interference engine. I called Toyota headquarters and they said it was indeed an interference model. So there you have it. But I don't know the engine model exactly.

[blb]

Originally Posted by scizen

I had a 92 Corolla with a dohc 16v. Tbelt broke at 59925, just 75 miles in the warranty. 1k miles later, after replacement, the #4 cylinder slowly lost all compression and ran like crap. My theory is that the exhaust valve got very slightly bent and began to burn and erode with hot gases on the power stroke.

Now that experience tells me that that engine was an interference engine. I called Toyota headquarters and they said it was indeed an interference model. So there you have it. But I don't know the engine model exactly.

You are drawing inaccurate conclusions from symptoms instead of causes. The 4AFE is designed to be noninterference. The valves will not hit the piston if out of time, and stock thickness head gaskets are used. If the person at Toyota headquarters really said it is an interference engine, there must have been a problem with the Japanese/English translation, or a non-technical call center person was just giving it a SWAG.

[wklopf]

I have a related question. Would using the thinner 7A-FE head gasket gasket on a first generation 4A-FE engine make it an interference engine?