88 4AF starter cranking but engine is not turning

[CaptainPayne]

Hey all,

Well this has me puzzled. Have an 1988 Corolla with a 4AF engine and auto tranny and carbed. Long story short car died with no sputter going home one day. Wouldn't start either and it sounded like the starter was just spinning without cranking the engine. Checked the timing belt and it's intact, and replaced the starter since it sounded like it wasn't even engaging the drive plate. New starter, and it's still not turning the motor.

Any ideas. Don't know why it died suddenly, and can't diagnose till I get it cranking again. I'm starting to think tranny/drive plate issues for why it's not starting.

I am humbled to the masses.

Cheers

[tashirosgt]

Originally Posted by CaptainPayne

it's still not turning the motor.

Make sure that's true. Have someone observe the crankshaft pulley while you crank the engine. If the crankshaft pulley doesn't turn and the starter is good, the least disasterous explanation that comes to mind is that the center of the crankshaft pulley may have broken loose from the rim so that the center of the pulley turns but the rim does not.

[CaptainPayne]

well good news is it is turning the motor over! Bad news is it looks like it still is the timing belt, as the distributor rotor is not turning when the motor is cranking (and probably why the car died suddenly in the first place). so looks like I have a project this weekend, along with rear brakes, oil change, and tranny fluid change (once it's running again).

Thanks for the ideas Tash!

[CaptainPayne]

Well my suspicions were confirmed. The teeth on the bottom of the timing belt (6-8 of them) were all shredded off. So I'm doing the belt, idler, idler spring, water pump (which is hard to find the right one with the lip for the belt cover up here), crank seal, cam seal, and valve cover gasket, as well as doing a bit of a tune to it.

Question I have is that I'm resetting the timing, but just want to make sure that when No1 is at TDC, and the cam timing mark is aligned which intake and exhaust should be open. I know the dots are all ligned up, but rater get it right once, than have to open the whole thing again!

Cheers

Mike