peterjcb

OK,.....I make a short trip today and started hearing squealing sounds. The next thing I notice is that I'm smelling burning rubber. When I pull into the parking lot, I pop the hood and notice that there's smoke coming from the top hole in my distributor cap. I immediately shut the engine off and had AAA tow it back to my house. It's now sitting safely in the garage.

I have a feeling that something is frozen and it's burning some belt up. Can it be a frozen water pump? The timing belts cam seals, rollers and water pump were all changed in May of 2000 @ 133,000 miles.

My car now has 157,00 miles on it. Any help? I'm afraid to start it up for fear of breaking the timing belt.

josephsc

I'd say definitely don't start the car until you find out what's wrong. Maybe take the top cam cover off, take a look and snap a few pics? That can be easily w/o even lifting the car -- takes on a 10mm socket.

theedge

Dont start it thats for sure.

When were all the belts, rollers, idlers, and waterpump last replaced? How long ago and how many miles ago...

peterjcb

The timing belts cam seals, rollers and water pump were all changed in May of 2000 @ 133,000 miles. My car now has 157,00 miles on it.

That puts it at about 4 years ago and about 24,000 miles. However, the car has not been driven much in the past 3 years. I've only put about 3,000 miles on it since getting it last October.

Peckster

Smart move having it towed home, there are a few guys on this forum who wish they'd done the same!

I change my belts every three years to be safe, but it sounds like you have a roller problem.

Did you see your new rollers with your own eyeballs, or are you taking someone's word for it?

Always the cynic...

edit, oh, I see you bought it recently. Did you see the bill for the work? Even then...

Trust no one but yourself.

peterjcb

The PO gave me the receipts for the past five years that he had owned it.

Parts Used on May 2000 repairs:

Aux Shaft belt
fanswitch
water pump
timing belt
2 cam seals
1 roller
belt guide kit
serpentine belt

SoCal Driver

When you take the belt cover off look for this:



And this:



Thread:http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showt...hreadid=172187

pete944

Only 1 roller was replaced. That could be the problem. There are 2 tensioner rollers and 2 idler rollers, any of which could have frozen up. Best case scenario would be an idler roller. It most likely wouldn't do any damage. The tension rollers are toothed rollers and would rip the belt to shreds if they locked up. The water pump could also have seized.
Take the front cover off and inspect for damage and check to see if the timing marks are lined up properly. If so, replace everything and count yourself lucky.

Dave

The fact that the belt was squeeling points towards the waterpump or an idler being siezed, if a toothed roller had stopped turning you'd get a different sound. 4 years is the limit on belts regardless of mileage.

peterjcb

Too late to start that tonight here on the East Coast. I'll open her up tomorrow morning and take some pics.

peterjcb

OK, there are obviously shavings in the cover. The belts do not appear to be in bad shape to my untrained eye. However, I do see some rubber sticking to the top smooth roller but I don't notice any on the bottom smooth roller. The top smooth roller spins but it does not spin as effortlessly as the bottom roller.
Also the belt with the teeth on top and bottom (front belt) , appears to have a lot more slack that the inner single sided belt.

peterjcb

Forgot the pic.

theedge

The double ribbed belt is the balance shaft belt, its supposed to have more slack than the inside one. The inside one (single sided belt) is the camshaft belt, aka timing belt.

theedge

I wonder if the waterpump is seized, looks like theres a layer of rubber crumbs behind its roller...

peterjcb

I have been leaking some coolant and I thought that it wasn't a big problem at the time. I did have to add a quart or so of coolant in the reservoir last night but I haven't started it up since. The water pump was replaced 4 years / 24,000 miles ago along with the belts and roller. I'm also wondering if my idler roller can be a problem because I see a rubber coating on it. However, it does turn.
I'm also wondering about the big idler roller next to the water pump... if that's what it's called. The rubber crumbs could be coming off that if it's seized.