My timing belt finally gave out. In the worst place.
 

Today, i was running some errands, and a small engine tick i’ve been monitoring for the past week or so, magically stopped. or so I thought. Until i went to speed up for the highway on-ramp, where my engine loudly chirped a couple of times and began to misfire when i applied throttle.

So i pulled over, thoroughly checked under the hood, and found one of the spark plug wires on the passenger side just dangling there, so i popped it back on and thought i solved the problem, but it was still idling rough. So, i decided to just take her home, but the problem was I was already on the highway. So, because of fear of blowing something up trying to accelerate to highway speeds, I putted along on the shoulder at about 20mph trying to just get to the next exit, or even just a wider shoulder (the shoulder was just barely wide enough for me with a concrete barrier to the right) and it was chirping whenever i gave it throttle.

Then, after giving it just a touch more throttle to get up a hill, i hear an awful sound, sputtering, so i immediately shut off the engine. I have to assume that was the sound of the timing belt skipping a few teeth and putting the engine out of sync. Hopefully, with the 5vz-fe being a non-interference engine, i don’t think it caused any actual damage (fingers crossed)

So, I sat in my 4runner on the skinny ass shoulder on a bridge, just around a bend, for an hour until AAA showed up, staring in my rear-view hoping i wasn’t gonna get absolutely demolished by someone drifting onto the shoulder without paying attention. The flatbed tow truck just baaaarely fit on the shoulder. I would’ve pushed it farther to a wider shoulder, but there just wasn’t one for another half mile at least. awful spot to break down. I even got a nail in my tire from driving on the shoulder. Hopefully it’s not too deep but i just left it in there in case it was...

Just thought I’d share. Don’t skip the timing belt service, people.

1. How many miles on the belt?
2. Was there a coolant leak?

Get the necessary parts and tools and getter dun. Luckily the 3.4 liter engine is non-interference. No damage done other than the inconvenience of being stranded and having to wait for a tow truck.

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Thanks your lucky stars it didn't happen when you needed the throttle to get yourself out of a bad situation!
Curious to know your timing belt final mileage also.
Recommended to change every 90K miles. Mines had huge cracks in the belt from the previous owner that I bought if from at 213K miles. I think the belt was original when the rig was new. I had the 4runner flat bedded back home when the owner couldn't give me a mileage or date when the TB was changed.

My 2000 4Runner is (i think) on the original Timing Belt. I plan to change it soon. I got a big surprise when i opened the timing belt cover.

i’ve got almost 250k and the sticker on the timing belt cover says it was done at 80k miles i’m guessing that was the only time it was changed

no coolant leak

Mine was original on my 5 speed when I changed it at 120k and 21 years old. I didnt want to be stranded if it snapped. Naturally it was developing the hairline cracks. :(

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DOH! BUt fortunately it's a non-interference engine.

I looked at the timing belt sticker recently: Changed at 129k..... I have just under 372k..... SOOOO it's time since it's been 243k miles since the last timing belt.

Good thing I have the entire timing belt (and all other belts and whistles... there's supposed to be whistles right?) kit in the basement ready to go in!

Now to find the time.

Good luck!!

Maybe I missed something in your post but how do you know it's the timing belt?

You're still good for another 50K. I had an old 2nd gen that looked worse than that and the timing belt still held.

just with the way the engine acted in its final minutes before i shut it off. it was obviously out of sync, misfiring, ticking, common signs of a timing belt skipping a few teeth. Last few seconds it definitely either snapped or skipped several teeth at once when giving it torque.

There are a few extra symptoms going on in your original post which makes me worry something else went wrong. Generally speaking, the motor will just run fine up until it doesn't. Maybe the spark plug wire coming off was entirely coincidental? Perhaps the chirping was a tensioner/idler pulley locking up, and that's what killed the belt?

Yeah dont assume its the timing belt. I thought mine went once but it was just a sparkplug loosened out. sounded all messed up when I tried to rev it.


If the belt snapped the engine just dies right away. You shutting it off makes me wonder if its something else. Remove the plastic cover and look at the belt before your commited to the wrong thing.

How old is your timing belt? They last a very long time and I dont hear of them breaking ramdomly very often.

if you guys haven't seen my other thread, it wasn't the timing belt. shop is thinking bent valve(s). trying to get a second opinion though. no compression in cyl 5 (the one the plug wire popped off of)

a new engine might be in the works... ugh

Not a timing belt; and almost impossible to bend the valves in the 5VZ, being as it’s a non-interference engine.

I’m willing to bet your ‘dangling spark plug wire’ was because the plug shot out; that would also *possibly* explain the tick.

No compression on cyl 5 can be because there are. I threads left for the compression tester to hold onto.

Get a second opinion; or get it home and look yourself.


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