Engine seized at 80K miles after timing belt change

A

Arv

New member
My friend had her ‘01 timing belt replaced at a shop and a month later the crank seized. She was driving down the road and heard a sound and the car died on her. To add insult to injury the stealership sold her a new starter and battery. So I told her that she needs to ask for her money back for the starter and battery at least.

So according to the shop that did her service, they didn’t do anything wrong (of course) and that the oil and coolant have no contaminants, no metal on drain plugs or oil. They still have it and took the front end of the engine apart to check their work. I forgot to ask if they pulled the plugs to check it anything broke off but it’s a well maintained vehicle and she probably did everything that that shop recommended so I doubt it’s a part of the plug that broke off. They haven’t dropped the pan or removed the head but my friend does not want to spend any more money on the car. I'm thinking thet messed up the timing or something and it just took this time to break.

What do you think happened and what should I tell her to do next? They quoted her almost $7k for a replacement engine. So she just wants to buy a new car. What’s the most economical way of determining what really happened?
Thx!
 
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well these motors are non interference motors, so even if the timing got messed up that would not cause the motor to seize... it would just die and you would coast to the side of the road and yeah, replace the belt, line everything back up and put it back together and start it up and your good to go. sounds to me more like the through a rod thought the side of the block.... i have heard of motors with over 200k on a timing belt and no issues. in some very rare cases there have been incidents of these motors throwing rods, and that is pretty much a catastrophic failure. but $7k for a new motor is a joke, they are just trying to rob her blind. right now in my area there are 3 or 4 complete motors with wire harness' for under $1800. now she would only need the motor and no wire harness, so she could easily get one for like $1200 and say another $800 tops in labor to do a swap.... for $7k i could have a full motor swap to the 3.4 in my old 85 truck done by a shop and make to look factory...
 
I know this is out of line, but if shes getting rid of it let me know.

You can find a replacement 3.4 at a junkyard for not that much. try one of the pick-n-pulls in your area. Its not too hard to change an engine out, and all you need is the block.

Make sure she gets the same motor from the same year though.....
 
I'd ask for money back on the starter and battery. If the 4runner had seized before installing the two aformentioned parts, then how in the hell did they get it out of the garage bay after installing the new parts and it still wouldn't move by cranking over normally?

If the belt didn't break, then I cannot see how the new one caused what happened. It is known that the connecting rod in some engines does break, causing lower engine failure.

I'd look here for a used one. If going that route, look under the valve covers and check that all outer connectors are present (not broken). Being that the car is old(er), the stealership wants nothing to do with a repair:
Car-Part.com--Used Auto Parts Market
 
the kid said:
well these motors are non interference motors, so even if the timing got messed up that would not cause the motor to seize... it would just die and you would coast to the side of the road and yeah, replace the belt, line everything back up and put it back together and start it up and your good to go. sounds to me more like the through a rod thought the side of the block.... i have heard of motors with over 200k on a timing belt and no issues. in some very rare cases there have been incidents of these motors throwing rods, and that is pretty much a catastrophic failure. but $7k for a new motor is a joke, they are just trying to rob her blind. right now in my area there are 3 or 4 complete motors with wire harness' for under $1800. now she would only need the motor and no wire harness, so she could easily get one for like $1200 and say another $800 tops in labor to do a swap.... for $7k i could have a full motor swap to the 3.4 in my old 85 truck done by a shop and make to look factory...
Click to expand...

I did find out that these motors are non-interference but its good to know that even if they screwed it up so bad during the belt change that it wouldn't have cause the crank to seize. I did think about that, imagining a valve hiting a piston and breaking the valve but its still far fetched to think about that broken peice causing the lock up and her not noticing something weird before the total failure. A CEL would have probably lit up too. Wait let me take that back, my wife was pulled over for having her brights on becasue she never noticed it nor the bright blue light for the brights on her dash. :-) so its possible.

Yeah I thought the $7K was too much.

Yes the rod breaking was the most common search result of a crank seizing so its probably the case here.
 
Doc2012 said:
I know this is out of line, but if shes getting rid of it let me know.

You can find a replacement 3.4 at a junkyard for not that much. try one of the pick-n-pulls in your area. Its not too hard to change an engine out, and all you need is the block.

Make sure she gets the same motor from the same year though.....
Click to expand...

No not at all... I actually thought about buying it from her and putting in a V8 but the costs involved just seems prohibitive. But I will post it here and IM you too if she decides to sell it and I don't want it! :-)
 
LittleCaesar said:
I'd ask for money back on the starter and battery. If the 4runner had seized before installing the two aformentioned parts, then how in the hell did they get it out of the garage bay after installing the new parts and it still wouldn't move by cranking over normally?

If the belt didn't break, then I cannot see how the new one caused what happened. It is known that the connecting rod in some engines does break, causing lower engine failure.

I'd look here for a used one. If going that route, look under the valve covers and check that all outer connectors are present (not broken). Being that the car is old(er), the stealership wants nothing to do with a repair:
Car-Part.com--Used Auto Parts Market
Click to expand...

Yup definitely a mis-diagnosis on the stealership's part and she should get some of her money back.

thanks for the link!
 
Hopefully Arv yáll can find a good used one. Basic logic of events dictates that the stealership is not divulging the whole story (as if they ever do).

Keep us informed.
 
the kid said:
you probably have not be around many motors then, or turned many wrenches...
Click to expand...

I'm just not cool enough like you to abbreviate crankshaft to just crank. :moon:

Abbreviating terms in hearsay that went through 2 people is generally not very helpful. Never hurts to verify, as a "seized crankshaft" is a ridiculous final diagnosis, not much more helpful than "it doesn't work". :crazy:
 
BobWa said:
I'm just not cool enough like you to abbreviate crankshaft to just crank. :moon:

Abbreviating terms in hearsay that went through 2 people is generally not very helpful. Never hurts to verify, as a "seized crankshaft" is a ridiculous final diagnosis, not much more helpful than "it doesn't work". :crazy:
Click to expand...

and you think of anything else in the motor with the word "crank" in it....? please enlighten me
 
LittleCaesar said:
Hopefully Arv yáll can find a good used one. Basic logic of events dictates that the stealership is not divulging the whole story (as if they ever do).

Keep us informed.
Click to expand...

My bad! I guess I did not differentiate enough between the "shop" that replaced the timing belt and the "stealership". The "shop" was an independent shop, not the stealership. I'm not sure why she had it towed to the stealership (maybe it was closer) after she broke down and that's where they replaced her starter and battery.
 
Arv,

I may have glossed over your first posting, not enough focus on my part.

If the stealership threw (figuratively) parts at the 4runner, without it getting to work, then she owes them zip. They could have had a 18 year old wet behind the ears trade tech figure out it was neither the starter nor battery with little effort.

I'd try to find an independent indy shop in NV, explain the situation to them, and if she wants to keep the 4runner, have her or the indy shop find a used engine.
 
Forrrrest said:
Oh oh oh pick me! Crank pulley......darn never mind that is actually a harmonic balancer :(
Click to expand...

TheDurk said:
Crankcase. But that is because it is the case around the crank (shaft).
Click to expand...

and what do both of these two different items have in common...


thats right, they both have to do with the CRANK shaft... the one item on the vehicle called the crank... and why is it called the crank shaft? does anyone know.... oh thats right because back in the day(back before most of us if not all of us were born) there was actually a hand crank that would be attached or inserted into the end of the mainshaft (as it was called back then) and you would crank that over to start the motor, much like how old airplanes would have to be started... (some newb had to go out and spin the prop over by hand till the motor started spinning that giant blender blade all by itself...


oh and lets not forget the crank shaft position sensor.... heaven forbid that seize... :help:
 
Ahhh this is awesome! Ok I will leave and go drink my beers in a better section. [MENTION=60147]the kid[/MENTION] very good! Most people have no idea why its called a crank.

And op tell your friend to go buy a used engine for 1200 and have a few buddies slap it in. It's not that hard to do....
 
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