Stupid mechanic

I'm having a bad day. I heard a noise in the engine of my car (1986 Corolla AE82 with 4ac), so I stopped and had a look. Lots of gunk around the timing cover.

Took the top of the timing cover off (it had a big crack in it) and had a look inside. Gunk everywhere. Metal and rubber gunk.

Had a look down to the bottom. There's a freaking bolt just sitting there. It's nearly destroyed the back of the timing belt, and what's more it has ground the teeth down to stubs on the crankshaft pully. AAARRGH!

I don't even know if the pulley is its own part, or if it is part of the crankshaft. I sure hope it can be replaced.

I had the car in for a major service about 6 months ago, including having the timing belt changed. I think it was probably the mechanic's fault, but I can't really prove it, and he is a friend of my father-in-law.

What can I do? I don't think I can afford to pay for it (and I don't think I should have to), but I don't want to strain the relationship with the in-laws either.

I hate this sort of stuff. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

pully can be raplced but that mechanic sucks

o timeing belts are not to hard to replace just makes usre ya line up the marks corectly

that is why I do my own engine work.
I have a horor story about aatco transmissions but that is a long story
The owner of the shop that did me wrong
lives pretty close to me and I see him around and in the grocery store a lot.

I am younger and bigger than he is.

some day who knows I may set things right.

the person who worked on your car should replace any damaged parts and redo the work.

Before you jump to conclusions, you need to determind what caused the timing belt to fail.

Also of major importance is you need to find out if your particular motor will bend the valves upon timing belt breakage.

If you have bent valves, that means top end overhaul, on top of fixing the timing assembly.

Some causes of premature failure of new timing belt:

1. failure to replace idler bearing at the same time as belt
2. failure to tension timing belt properly
3. if there is a water pump being driven by the timing belt, failure to replace the pump at the same time as belt.
4. failure to replace worn timing toothed pulley. Usually the smaller pulley will be worn much worst than the larger one.
5. Another major internal part like the camshaft locks-up
6. The plastic timing case develops a crack, allowing a rock or debris to jam the timing belt.

There are other reasons I'm forgetting, but those are the most common. and yes I have many years of automotive experience...

Thanks cy. I am glad to say that the belt did not fail, and so the valves are not damaged.hew:

I do need to replace the belt, because it is damaged, but the real worry to me is the damaged pulley. That thing looks expensive. However, the guy changed the belt (and was supposed to change the idler bearing) about 6 months ago like I said, and since nobody has had the cover off since then (and the crack is not big enough to let anything in) I guess it must have been the mechanic's fault.

I sure hope he fixes it for me, and does a good job this time!

Sounds like the idler pulley was not checked before the new belt was installed. The pulley may have been OK with the old belt but was heavily restressed with the new belt. These things need to be checked on the belt replacements- they help keep the belt lined up among other things.

Catastrophic failure would likely result in just the situation you have mentioned. Better get Toyota to check out the situation. Sounds like mucho bucks to replace and balance everything.

can you see where the stray bolt came from?

No I can't see where the bolt came from, but I decided not to take the whole lot apart to see it. Rather I contacted the mechanic first, so that he couldn't blame me for it.

The good news is that he has agreed to fix it at his expense.

I am very relieved, because I think StuU might well be right about the "mucho bucks."