1997 Toyota Camry rough idling

MOMMASTACK

MEMBER
1997 TOYOTA CAMRY
4 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
174,000 MILES

My camry had the water pump replaced by a friend. He replaced it and put the car back together as far as I know the correct way. But now when I start it, it has this chugging sound. And when I drive it, if I go past 20mph it acts like it needs to shift like on a manual car. My friend mention something about maybe it's my timing belt needing to be timed. I dont know whats wrg and I need my car. Im broke and need to try and fix it on my own. Please help me!
Thanks

oh and also my fans are not turning on but my air and heat have not been working for awhile now so is that why my fans dont click on?

2 Replies

MHPAUTOS

MECHANIC
31,938 POSTS

Hi there,

The water pump is driven by the timing belt, so you will have to get the valve timing re checked, the ignition timing will not be a problem as long as the distributor was not touched, as for the fans, the coolant fan has a temp sensor that turns it on at a given temp, drive the car till the temp is hot and idle the car and see if the fan comes on, the second fan only comes on with the air, so if that is not working, neither will the fan.

Mark (mhpautos)