Timing belts

EDWARDCSILVA

MEMBER
1994 TOYOTA PICKUP
6 CYL
4WD
MANUAL
18,000 MILES

I have a 94 Toyota 4x4 3.0 v6. The motor died on freeway and the catalytic converter was glowing red. I removed converter, pulled plugs but now I think the timing belt may have broke. How can I check to confirm. And if it is not broken, what kind of damage could have been done to motor when converter glows red?

Sunday, February 1st, 2009 AT 9:00 PM

1 Reply

KASEKENNY

MECHANIC
18,907 POSTS

These non-interference engines normally make a distinct sound when the timing belt breaks. Basically, they make very fast cranking noise due to the valves not moving and no compression.

The easiest way to tell if there is an issue if the noise is not much different is to run a compression test.

Here is a guide that will help with this:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-test-engine-compression

The only other way to really know for sure is to pull it down and inspect to see if the belt is broken.

Below is the info from the manual on how to install the belt.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-a-timing-belt-works

Please see the attached info and let us know what questions you have. Thanks

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