Help diagnosing water pump/timing belt failure or more severe?

Hi, new here and first Tacoma but not new to working on my own vehicles. Was hoping to find help with this mystery purchase. Solid higher mileage taco from cousin bought for 700!, she thought timing belt/catastrophic engine failure possible. Asked her some questions and sounds like loud metal sounds and white smoke (I'm hoping coolant from water pump failure). Non interference may have saved it. It's the 3.4 liter 5v Fe or whatever. Do I try a compression check or tear into water pump timing belt job? Oil and coolant look fine... it turns over but no start. Thanks a lot if you can make informed suggestions.

 

you might be able to slide the timing cover forward without taking anything else off. that way you can see if the belt is still there. and you can manually turn the engine with a wrench to make sure it's all moving inside. if your belts are moving, everything should be ok . i would say verify that the belt is still there and moving. BUT, if you plan to keep the truck and get it working 100% no matter what, just do a timing belt and water pump service. if you don't think it's been done for a while, it probably hasn't

 

I do a leak down test since your friend mention white smoke before you do a t-belt replacement.

 

Very Easy to slide the upper timing belt cover front and look.

Perchance did she keep driving till the engine stopped??

Is the radiator empty ??

 

Great ideas thank-you. Has coolant, it was driven for awhile with something not quite right power wise if I remember correctly. Then driven until bad metal noise and won't start/smoke show. Not seized. Now couldn't it have run badly after jumping a tooth because of dying water pump then finally killed the belt hence ensuing mayhem?

 

My original plan was have JDM motor installed, maybe remove old one myself. Not sure of risk there on JDM option. But hey, if I can get by on this engine that would be great

 

Oh but a blown up water pump would have unloaded coolant? Those shafts have texture to allow lubrication coolant past seal? Maybe seal stayed together though, I'll dig into it this weekend hopefully. Much appreciated.

 

I have seen timing belts lose teeth but not break. So the belt could appear in tact. I dont know if its possible on a tacoma, but I usually open the oil fill if its on the valve cover and look for valve movement. I just got my tacoma so I not physically opened the oil cap. I think pulling the timing cover forward would work also. Just make sure you see the cams turning.
White smoke would be head gasket or a crack somewhere. look at your plugs and look for one or more that are cleaner than the others. That is where your water is burning.
Good luck

 

if there is a crank it would be cylinder #3 (old motor).
I have a JDM in mine now. there is a little more to it than what a lot of people say beside swapping accessories. oil pan/pick up tube needs to be swap over. all brackets/pulley ie. ac, ps, alt, crank pulley and fan bracket need to be swapped due to the amount of teeth on each pulley. re-use engine mounts from old motor and also the throttle body. now this was my JDM motor, if you end up getting one it might be different.

 

Never seen anything quite like this, and also never more excited about broken auto parts.

 

I could have guessed the malfunction had I noticed the grape cluster of dents on the "5vz" cover

 

That must have been pretty loud till it failed

You never heard anything or your sound system is so loud you can listen 1/2 a mile away ??

 

so yeah.... new timing belt and components, new coolant. you should be back on the road in 1 weekend

 

lol holy shit i just realized. you jsut got yourself a 1500 dollar tacoma that can sell for nearly 7k or more even. your cousins gonna be pissed when she hears it just needed a new timing belt setup and coolant.

 

Why would you even tell Her ??

I would not offer details just say it was expensive.

 

Oh no she wanted to help me out. 700 for truck+213 for the kit. And it's TRD crew cab. No rust, I'm pumped. Already bought kit yesterday but need couple more tools either fabricate or bought, for fan... she wanted excuse to buy a diesel think. Are dayco parts decent? She took the nice sound system out...hmmmm

 

I know it about the resale, unbelievable!

 

The seal plastic melted so bearings are stuck hard on the cover. Also melted water pump bearing seals so that is stuck too.

 

errrummmm id go with gates before dayco myself. but there are some OE kits on ebay somewhere that are cheaper than aftermarket. just gotta wait for someone to post about it.

and you can remove those bearings, just gotta melt the plastic a bit with a heat gun. theyre not there permanently.

 

Advance used to sell gates but now dayco. I was joking about the bearings bring permanent, they'll flake off with a scraper