2000 Toyota Solara Engine Running Rough, No Power
 

This is a long shot so I understand if no one is able to help me. I am trying to diagnose my mom's car who lives 3 hours away from me. She has a 2000 Toyota Solara with the 2.2L 4 cylinder engine. Same powertrain as the Camry's from that era.

Her power steering belt recently snapped so she had it towed to a shop to be replaced. They replaced it but now she is saying that the engine is jerky and that there is no power. She took it back to the shop and they saw that the power steering belt cut into the timing belt cover and there were pieces of plastic everywhere. They cleaned out all of the plastic around the crank sensor and it is still running the same. The check engine light has apparently been on for 3 years and several shops have tried to figure out why, including a Toyota dealership and I guess that whenever someone hooks up their scanner tool to the OBDII port, there is no connection. So the shop is not able to scan for any codes. She said the car was running fine before the power steering belt snapped so it definitely seems like something related to that.

The shop doesn't seem extremely competent from talking to them on the phone. They said that the timing marks line up but I'm solely taking their word for it that they actually do. They are saying they want to replace the spark plug wires because they are arcing. I understand that is not good and they need to be replaced but I don't see how that could be connected to whatever happened with the power steering belt. They want to charge $300 to replace them, and considering that is most likely not the root issue, I can replace those next time I see her for much cheaper.

Does anyone here familiar with these engines have any idea what could of possibly happened?

I'm thinking the only thing it could be is a damaged crank sensor or ring gear, however the car does start and run.

Any ideas on what the issue could be with both the engine running rough and also why no one (including a Toyota dealership) can connect to her ECU?

Again, I know I'm not giving much info here but maybe someone in the know can help me based off a hunch or previous experience with this issue. She doesn't have a lot of money to pay some shop to just replace a bunch of parts.

Thank you, any help is greatly appreciated.