Please help! I was at a stop light and my 99 4cyl Camry was idling fine. The light changed an I pressed the gas, it made a hard grinding sound that reved with the engine then just died. I tried to start it again, but just grinds hard. Once I got it out of the road, I saw that it was leaking a lot of fluid from the left (passenger) side of the engine and appears to be coolant. Any ideas?

 

Follow the lower radiator hose to the metal pipe on the engine. The pump is within inches of this pipe on the passengers side of the engine behind a tall black plastic cover. Look for coolant coming out the bottom of this cover.

The pump is powered by the timing belt. It is possible the water pump bearing froze up resulting in teeth being stripped off the belt causing the engine to stop.

 

Thanks for the info. I'll check that out. How can I check and make sure that's what it is before I go replacing stuff? So, if that's the case, I'd need to replace the water pump and the timing belt, right? I've done a water pump replacement in other cars before, but I'm nervous about the timing belt. Any good resources on how to do that?

 

The cheapest best shop manual is a Haynes at around $20.

The link below provides instructions on changing the belt. If replacing the belt disregard reference to marking the belt before removing it.

http://www.justanswer.com/uploads/JH...ng_removal.pdf

Determine if the engine noise is coming from under the timing belt cover. If so the cover
needs to be removed then the problem found. Once the cover is off it should be obvious what the problem is.

Check the belt for sheared teeth. The water pump drive shaft bearing for leaking coolant. With belt off feel and rotate the water pump pulley for roughness and play. The bearing should be smooth turning and no side to side or in/out play.