My son has a 1999 Camry with 2.2 liter engine, he had the timing belt replaced about 6 weeks ago and not long after it developed a slight ticking noise like a possible loose lifter. This went on for about 2 weeks and on his way home one night the engine quit. he said it started sounding like the it was going to completely come apart. He got it towed back to the garage that replaced the belt, they tried starting it and stated it sounded horrible. They performed a compression check and there was no compression. The oil level is correct and no visible leaks. My question is could this be an issue with the new timing belt having broke or something related to the timing belt. Just trying to get some second opinions beofre we decide what to do next. I haven't had a chance to remove the timing cover to look at the belt, but if you take the oil filler cap off it appears there is some obstruction at the filler neck.

 

Was the noise a metallic sound, thud, knock or some other type of noise? Is it possible the noise was from some other component such as AC compressor, alternator, power steering pump, etc? The water pump can fail in such a way as to make a lot of noise plus damage the belt but this is rare.

The valve cover has a baffle which you see when you remove the filler cap. The baffle is fixed in place.

If wanting to examine the valve train the best option is remove the valve cover held in place by 4 large nuts on the 4 tubes where the 4 spark plug wires are. Remove a spark plug wire and boot at the valve cover and you will see a nut.

The engine is non-interference. The design should preclude the pistons from hitting the valves no matter what position either are in. If the belt breaks no damage to the engine should occur. Would be highly unusual if damage happened from a belt break.

If you have the car suggest you remove the valve cover and spark plugs then inspect the valve train for issues. If all appears OK manually turn the crankshaft CW slowly using the harmonic balancer bolt plus socket and breaker bar while watching the valve train. If for some reason you encounter resistance when turning stop and investigate.

Watch the valves as they should open and fully close. If a bent valve it may not close all the way or there could be some other issue you notice as you rotate the crankshaft.

The engine can throw a rod if hot rodded or a rod bearing can start to fail which has happened. But neither of these would explain lack of compression.

If needing a service manual, Haynes is a good choice at around $20.

The timing cover can be time consuming to remove due to lack of good access to the 3 bolts holding the alt/ engine mount bracket to the engine which can be very tight.

Suggest using only a 6-point box wrench or risk rounding the heads off making it a real job to get the bolts loose.

Please post back with your findings.

 

toyomoho thank you for getting back to me and sorry for the delay in my response. so we removed the upper timing belt cover and everything was great. we then removed the valve cover and again everything looked great. we then removed the spark plugs and turned the crankshaft and it turned okay, while we were turning one of us looked down each of the spark plug tubes and we found that the #1 cylinder was not moving at all. it appeared to be stuck at the top of the stroke. We put an extension down the tube and lightly tpped it and the piston dropped down the cylinder. My next plan is to remove the oil pan so we can see what happened to the piston. I have to assume that it's a broken connecting rod, wrist pin is missing or something else weird like that. Have you ever heard of anything like this situation before? I will get back to you after I get the oil pan removed. I also plan on taking some pictures so if I can I wll post those as well.

 

Perhaps a rod bearing failed. This would explain the ticking noise, then the horrible noise.

A bad rod bearing can happen but not typical of the engine.

A rod can break (sometimes going through the block) but this is typically due to over revving the engine.

The engine has a set of balancing shafts under the crank that are gear driven by a crank gear located between the 1st and 2nd rod bearings.

If you start taking the balance shaft housing take note how of the shafts are aligned with the crank plus there are a couple of shims between the housing and block, make sure to keep this.