my son was driving our 2002 montero sport and said he heard a click then the engine went dead. he had just turned a corner. he coasted to a parking lot and said it was smoking under the hood. there was a plastic cover over the timing belt that melted off the front of it and fluid under the truck. it looks like antifreeze, but hard for me to tell since i didnt get there until later. there is oil in the engine, transmission fluid. radiator was empty though. I am thinking it was antifreeze that was leaking. problem is the truck will not start now. could this be timing belt/ waterpump? any other possibilities? or issues I need to be concerned about? i didnt see any fluid on the top part of the engine. everything is under and its hard to see since it has a skid plate underneath. any help would be appreciated. I am not sure what to do now and do not have a lot of money to take to a mech. Thanks.

 

does the engine turn when you try to start it?

do a cooling system pressure test to see if you can find where all the coolant leaked out from. do a wet and dry compression test on the motor and bring back the numbers

 

yes, the engine tries to turn over but will not fire. I am not anywere close to be a mech so I do not know how to perform those test. I dont understand what would have caused that casing on the timing belt to melt off. How can I tell if timing belt is bad and if it hurt the engine? I heard these 2002's have a engine that can be damaged by a timing belt getting off track. I want to know whats wrong with it before I go further at looking at a mech.

 

well thats what the point of the compression test would be is to see if you bent any valves (what would probably happen if your timing belt snapped or slipped) you can probably rent a compression tester from napa or autozone, if not im sure they will tell you where you can. basically what you do is take out your spark plugs, and thread in the compression tester where the spark plugs are, then take out your fuel pump relay, and crank over the engine for a couple seconds. after you do that, read the numbers on the gauge and tell us what they are

 

also if you could, take some pictures of your engine bay and the timing belt cover etc.. and post them on here

 

It sounds like the water pump may have gone out. If the bearing went, that would account forthe lost fluid andit would've broken the timing belt, that's why it's not running any longer. Also, if the WP bearing froze, the belt would've rubbed on it, heating up until it broke, and the heat may have melted part of the cover (or the heat from the WP bearing as it was starting to seize) -depending on where the melted cover is.
Just my $.02.
J

 

I concur on the water pump. Happened to me once but I managed to limp it to my mechanic before it completely seized. Hope your valves survived but I doubt it.

 

thanks for the info. any idea on what the cost would be to repair? for timing belt and waterpump...and lord knows valves if I need them.

 

well ill put my 2cents in on this, i can almost garauntee your t belt broke due to the water pump failing. 9 times outa 10, you bend valves especially if on the highway. most all if not all, of are engines are interferance engines. a timing belt and water pump for that vehichle is roughly $700 to $800 installed. (now keep in mind these are dealer parts rough estiments)

now that your heads prolly need to come off and valves replaced your looking at a $500 gasket set and around $400 for the valve job, plus 10hrs labor at around $90 to $100 per hr. total this up 1900 so far, add a new t belt($70) and water pump($150) and teinsenor($120) ballpark price is around $2240 instead of $700 with a little scheduled maintence.sorry my friend


hope your good with a wrench.

 

just to follow up. it was the timing belt. the waterpump blew up and destroyed the belt, and everything else attached. I will have to replace engine, $2500.00 total for it all to be done.