So I've been looking at some 96 -99 4runners & I found a nice 97 SR5 in Ohio with 106k mi for a good price, however, the clutch fan pully & what looks like part of the surrounding metal broke off and in the process cracked the timing belt cover. He said it's still running fine, however my concerns lie not only with the possiblity of it overheating, but from the pic it looks like it took off some of the surrounding metal with it.

I was thinking I could just throw an electric fan on there & replace the cover after doing the timing belt and related maintance. But does it look like there could be other serious issues with the engine by these pictures? Is it an easy fix or a whole pile of problems?






Any help is apreciated!

Thanks

 

is it an "easy" fix.... like changeing oil... no. is it like putting Head gaskets on a a 3.slow... no

if you feel comfortable doing a timing belt change you can do whats needed to replace that part with a new one.

assumieng the truck wasnt hit which caused the damage, ( ive never heard of one phyiscly brakeing the casting that holds the bearing when failing) id say its about a 3 wrench job.

lots of posts about the fan bracket (on a 3vze at least) search them out and educate your self a bit....

PS, you might redraw your "look hear idot" area in a contrasting color (like pink, yellow, green etc) instead of black on a black pic

 

Why is it broken? That's my question. It seems like the fan was spinning and something halted its motion suddenly, like an accident.

Have you ran a Carfax and looked it over really carefully for signs of a prior accident?

 

Wow, haven't seen a fan pulley seized up that badly yet. It looks like the belts just ripped it right off its mount after the bearings seized up. It shouldn't be too bad of a fix, but with metal pieces potentially going right down into the timing belt area, you should do a full timing belt replacement in addition to fixing the obvious broken parts.

Here's what it looks like before:


This should give you a good idea of what you're in for:
http://www.toy4x4.net/timing_belt/index.htm

....the truck looks good otherwise, I'd buy it for sure if that was all that was wrong with it.

 

I don't think it was in an accident, I'd bet that just seized up at highway speed.
I would definately carfax that puppy first though!

*Edit* After a second look you can see the dark areas on the cracked edge look to me like that crack may have been developing over some time.

 

Yeah I'd like to know how that mount could have just severed off like that. The guy gave me some story of his wife taking off with the e-brake on and yada yada the fan broke or something, they kept drivin it with the a blade broke off the fan and since it was off balance it broke off and flung into the radiator when it finally gave way. I just don't know how first off you could loose some fan blades and continue driving it till the whole thing broke off.

I did an electric fan conversion on my 91 3.0 which was a piece of cake & I've looked over the T-belt replacement & it doesnt look bad to me but I dont want to drive 4 hrs to find out it has thousands of dollars worth of damage vs 200-300.

I'm also looking at a 97 Limited with 150k mi locally friday for the same asking price, So I'm not sure what will be a better truck, the SR5 with these problems and 106k miles or the supposedly straight Limited with 150k miles.

 

theres no way a sized belt did this to the groved pully IMHO



that just looks like a flat out impact with something

secondly when my bearing seized up it spun the hardened steel bearing houseing INSIDE the (soft) AL casting....

 

Yeah, like maybe between a fan blade and the radiator? Your talkin about a lot of force to break that off...

I'll have to see what condition the limited with 150k is in, that might be a safer bet.

 

You're totally right, those marks are not from the belt, they're from when it hit other engine parts, then pavement after breaking loose. I do agree I doubt that came from a seized bearing because it would tend to just spin in the aluminum since they are only press-fit and aluminum casting is fairly soft. Now I suppose the fan could have had one or more blades broken off and just slowly vibrated itself to self destruction, but I would have thought anything that vibrated enough to damage the mount would be beyond annoying to drive on a daily basis.

What gets me is that if you look at the edges where the mount broke off, part looks fairly clean like it broke recently and the other part looks dark. So to me it looks like it was damage that was created over at least several months (and at least 1 winter) to get that level of oxidation and dirt on the line where it broke.

Another thought could be an old front end accident where the radiator was smashed against the fan but the part was not visibly broken except for maybe a fan blade. Then a combination of hairline casting cracks and an off balance fan blade finally set up for a more spectacular self-destruction later. That would definately be one to carfax before buying just to be sure.

 

My fan clutch bracket just went out on my 3.0. Not a very fun job. Pieces of the bearing fell into the lower timing belt area destroying the belt.

The fan bracket for that 97 4Runner 3.4 from the dealer is only available as an assembly (fan clutch, pulleys, and bracket, part#16307-62011) and runs about $460. I was able to find an aftermarket fan bracket for my 3.0 for $130. I found one for the 3.4 on ebay for $140 plus shipping.

Good luck!!

 

For that reason alone wouldnt it be more worth it just to switch to an electric fan?

 

I know im off topic but, I have the same color 4R as you . You dont see to many 4R's this color. Awsome truck!

I need to post some pics of mine, when I get some new tires.

And for the Fan. Man, that looks bad. Did it just break while you were driving? and you ran it over after it snapped?

 

It not my 4runner, just one I was considering buyin. But I'm glad I took the advice & ran a history report. Truck has a salvage title from 99 in Cali, Oh well I thought a 97 runner with 106k for 5000 was too good to be true and it is.

 

I need a new Rear Fan Pully, is it possible to get one without buying the part that has both pullys and fan clutch.
Mine was damaged when the slacker who installed the new timing belt bent the lip and now it eats alternator belts about every 500 miles.

 

Should be able to get just the pulley I'd think. Call the dealer and ask. You may find one from the one of guys parting out a 3VZ-E in the classified section. Cebby is one of them, clicky here: https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f180/fs-3vze-engine-parts-a340h-trans-tcase-2000-limited-tcase-more-82282/