Storyofmylife

I bought my 4runner, the kids and I named Betsy, from my brother a few years ago. Over the years she's had some issues the most serious being the transmission and at one point she sat in my yard untouched for a year. As problems came up I've tried to just figure it out on my own. I'm a single mom with three kids currently working graveyard swing so I can't afford a shop and although my brother is a career mechanic and offers help when the wind is blowing just right, rarely followed through. Last weekend while driving Betsy stopped accelerating and when I came to a stop on the side of the road she died completely. She would turn over but wouldn't fire up. It was late and raining so my brother gave me and the kids a ride home and took me back to look her over the next day. We checked what we could there; fuses, relays etc. He confirmed there was fuel and spark and decided to call a friend for a tow. They took her back to his friends shop and that's when I stopped receiving info. I called to get an update and was scolded for the valve cover gasket leak that flooded a few plugs. He told me to bring him what he needed to fix it which I had purchased MONTHS ago when he offered to help me with it in his garage. Once I got there he made it very clear how angry he was for the inconvenience and was even more upset when his time had been wasted because it didn't fix the problem. Betsy was left at his friends house to wait until he felt like trying something else. I spent hours online looking for possible solutions but I was denied access to test any theories and I had no idea what had been checked already. My brother told me he believed she needed a new crankshaft sensor (through online searches) and said if that didn't fix it I'd have to take her to a shop. He also sent me a link for an inexpensive sensor to order that he would put in when he got off work. Well... I had two days off and wanted the chance to look over her myself before replacing something I didn't need to replace (I did go ahead and order the part). Longer story shortened, I ended up getting her towed home and my brother and I haven't spoken since. I went down a checklist of the countless things it could be. While looking over the motor I found a stray wire that I tracked to where it was wedged in the timing belt cover. When I loosen a bolt on the cover a strip of rubber fell out that I initially thought was a gasket. It turned out to be a piece of my shredded timing belt. (The stray wire looked cut and was part of the harness that supplies the a/c compressor) So what tha hell, right? I found a ride to the parts store and bought a new timing belt, drive belts, water pump and decided might as well, a fuel filter, oil filter, coolant and oil. I downloaded every manual and repair guide I could find and equipped with borrowed tools and YouTube set to tearing it down. Now I have some questions and haven't been able to find answers. When I got down to the crankshaft pulley (which was a nightmare and I later kicked myself for not renting a puller sooner) I tried to set cams and crank to their marks but the cams were way off. I read that I can set them after removing the old belt (what was left of it) so in my frustration of getting the pulley off I took a pair of scissors and cut it off so I could at least feel I accomplished SOMETHING. I'm down to removing the tensioner. I spent 4hrs yesterday morning after work trying all the short cuts and I've decided to just remove the a/c compressor because I might as well take a look at it too. I'm cleaning everything up because the belt was chewed to dust and there's oil I hope was from the valve cover gasket. NOW for the questions, what should I absolutely replace to keep from doing this again any time soon? Where should I focus on looking for leaks in case the oil wasn't from valve covers? Is it possible that the shredded belt was simply a symptom of a bad sensor? If so is there any way to check the crankshaft and cam sensors? If I put everything back together, turn the key, and the problem IS a bad sensor, would I loose another belt? Sorry for the long post and all the questions. Online searches are time consuming.

habanero

Good morning! I prefer this write-up:
http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/maintenance/timing_belt/
and made a few notes regarding it in my build thread, post 3097, 3102, 3103 shows a handy-dandy tool for your next timing belt job:
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f200.../index155.html
Caveat: I'm no mechanic, just living and learning much like you are now.
and Timmy the Toolman made an excellent you-tube video:
Toyota Timing Belt Replacement (PART 1) for 3.4L V6 5VZ-FE (4runner, Tacoma, Tundra & T100)
He also has a valve cover gasket replacement video.

The crank sensor would be low on my list. Given the belt shredded I'd ask myself why and check all pulleys to make sure none of them seized or sticky. How many miles are on the belt? I'd also replace the water pump as I'm betting it's got a lot of miles on it and what it takes to replace- you're right there.
Lucky you, it's not an interference engine.

I'm a mom too, with a driveway for a repair shop. The first time I did the timing belt on my 3.4 I laid everything out in order of removal which my 2 year old promptly re-arranged for me. So sweet.
If you're decent at puzzles or good at following tutorials you can do this!

Not sure if any of this helped but I've got to go lunch-lady now, there are good, helpful people here on Yotatech.
Best wishes!

Storyofmylife

Thank you! I got her all fixed up. Turned out the tensioner pulley bolt hole was stripped! I used helicoil and now it's good as new. She runs better too!