Help! What is wrong with my car??, Engine failure Options

[nutmeg]

Hi everyone.. My car broke down yesterday and I was hoping one of you could help me guess what is wrong with my car because the anxiety is killing me. I was driving about 60 mph on the freeway last night when started to hear a quiet rattling coming from the engine. I put my car in neutral to see if it was just my wheel bearings because one of them has been making noise lately, but disengaging the engine made the noise stop. So I put it back into gear and over the next 30 seconds this metal rattling started to get louder; it almost sounded like someone had put a metal washer in a blender and pushed purée..

Meanwhile, I figure this is probably a good time to get off the interstate, and while I'm getting over into the next exit lane, my battery light, check engine light, and oil pressure light all come on and I realize the car is off. So I coast as far as I can down the feeder and push the car into a gas station. There was a little smoke in the cabin but it didn't smell like anything was burning.

I never realized how heavy our cars actually were until I had to push it 1/4 mile...talk about a workout. At the gas station, I checked my oil and it was fine, and my engine temperature never even budged from its usual spot. I tried to restart the car but it made this awful, awful noise like when you turn your key and the car is already on and after that I didn't want to try to restart it anymore.

I recently had my transmission, front wheel bearings, and clutch replaced (about 1 week ago), but it's been running fine until last night. I'm very new and inexperienced with cars, but I love my Celica and I'm really worried about it... Does anyone have any ideas as to what might be wrong??

[samir0189]

The starting problem sounds like the starter gear isn't disengaging? but that makes no sense as to why it would kill your engine while driving...

[nutmeg]

Yeah it was so sudden, I just don't know. I was thinking maybe my timing belt, but that's a relatively uneducated guess..

[samir0189]

Yeah dude, I dunno I was guessing about the starting problem. I've never had a timing belt snap on me so I have no idea what that would be like.

[96celica25thann]

Take it to a Repair shop and hook it up o an obd 1 or odb 2 for the chk engine light..sounds like something internal.

[nutmeg]

Ok, turns out it was my timing belt. And now I'm glad it wouldn't turn back on.. Thank you guys for the suggestions!

[RickJamesBish]

Glad you got it resolved...I think I need to replace my timing belt as well, wouldn't want this to happen.

And technically, our cars really aren't that heavy compared to others. You can manage to push around 2700 lbs.

[stephen_lee]

You got it repaired already?
And our engines are non-interference so nothing bad would happen if you did "start" it.
So will you make it to that Austin meet this weekend?

[DEATH]

Damn - If you need help I'm sure Stephen and I could knock it out. Let us know.

[stephen_lee]

Damn - If you need help I'm sure Stephen and I could knock it out. Let us know.

He's right, we could knock it out pretty fast.
You have an ST, which i have quite a bit of experience with.
Plus DEATH has a lot of experience w/ Toyotas on top of that.

[DEATH]

There's more room over there on the ST to do it with the engine still in the car right? IIRC there is a few inches clearance which is more than enough.

[stephen_lee]

To do the timing belt?? oh yeah, there's plenty of room.
you need to pull the motor mount off which frees up a lot of room.
after that its fairly easy. when i did mine i took the intake manifold off so it would be easier to get to the water pump and all.

[DEATH]

On the S Series motors there is only barely an inch of clearance which is why I asked - still not overly difficult but if you have more room on the A Series than this should be a cake walk. Might as well plan to do the Water Pump and Oil Pump at the same time.

[stephen_lee]

Right, the A series has about an inch and a half to work with. Enough to fit my little hands! lol
Now, if I could get my GF to actually work on the cars it's be great cause she's smaller than me and would be able to fit better in certain places lol
Yeah. I traced the death of my other engine to a bad oil pump which I should have replaced when I did the TBelt & water pump, so its a good idea to do all three

[RickJamesBish]

GF fits better in certain places lol

:fwap:

[GriffGirl]

Are there any good write-ups on changing the T-belt on a 7A? I recall searching around here before but not seeing anything. Maybe I just suck.

[RickJamesBish]

But do you?

[nutmeg]

aw man, I should do the oil pump too? I thought I was doing real good knowing that I needed to replace the water pump with it.. Sigh. And I'm not too sure about the meet on Saturday, my car isn't done yet; my friend is going to help me next week. I would love to go, but with my car and KyleKonvicka's car in the shop, it doesn't look too promising. Although I could always ride with SpacePanda but I'm not sure if he's still going or not.

How many of y'all are still planning on going?

[GriffGirl]

But do you?

Nope.


Back on topic - yes, do the oil pump and the water pump. Don't cheese out and not do it if you're doing your t-belt; it's not an oversight that you want to regret later. IDK how much an oil pump is, but the water pump is like under $50 IIRC

[RickJamesBish]

Ghey.