Hi Soober's:

My Loyale (5spd/4WD) died yesterday. I started it up and put in gear let out the clutch and it was like it was in 3 or 4th gear! The clutch seemed to grab ok, so I'm fairly certain the clutch is OK. It was replaced in the last 6 months. It felt like it was running on two cylinders. I limped it to my garage about 2 miles and left it there for my mechanic. It would crank fine after I shut it off. There is no oil or coolant leaks underneath. I'm thinking timing belt on one side went. When I've started it recently there has been a significant whirring sound under the hood for several secs then it settles down. Belt slippping. The water pump was replaced about a month ago. The bearing let go skewing the fan a bit sideways. Tiny bit of shroud/fan contact, same whirring sound then. I'll get it looked at tomorrow, but I'd like to get an idea tonight to help me relax. I have to drive back to Toronto from central Jersey in two weeks and I am pretty broke. If it's a belt It'll be around $250-300. and I guess I should have two new ones put in? When they did the water pump the must have removed the T-Belts. I wonder if they didn't reinstall correctly?

Any help would be great.

Cheers,

Gareth

You can check the compression on the passenger side to see if there is a problem.

You can check the compression on the passenger side to see if there is a problem.

 

Hey Glen:

 

Are you thinking a ring or valve went? There was no accompanying noise. If the ring was wearing out there would have been a slow loss of compression not just bang no power?

I was suggesting that if the timing belt broke then the compression would be down. Depending how the cam ended up when the belt broke at least.

Chances are the passenger side belt let go due to a bad tensioner. The belts would not have been touched during a waterpump replacement.

If you suspect a timing belt simply pop out the rubber plugs in the plastic timing belt covers and feel if the belts are tight.