I own an 06 tC and randomly last week I was driving to work and it started making a dull rattling sound (pulled over to check it out and could only tell it was coming from around the alternator) and before I could even make it to work it died in an intersection and I had it towed.

It was looked at by the shop that recently replaced the serpentine belt and alternator and what they said was that the tensioner for the timing chain essentially broke and sunk the engine. This is my first experience dealing with something on this scale and in hopes of saving myself from having to tow it around, would anyone know if at that point my engine is totally hosed and I need to get a new one dropped in or could this be something that is salvageable?

 

It's salvageable but it's going to take work. 1st, is the engine seized or did the tensioner just cut loose? Was there any knocking or banging coming from the engine before it died? If the engine still spins,and you didn't over heat or cause bearing failure because of no oil, then you might just be luck enough to be able to pull the timing cover and replace the tensioner, chain, chain guides. Make sure the oil pump gear, crank and cams are lined up slap it back together. If you or your friends are mechanically inclined you could have it done in a weekend easy for a couple hundred dollars. If not then a shop will probably charge you $1k plus to do it. Oh and at the very least, you're going to have to pull the front motor mount and the passenger side motor mount and the motor will have to be jacked up and down probably a good half dozen times getting different nuts and bolts out.

 

It's a 2AZ engine, best bet would be to remove the valve cover and assess the damage. Post pics here from a birds eye view if you can. It is "considered" an interference engine so if the stars lined up (in a negative way) there could be further internal damage between the valves and the pistons.

 

Ya. If it was idling when it went, you might have gotten lucky. It's classified as in interference engine cuz of the vvt, and hydraulic lifters which vary in length with oil pressure. It might have just died and caused no internal damage. Will it still spin if you put a ratched or wrench on the Crank pulley and rotate?


But Like Kruso Said, Its also possible that it could have bent several valves against pistons, and damaged pistons, valves, valve guides, and lifters in the process. So I don't wanna get your hopes up. But its definitely possible to determine what kinda damage your probably lookin at from home so you don't have multiple tow bills.


Taking it apart wont matter if its rallied, and if its gonna be repaired, then replacing the valve cover, and/or head would be easy enough. So.... basically we're saying start tearing it down in an organized manner from the valve cover down, and let us know what you find. So we can help you determine whether its worth it to fix or not. GOOD LUCK!!