My friend phoned yesterday, asking for assistance in diagnosing issues with his son-in-law's commuter car, a 2009 Toyota Yaris. (The Yaris was Toyota's subcompact of the day, succeeding the Echo.)
Son-in-law had reported the check-engine light on. I agreed to walk over to my friend's house with my ScanGauge. My friend phoned back to say that his SIL had reported lots of lights on the dash, and smoke from under the hood, and had driven home to his bedroom community about 25 km away instead of stopping here in town.
My friend and I drove out there, and, as I'd feared, the serpentine belt was missing. That meant that the water pump had not been turning, and the car had overheated badly enough to boil off the coolant. The "smoke" had actually been steam. There were clotted coolant boogers spewed all over the engine compartment, including crusted on top of the filler neck, which didn't allow the rad cap to seat properly.
We added a lot of water to the cooling system. The starter could not turn the engine over - there was just the rattle of the solenoid. I was able to get a socket on the crank pulley bolt, and was able to turn the engine over without too much effort. I told them that the engine was likely ruined, but that if we replaced the serpentine belt it might be OK when it cooled down.
The belt was cheap, so we installed a new one. The engine turned over well, but did not start.
Is there any point in pursuing this further? They are a lovely young family of limited means, are very good people, and are really good parents. They definitely need the 2nd car for him to take to work, so she can have the van available in case there's a emergency with the kids.
I would like to help, but wonder if there's any point in them putting a used engine into this car. It's an '09 Yaris, 1.5 l, 4-speed automatic, with about 200K on the clock, and the beginnings of some rust. Any chance this stout little Toyota engine will have survived the overheating and be OK? It's hard to find used engines here for cars that old.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts!
Son-in-law had reported the check-engine light on. I agreed to walk over to my friend's house with my ScanGauge. My friend phoned back to say that his SIL had reported lots of lights on the dash, and smoke from under the hood, and had driven home to his bedroom community about 25 km away instead of stopping here in town.
My friend and I drove out there, and, as I'd feared, the serpentine belt was missing. That meant that the water pump had not been turning, and the car had overheated badly enough to boil off the coolant. The "smoke" had actually been steam. There were clotted coolant boogers spewed all over the engine compartment, including crusted on top of the filler neck, which didn't allow the rad cap to seat properly.
We added a lot of water to the cooling system. The starter could not turn the engine over - there was just the rattle of the solenoid. I was able to get a socket on the crank pulley bolt, and was able to turn the engine over without too much effort. I told them that the engine was likely ruined, but that if we replaced the serpentine belt it might be OK when it cooled down.
The belt was cheap, so we installed a new one. The engine turned over well, but did not start.
Is there any point in pursuing this further? They are a lovely young family of limited means, are very good people, and are really good parents. They definitely need the 2nd car for him to take to work, so she can have the van available in case there's a emergency with the kids.
I would like to help, but wonder if there's any point in them putting a used engine into this car. It's an '09 Yaris, 1.5 l, 4-speed automatic, with about 200K on the clock, and the beginnings of some rust. Any chance this stout little Toyota engine will have survived the overheating and be OK? It's hard to find used engines here for cars that old.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts!