Should Engine run without drive belts?

[mojodec]

My wife's '02 cruiser died a couple of weeks ago, and the wouldn't fire when turning over. I am now trying to isolate the problem.

Which leads me to this question. I thought the alternator might be shot, so disconnected the accessory drive belt and took off the alternator drive belt. When I tried to start the car, it turned over, it didn't fire, but I got a little smoke/exhaust out from the air intake/throttle body.

Any thiught? Should it normally start without the alternator and accessory drive belts?

I did test the ignition coil pack, and it's measuring the proper primary and secondary resistance.

Thanks for the help!

[JoeX]

Originally Posted by mojodec

My wife's '02 cruiser died a couple of weeks ago, and the wouldn't fire when turning over. I am now trying to isolate the problem.

Which leads me to this question. I thought the alternator might be shot, so disconnected the accessory drive belt and took off the alternator drive belt. When I tried to start the car, it turned over, it didn't fire, but I got a little smoke/exhaust out from the air intake/throttle body.

Any thiught? Should it normally start without the alternator and accessory drive belts?

I did test the ignition coil pack, and it's measuring the proper primary and secondary resistance.

Thanks for the help!

Take the cam positionsensor off and watch for rotation of the cam while some one turns key to start.

If it doesn't turn, timing belt has snapped or lost the teeth on the belt.

[chuzz]

Most engines I've ever worked on will run without the drive belts. Of course, you don't want to run one very long without them. You need that waterpump turning to keep the engine cool! My dad and I used to start engines on the ground, out of the car. BUT, we always had a radiator hooked up to them.

[Handy_Cruiser]

Yes. The PT engine runs great with no drive belts.

And since the water pump runs off the timing belt, you only lose alternator, power steering and AC. Here's video of mine running with no drive belts. It doesn't even have a crank pulley installed in this video:

[chuzz]

Great little video. I forgot the water pump is driven by the timing belt on these engines. Last thing I had like that was a 3.0 Diamante. I had one heck of a time replacing that water pump and timing belt.

[Busted_PT]

With the alt unplugged, you might have a problem there. Ask Nitro_PT. I know if you pull a battery cable off while running it will die. Belt off wont matter. But I think I started mine without the alternator. Just can't remember.

[mojodec]

Thanks for the insights. I am going to get at the timing belt to be sure that hasn't broken or been stripped of any teeth. We'll go from there.

[rob342]

you are supposed to start and rev the car with the accessory belts off when changing the timing belt to verify it runs right. no belts, no alternator, no biggie.

[mojodec]

Originally Posted by rob342

you are supposed to start and rev the car with the accessory belts off when changing the timing belt to verify it runs right. no belts, no alternator, no biggie.

I wish I had known that last year when I replaced the water pump and timing belt. D'oh! Thanks for the insight!

[rob342]

how come? did you end up taking it ALLLLLLLL back apart to move it a tooth?