Ms. Napier’s 12 year old Toyota RAV4 broke down yesterday. One moment cruising down the highway at speed, then a loud noise, then major clattering noise and immediate total loss of engine power. Pulled over to shoulder, tried to start it and it turned over fine but never caught. Nothing visibly out of place in quick looks under hood and below car. Electrical accessories fine. No smoke or smells. Over the next 20 minutes a small puddle of coolant slowly gathered, but it wasn’t visible immediately and didn’t smell (it was windy). If you care, this car has a timing chain (not belt) and a non-interference engine.
I haven’t thought of an explanation that covers everything. It’s at our mechanic’s now and I’m starting to get partial information on what actually happened. I think he’ll figure it all out and fix it, but meanwhile perhaps it’d be fun to guess. We will soon get a definitive answer and perhaps someone here will win the admiration of all for venturing the correct guess.
This is just for entertainment. I’m not waiting on the Dope for a solution.
It does sound somewhat like the old timing chain failed issue. I think it was the 80s Camaro where that happened far too frequently and often did additional damage.
The Heisenberg compensator works around the problems caused by the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, allowing the transporter sensors to compensate for their inability to determine both the position and momentum of the target particles to the same degree of accuracy. This ensures the matter stream remains coherent during transport, and no data is lost.
If it’s not the Heisenberg compensator, maybe it’s the phase inducer?
Hmm, not sure. When I saw “major clattering noise” my first thought was transmission or drivetrain, but I wouldn’t expect the engine to fail if it was one of those.
The fact the engine failed and now doesn’t start sort of implies it is not a belt-coupled accessory (e.g. air conditioner compressor, alternator). Sounds internal to the engine. But that’s based on the limited information you have at this time. Am interested to hear what your mechanic discovers.
My guess, as well. Timing chains last longer than timing belts, which are typically living on borrowed time after about 60K miles. When they break, your car is dead on the road.
My guess is a water pump failure leading to blown head gasket.. Toyota water pumps at that time sucked. I had a 2008 Lexus and luckily I stopped at a friends house before a 50 mile dive in stop and go. I go back out to my car and why is there a trail of coolant snaking its way behind my car and a rivulet of coolant going from under my car down the street? And the immediate failure? That happen during a family trip through Stockton because of a blown head gasket.
But that’s based on the limited information you have at this time. Am interested to hear what your mechanic discovers.