Hey ok this is my first post here and I only have a basic knowledge of cars...so please be nice.

I have a 1995 Toyota Corolla 1.6L. Been kept up with oil changes and maintanence and all that stuff. Today when I turned on the car the engine was vibrating really bad. The engine would run for a few seconds, then pause, then continue running. It would do this every 10 seconds or so. I got out to look under the hood and I think the gear or wheel (i dunno what it is) running on the timing belt is vibrating back and forth and causing the timing belt to not run smoothly.

Anyways I drove the car and acceleration was very very slow until about 50mph where it started driving normally. The car vibrated pretty severely while accelerating. I stopped at a traffic light, the engine started pausing every few seconds, and then stalled out. It turned back on normally.

Ok alot of words so sorry. Im taking it to the mechanic tomorrow and Id like a clue as to what I should tell them so 1). they dont waste time looking at the entire engine, and 2) they dont charge me for crap that doesnt need to be done.

Any help is greatly appreciated. I can try and answer any questions.

2/19/2007 8:58:10 PM

are you talking about the serpentine belt? you can't see the timing belt, my guess would be your harmonic balancer is coming apart

2/19/2007 9:00:04 PM

its a set of two or three belts on the left side of the engine. The longest one is running ragged and gear/wheel the belt runs on is vibrating back and forth.

[Edited on February 19, 2007 at 9:03 PM. Reason : a]

2/19/2007 9:02:45 PM

sounds like the harmonic balancer/crank pulley from all the vibration.

can you describe a little better which pulley it is?

[Edited on February 19, 2007 at 9:05 PM. Reason : .]

2/19/2007 9:05:37 PM

is it the big one on the crankshaft at the bottom, or one of the other ones? how big is it? what does the part look like that its driving?

2/19/2007 9:07:39 PM

The hamster is tired.

2/19/2007 9:14:14 PM

Just take it to the shop. Seriously, judging from your level of expertise, any explaining you do or attempts you make at getting your labor charge reduced is just going to result in your labor charge going up.

Let the folks who know take a stab at it in person. You're not making any good inroads when you can't even describe what you're looking at.

2/19/2007 9:43:10 PM

yeah its dark outside so i cant look till the morning...ill check out which gear it is and see

im calling the car place tomorrow to bring it in. I will tell them over the phone and see what they think it is. Then ill post here and see if it sounds about right,

2/19/2007 10:19:20 PM

any reputable shop is not going to attpemt to diagnose it over the phone....

2/19/2007 10:22:15 PM