Engine 00 Prizm won't start

00 Prizm won't start

Thursday when I went to lunch from work, the Prizm wouldn't start, it just clicked, so I knew the battery had died, so I jumped it and was fine for the moment, later that day I went out and tested the alternator and battery, and it appeared the alt was fine, battery not so much, so as I expected at the end of the day I needed to have it jumped again. I jumped it, it started to crank over and just about the time I expected it to start, it made a metallic clang-clang. Now if I try to start it the usual metallic cranking but not starting sound has been replaced by a similar but quieter sound, very low in the motor, as if its only turning over the bottom end. Someone at work said it almost sounded like it may have broke its timing chain? Not real sure myself. I trailered it and got it to my mechanic saturday, but does anyone have any ideas? Its got 145K and the 3 speed trans if it matters. Thanks

Those sound like unrelated problems. I'd make sure you have plenty of juice to jumpstart your car.

On a brighter note I just brought a 01 Prizm back to life. lol

Mechanic just called, Prizm broke its timing chain. I know on alot of engines, especially some of the smaller displacement engines where there's really no extra room, when the timing chain breaks, it can damage the head, valves, pistons, etc. Generally bad. I'm trying to decide if the car is worth trying to fix, but first I need to figure out a list of every part I would need to rebuild it, since i had been thinking about doing that anyways, to eliminate the blowby. Let me know what i would need.

Here's a good site, and there are others with rebuild kits available. I think the Hayne's manual goes through everything you would need to rebuild an engine also.

Forget a link?

http://www.rpmrons.com/Toykits.html

If you decide not to rebuild, will you be parting it out? I might be interested in some parts

The current goal is to get it running again, but if I do decide to part it out, I'm sure I'll be listing it on here. 99% of the car is in fantastic condition and its been a great car, so I figure its worth fixing for now.

I just bought a Jasper reman engine for my 01 Prizm. Came with a 3yr 100K warranty. I drove it all the way from Miami to Chicago right after installation. Runs awesome! Bad news though, its killer expensive. Just a suggestion if you really love your car.