Recently I noticed a rattling sound that seemed to be coming from the a/c compressor which I thought might be a bearing getting ready to fail. A mechanic thought it was the a/c compressor. Engine performance did not seem to be affected, although my gas mileage seemed to be 2 or 3 mpg less than normal.
Recently, I cranked the engine which ran about ten seconds and died. Iturned the ignition and let the engine turn over a few times, enough to know it won't start. The engine turned faster than normal, indicating the timing belt failed.
I bought the car in May 05 with approx 88k miles on it and maintenance records from the previous owner indicated the timing belt and water pump had been changed at 66k miles. The car now has 105k miles on it, another reason I didn't believe the timing beltwas about to give out.
The 2.2 liter engine is non interference. The noise I heard was probably a tension pulley bearing. Would the tension pulley failure likely have occured at once, or more gradually, possibly causing engine damage?
It's going to the shop in a few days, but I wanted to discuss the issue with my mechanic, armed with some additional knowledge.