montero sport overheating

Answer 1

I just had a similar problem with my '97 montero sport.  Water pump shaft was starting to seize (it had 120,000 miles on it).  The flat side of the timing belt drives the nylon pulley that spins the water pump.  The noise was the belt straining, melting and fraying ... inevitably it gave way when I was gunning it.  You never want to have the timing belt go with the engine running ... pistons will hit the valves ... had to have the top half of my motor redone ... its $3k+   If you have a lot of miles on the pump and never did the timing belt ...  pull the cover and do it.