So the timing belt broke, and left me stranded on the side of the highway today. My question is, after we replace the actual belt, do we need to set the timing? How do we do it? Is it possible to do it with out taking it to a mechanic?

No rods or anything got harmed when it broke.

It is a 1996 Hyundai Sonata.

SERIOUS ANSWERS ONLY!

The belts can be bought at any auto parts store,but to prevent any damage to your engine,please have the work done by a mechanic.

l forget what kind of displacement motor is in the Hyundai Sonata.

You need a manual on the motor for the vehicle to get started, look through that & see, if u can understand & comprehend the information provided there than u will be able to do the timing.

l believe on the crank pulley somewhere there r markers to mark the timing for the crank, & on the cams l believe on the cam gears it shows markings on where it is to be set.
You may have to reset the distributor rotor too, but that is a maybe.

This is not a job for an amateur & a licensed mechanic should do the job to prevent any other damages that can possibly happen. It is hard to tell if u have any rods bent/broken, or rings fried, etc etc, unless u r to rip apart the motor & take it down to bear nothing.

l am a Hyundai tech, are you sure you did not bend any valves? Well you can do this yourself,but a half decent shop can and should do a compression and leak down test to see if you did any damage. l would leave this one to the pros. Just trying to help

You need to have a look at the owner is manual, Bugg. If there is a scheduled replacement interval of 60,000 miles on the timing belt, it is a critical issue, meaning ur engine is an ''interference'' engine. This means if the belt breaks, or more likely, skips around on the pully it rides on, the valves & pistons come together doing great damage. Bent valve stems, holed pistons & ruined camshafts r typical results, & the faster the engine is turning when the break or slippage occurs, the greater the damage.

Dadeo is correct in that the car needs to be looked at by a mechanic, & preferably a dealer mechanic if possible. l feel they do not put enough emphasis on this critical part of the vehicle & the importance of tending to it per the schedule in the owner is manual. Way too many people seem to get hurt by this simply from not knowing. Best of luck.

given the fact that that the distributor or what ever the computer uses for a timing reference is directly driven by the cam shaft the ignition timing should not be effected. as long as your cam to crank timing is accurate, then you should not have an issue. l am curious about one thing though, l do believe that Hyundai uses an interference engine

U r going 2 need a another engine..usually when these cars' belt go off, the cylinder is head get all messed up.(some FWD do this, specially Hyundai's). Good luck.

l would go to a mechanic in your hood and check out prices of timing belt installation take the best price and get it on the business receipt nobody with out paper

If you line up the timing marks and put a belt on it, then it will be ''timed''. Slip a timing belt on there and see if the engine will fire, sometimes the Hyundais will break a belt and not bend valves, but not very often. If it runs, consider yourself lucky and go buy a lottery ticket!!!