Hyundai Repair: 02 Accent Timing Belt?, fuel pressure gauge, crankshaft position sensor

Question
Hi,

I have a 2002 Hyundai Accent 5 speed hatchback. I was driving and slowed to pull into a turn lane when all the lights came on  ie: check engine, engine break, tire pressue.. ALL of them. I then put my car in neutral, and shut it off, thinking it was stalling and I could just start it again. It will not start now. It just doesnt fire. I have power, cd player lights etc. We tried to push start it and that wont work either. I have a half tank of gas and my oil and otehr fluid levels are all okay. I obviouisly pushed it off the road and a friend said it was my fuel pump. Once i got it towed to my house the tow truck driver said he thinks its my timing belt. The guy at work said if its the timing belt I have to do teh water pump and o2 sensor aswell... Any advise would be greatly appreciated as I am unsure how to proceed!

Answer
Presuming the engine cranks but will not start, the problem could be any of the issues you've mentioned as well as the crankshaft position sensor and a host of other much less common failures.  You'll need to do some checking to see exactly where the problem may be.  If the engine cranks faster than normal, primarily suspect the timing belt.  If it cranks normally, suspect the crank sensor or fuel pump.

-- To check the timing belt, simply remove the upper timing cover and visually inspect.
-- To check whether the fuel pump could potentially be the problem, install a fuel pressure gauge and check the fuel pressure during cranking.
-- To check whether the crank sensor could potentially be the problem, check for spark.

If the problem is the timing belt, you may have damaged the engine.  It isn't necessary to replace the water pump with this repair, but if the water pump needs to be replaced later, the timing belt will have to be removed again to access it.  There's no reason nor advantage to replacing the oxygen sensor when replacing the timing belt.