Toyota Repair: 91,000 mile engine failure, tim blackburn, cam water

Question
Hello Ted ,,My name is Tim. I have a 98 Camry with 90,000 miles ..It is a 4 cyl , 2.2 liter  5S-FE engine. Auto trans,, The timing belt broke, I had a local shop replace the belt and water pump. The car seemed to run ok for the most part when they were done, except for a very slight rumble at idle in drive, only occasionaly it would do this.. Then 37 days after the repair..300 ft. from my house ,the engine quit again..sounded just like the belt broke again..I had it towed to the same shop...Now they claim one cylinder has 100 psi compression and the engine is junk..They could give me no explanation as to what happened ,only that there is a ring failing...I know this is B S...This car should run on 3 cyl. It doesn't even try to sputter or ignite . It just makes a wimpy crank when you turn the key...It is getting fuel and all the major parts move freely,, crank, cam ,water pump..I want to try some stuff but I can't touch it cause I am going to take them to court and I don't want the blame put on me . Could you give me any insight as to what might have happened. Do you think they could have left something loose, or could the belt have jumped a tooth and damaged something.. By the way the oil was changed constantly by me alway's mobile 1 synthetic..I am lost,, If you could help at all that would be great.. Thank you  Tim Blackburn Sr.

Answer
First of all, the engine can not be damaged in any way even if the timing belt breaks. Yes, I agree the engine should run on three cylinders but 100 psi is only about 60 psi below the norm and the engine should run with only a slight misfire, barely noticeable. Could they have left something loose? Yes, maybe, could the belt have jumped? Again, yes, possibly if the belt was not installed correctly or the tensioner was not tightened or if debris from the old broken belt was not completely removed, I have no way of knowing but those are possibilities. Why are they telling you now that the engine is "junk" and not when the belt was replaced? The fact that they have no other explanation to me means that they are covering up their mistake, when going to court make sure that you have a lot of documentation from when the repairs were done and after the second problem, I think you have a good case.