[shark]

I had a timing belt go on a Ford once, while I was out on vacation in Northern Michigan. When I say northern MI, I mean I was out in the boonies, where I was lucky to have a cell phone signal, let alone access to a mechanic! Anyways, I was driving along when the engine just quit. I popped the hood and checked what I could, but to no avail. So, I call AAA and was told it would be 2.5 hours for a tow truck to arrive...Anyways, I figured it was a timing belt when I was cranking it over and heard kind of a clunking sound, then it began cranking a lot faster. Long story short, I was stranded in Newberry, MI for a weekend until the mechanic came back on Mon. to fix it, and the hotel I was staying at was in St. Ignace, a good hour or more away...the Best Western was nice enough to not charge me for the nights I wasn't there, which was nice, and the repair only cost me about 300 bucks, and the car kept going until 140,000 miles, when the head gasket went and I decided to just get rid of it and buy another.