At the dealership, they have all of the right tools, and with the right tools you can do anything. But when your doing a job where you need the car up in a pinch, you have to be a little creative. It's all about turnaround time and cost. You try to keep your customers happy. What I did was a last resort kind of deal. This is not something you would do again. I will now go out and buy the correct tool or get stonger equipment. And by the way, you would be surprised what the dealer would do because your not looking. They know better than anyone that time is money. I've had many teachers that were all A techs at all sorts of dealerships with no less than 25 years of experience tell me stories of unorthodox ways they would get a car going again that the service repair manual doesn't contain. So, please, try to be a little open minded and not so sarcastic of other people's genious ;)

I just leave mine in gear in 5th and have someone apply the brakes to the floor. Works everytime...

This was an auto, the engine still rotates because of the torque converter. If it was a stick, Definitely!

Hi (this is to update this old thread) I have been looking at using hydrolock or a rope trick to immobilize the crank. In that Wiki article mentioned, if you read further it says damage should occur when the engine is at speed. At idle or other low pressure situations there should be no damge. With engine off there should follow that no damage should occur. I like the water instead of oil cause it's not so messy. Same with using a rope to stuff in there. These tips sure beat breaking a tooth of your flywheel or deforming the pulley. Now I have not tried water or rope yet but I plan on doing my timing belt soon. 85 22re. Using water is good because it evaporates easily.

I know this is old, but we actually heard the water boiling in the combustion chambers. Kind of reminded me of a chemistry experiment, lol.

It did seem that way to be perfectly honest... Another thing I noticed was you said you tried "locking the cam" and then "the belt broke"...

No offence, but this is why I do my own work on motors...

You may find these interesting Link & Link

No offense taken brother, I was not as proffesional as I am now (Having all of the right tools and such), but I don't think I would ever try anything like this again anyway, lol. Wouldn't have to. Years of working on many different types of vehicles, and having all of the right tools surely helps, lol. And like the links describe, there are plenty of other legitimate ways of doing things. I just think people forget how strong these metal components are and what kinds of pressure they see on a normal basis. Most of you have NO idea.