98 Camry

If you damage the small tips around the perimeter of the crank sprocket, your vehicle will not run right on reassembly. You will need to replace the crank sprocket to complete your repair. The tips around the perimeter of the crank sprocket tell the computer exactly what position each of the pistons are in as the engine rotates. It does this by "counting" the tips as they pass the crank sensor. The long spot where a few tips are normally missing tells the computer that this is the #1 piston being all the way up. With that information, it can tell where all the other pistons are as it rotates. If any of the tips were to be removed, it would confuse the computer as the long spot would appear to be in more than one place, or coming around too fast. The crankshaft sprockets are just cheap pot-metal and break really easy (I've broken one or two in my time as well). The good news is that means they are cheap... list price is $26 new from Toyota. You will most likely need to special order it, as it is not normally stocked at dealerships. As far as I know there is no aftermarket part available for this piece.