dcw7

Hey, I bought an 84 truck with the 22R. I had a friend look it over for me five weeks ago and he pointed out a leak in the Rear Main Seal. He'd wipe away the oil and more would ooze out. He told me it wasn't a priority but sooner or later I'd have to replace the gasket inside. He said it takes some time to get in there, so it would be wise to do more work while the engine and transmission are disassembled. I think he mentioned machining the flywheel or replacing the clutch but I'm not certain. I changed the oil and the leak stopped oozing so I haven't worried at all about the seal.

Two weeks ago, I brought the truck to one of my mechanics for some repairs. He mentioned that there was a leak in the exhaust manifold and I think it was the gasket but he said it wasn't a priority.

I started the truck up yesterday and heard some noise from the engine. I'm pretty sure it's the timing chain rattle of death. It was a new noise, sounded like a jarring rattle, and it was coming from the front of the engine. There's no coolant in the oil and no oil in the coolant. I've stopped driving the truck until I bring it to the shop, which is 20 miles away.

I'm looking for advice on how to proceed. I'm going to order the TKS948 (83-84) single row Timing Set from engnbldr because it's much cheaper than LCEPerformance. I've read different opinions about replacing the oil and water pumps if they aren't acting up. Would it be wise to replace the exhaust manifold gasket and rear main seal at the same time as the timing chain? Thanks guys.

andykrow

Those three things are pretty much unrelated. To do the chain you need to pull the timing cover, and that doesn't require pulling the manifold nor does it get you anywhere near the rear seal.

I'd get the engnbldr kit that includes a new timing cover, water pump and oil pump. Might as well change those while you're in there. Some people will advise you to pull the head but DONT do that. The idea there is that it will help prevent leaks but that is a massive project and hasn't been necessary on the 4 t-chain jobs I've done. I've used 4crawler's write up every time - it's a great guide for this.

As for the rear seal you need to drop the transmission to get to it. I wouldn't bother until you need a new clutch or the leak becomes more than you can deal with.

As for the exhaust manifold I wouldn't touch it unless it's crazy loud, as in the gasket is blown. Toyota has a stupid style of lock nut on there and chances are REALLY good that when you try to loosen the nut the whole stud will come out, stripping the head in the process. If you do attempt this put some pb blaster or similar on there a few days in advance. When you button it back up use normal nuts and lock washers instead of the toyota-style "crimped" nuts.

dcw7

ANDYKROW-

Thanks. I ordered the Timing set, oil pump and water pump from engnbldr for a total of $147.80. He's got to wait 3-5 days to get the water pump and then he'll send everything out. His 1984 kits don't come with a timing cover but he told me I could cruise the junk yards for a 20R or 22R cover. OR bite the bullet and order a pricey one from LCE ($100). Right now I've got my fingers crossed that the chain didn't bite too far into my cover. I'm not going to pull the valve cover myself to find out. My friend is going to let me help him do the repairs and we're going to use the 4crawler write-up.

I'm going to take your advice and wait for something to go wrong with the transmission or clutch before replacing the rear main seal. I'd like to take on the exhaust manifold problem myself when the weather warms up but that's a decision for another day.