Red Leader

Hey guys,

I've got a 22RE here in a '90 4runner. The engine runs good, just has this ticking sound. Actually sounds more like a 'tacking' sound. Here are the specs-

243K miles
JUST did a timing chain change out. Made sure the oil pump bolts were all correct
Adjusted valves (while hot, .008 intake, .012 exhaust)
Set timing (at 0 degrees currently)
Compression was a little low in cylinders 2 and 4 (around 140psi and 148psi, respectively)


I noticed that the exhaust manifold-to-pipe connection was loose. It was missing a nut and the other 2 nuts were loose. Picked up 2 new gaskets and changed them out and got new nuts and tightened everything down. Nothing, no change.

Heat shield not rattling. Took off the p/s belt - no change. Tried the screwdriver trick and noticed it is a hair louder and more direct on the manifold and pipe. I listened underneath the truck and nothing with the rods or crankshaft. Put the screwdriver on the head and no direct correlation to the sound. Have tightened and loosened the valve cover nuts all over the place (to the point of basically not even being there) to no effect. Pulled each spark plug wire and tack sound is still there.

Now, here is the weird thing. There is no real noticeable tick sound around 500-700 rpm, from about 900-1200rpm there is a noticeable tick, then from around 1400-1600 rpm, the tick virtually vanishes completely, both inside the cab and in the engine bay. Then around 1900 rpm it is back with a vengeance and is loud the rest of the way up the rpm spectrum.

I took off the manifold heat shield. No change. Now here is the kicker - I have the front bottom exhaust manifold bolt sheared off (half is stuck in the head). It was like that when I got it. It did have some ticking noise when I got it, but not this prominent. I noticed some of the manifold bolts were loose. I torqued them all up. No change, period. Now, could 1 simple sheared off bolt be creating all this noise? The sound doesn't change whether the engine is hot or cold. I suppose I'll never know until I drill out the broken stud and replace it along with the gasket, but right now I'm finding that hard to believe. I could be wrong, though.

Here is a video of the actual engine and sound, running through the lower rpm band -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUBH...ature=youtu.be

Any thoughts on this one? Is this definitely the sheared bolt? I thought it could be, so while it was running and also had the heat shield off, I loosened some of the other bolts just to see if the tick would change, either for better or worse. If it did, it wasn't noticeable.

Not sure what to do next. I suppose I'll be buying an easy out kit.

Advice welcome. And thanks

rustypigeon

You might have a rocker arm hitting the valve cover. This is common in these engines when the valve cover bolts are too tight. The bolts should only be snug. Just enough to compress the rubber washer very slightly.

If you take the valve cover off you might notice a shiney spot on the rocker or the cover deoending on how long it has been doing it.

YotaWoRx

I would say exhaust leak. One or more stud holes in the head for the exhaust manifold are buggered. Only way to repair this correctly it to pull the head and have them all checked and heli coiled if needed.

Red Leader

Welp, the good news is I pulled the manifold off last night and got it cleaned up some. Also, I was able to extract the broken stud from the head. All the other holes look nice and clean. About 3 other studs came off with the bolts (no aluminum shavings on them, either), so I'm going to try to get some new studs/bolts and go from there. I'm really hoping a new gasket and a properly torqued manifold cure the sound, but if not...where do I go from there? Back to the valves?

RJR

Doesn't sound like exhaust to me. Leaky exhaust has a bit more of "fftttt" sound associated with it. This sounds like a mechanical clatter of some kind. Too high pitched for connecting rods. Best guess is valves or rocker arm, as was suggested.

Innocent Fool

I just went through this with my 22RE. Did you do the valve adjust with the engine warm? I did mine cold and that's what it sounded like. In my case it was a rocker with valve lash that was very slightly out of spec. I was really suprised how loud it sounded

Re-adjust your lash with more drag on the feelers (slightly tighter) and post back.

Red Leader

Thanks for your thoughts. I am hoping it is something that simple. I ordered new gaskets and will get the manifold all buttoned up next week. We'll see if that changes the sound. Honestly, it probably won't, but then I know my exhaust will be all buttoned up tight!

I did adjust the valves, and I did adjust them hot. At least, hot enough that when my hand touched anything, it burned. Now it did take a little time, so maybe the rear valves got adjusted slightly differently since it took me about 20 min. I've heard some guys have luck adjusting the valves cold at .007 and .011. Might try that, not sure. I haven't really examined the cam or anything in there too closely, so I'll check it out. I don't know if the slightly low compression in 2 cylinders has anything to do with it. Other than the loud and annoying tick sound, it runs great!

hiluxhack

I wouldn't worry about the compression you mentioned. That's pretty normal for high mileage. I bet on the manifold leak as the culprit; although, if you've recently done top end work, that's a good second guess. Good hunting.

Red Leader

Well, the mystery is solved!


I got my parts in (new manifold gasket and spark plug wires) and so I cleaned up the manifold, painted it, cleaned the gasket surfaces, got new studs/bolt on there and threw it all together.

And....



the loud tick was still there haha.

So I ran it around a bit and then decided to re-adjust the valves. I spec'd them on the tight side...meaning I used the .008 and .012 feeler gauges, but on the exhaust side, I basically adjusted them so you sort of had to yank the feeler gauge out instead of it just simply sliding out on its own. The sound disappeared completely. I drove it around and it was so nice!!!

So then I brought it back and opened up the valves just a bit and brought the tick back. I've heard that it is better to have loose valves rather than tight valves. What is the general consensus on this regarding the 22RE? Is it okay to adjust a hair tight to the point of the sound disappearing? I'm just happy to know it isn't anything more serious and now I can finally rest at night knowing I've found the source. I'm just wondering if I should re-adjust again to get the sound to disappear. Maybe just adjust 1 valve at a time? I'm getting pretty good at taking that valve cover off haha.

Thanks for everyone's thoughts, advice and suggestions! It has meant a lot to me and really helped me out.

combatcarl

Mine tick cold. Once warmed up, though, the injectors are louder than the valves. It's a toyota thing. If it isn't clicking from somewhere, it's probably stalled.

Innocent Fool

Glad you found the problem. It's surprising how loud the rockers can get even when slightly on the loose side. When the valves are adjust correctly they will tick when cold but the sound will disappear when it warms up

When I did mine I also noticed a bit more power around 1500rpm