Jay351

So sue me, I searched but Im getting conflicting answers.

Truck is a 95 4runner, 22re that was replaced 130km ago. Its been great for years, I replaced the waterpump last summer and that was it.

on monday it started to chatter a little at idle, a nice metal rattle. Its around the front of the motor, so I kinda assumed timing chain.

I havnt been able to pull the cover, its my girlfriends truck and she lives an hour away. I will be able to do that next week...

Anyways, so it'l make the noise a little when cold at idle, then stop. It will make the noise constantly at 1500rpm.. not on or off, constantly at around that rpm.

So how long can we use this thing?

Im gonna order a timing chain kit from engnbldr with a cover.

Not sure yet if I can tackle this myself yet though.. Might have to take it to a *shudder* shop

please tell me I can do it without taking off the head or oil pan...

Kiroshu

if you got time to do it go ahead and replace everything. Timing chain, guides, tensioner, water pump, oil pump, new seals and gaskets. You can go a very long time but eventually there will come a time when that chain will make its way to the timing cover.... and rub a nice purrty little hold in it and mix coolant with oil.... but this on't happen for a very long time.... prolly another 50-100K miles... depending... but i'd say do it if ya got the money i too have a mystery noise from my chain but i just did my timing chain overhaul about 40k miles ago... so i'm trippin anyway good luck.

toyota4x4907

Well once you determine if its the t-chain (or not) then look into it more. I have never done the T-chain on a 22re but have confidence that I could do it, and do it properly. I'm sure you have done work on her 22re before so you know how easy it is to work on.
You DO have to remove the oil pan or the head. Good luck

iamsuperbleeder

lol, I drove mine almost another 3 months after the noise started

Kiroshu

yea you can drive it a long time like that i think after a few months of the chain/headgasket overhaul on my truck the chain started again and its been making noise for 4 years and 40k miles later. Still runs fine but also having an issue determining what is causing a new chain overhaul to still have noise......BLAH CHAINZ ANNOY ME!

Jay351

Well like I said, she bought the truck just over 130,000km ago, it had a reman engine from Canada engines. The po put the new motor in and sold it. So I have a feeling it was a cheap motor. I never thought we would have timing chain issues at only 130,000km.

Like I said, I didnt have a chance to pull the valve cover today. I actually went and bought a factory roof rack to put on it, since we were planning on taking it on vacation in a week..... I guess not!!

Im not very experianced with 22re's. The biggest job I have done was a water pump, and I helped do the oil pump o-ring gasket, but I had a mech with me.

I can't pull the head or anything like that, I dont have the tools or nohow.

Im either going to try and replace it without removing the head or pan.
Try and track down my old mechanic friend
finally, take it to a stupid shop (It pains me to say this, it really does)

Anyway it goes down, I was going to order the engnbldr (I just emailed him about shipping actually..) timing kit w/ steel guide and timing chain cover.

Is that all I need??

I REALLY don't want to drive it anywhere, the last thing I want is the chain snapping or skipping a tooth and sending the valves into the pistons.
It feels a little slower, so i guess the chain has streched

Kiroshu

you can drive it will be fine. I told you about my chain been slapping for about 3-4years and i took a 1000 mile round trip to tennesse and back with no probs. She will drive a very long time like that. But if you don't want too its cool i understand sometimes that gut feeling makes ya not do things. but i'm still trying to find my noise too... 22r chains usually never ever break. I'm sure there have been a few in the world but i've been around bookoo toyotas i've never seen one break even when they are slapping the timing cover at 300k miles and still running strong. I have seen ONE toyota have jumping timing and did jump one single tooth on the chain but it was not serious it would bearly run but it had a timing job done and it was fine. The 22r will lose power with a slapping/stretched chain but its not much. just advance the timing and you'll be fine...

toyota4x4907

(For us American folks, 130K Km = a little over 80K miles)

My '93 22re had the metal backed timing chain guides when I bought it with 87K original miles ( maybe 140K Km?) so anything is possible You son't know for sure until you take a look. Could be the valves need adjustment. My '93 once again had horribly loud valves when I bought it and still does to this day when I see/hear it putting around town, I adjusted then many times and to different specs.

Did the noise just all of a sudden happen, or gradually appear? Maybe you did't notice it before and not its louder so you hear it more?

Kiroshu

dunno bout jay but i've tried lots of things i've done a valve adjustment and 95% of valves noise is gone but that chain is still slapping and i know its the chain not valves.... it happened all of the sudden few years ago and would happen once in a while and then it came to sometimes and now its about 40-50% of driving that it happens.

Ezrider_92356

i think the first thing to do would be to pull the timing cover and get an look at the drivers side guide with an flash light. my first one went at 130,000 miles and again at 260,000 replaced with steel backed guides from engine builder the second time around. i don't know how long you can drive with the guide broken, but it will eventually wear threw the timing cover into the water pump when it does that it will leave you stranded.

rubysRunner

(my 4runner) The noise started suddenly on monday when i started the truck to leave jays place. we both heard it right away...definitely a new noise. It doesn't sound like it did when my valves needed adjustment previously. To me, it sounds like there's little bits of something (metal or plastic) spinning around in the bottom of a tin can almost...if that makes sense. The noise has gotten a little louder since then (i can hear it when driving on the hwy with music on low, before i could only really hear it at idle).

toyota4x4907

exhaust leak maybe?

It could quite possibly be the timing chain guide(s). Mayhaps Canada Engines didn't tighten a bolt all the way on a timing guide or didn't use genuine parts. Who knows until you guys take a look

Jay351

No leaks at the motor, just fixed a manifold leak last year..

I will be able to take the valve cover off on wed or thursday hopfally, then I can conferm that its the timing chain.

to me it sounds like a chain sliding against metal...

whokrz

When you end up doing it use the metal guide.

rubysRunner

haha...perhaps this is a better description.

Slowstrike

Sounds like you went through the guide. Like everyone has said shine the flashlight down the chain maybe even use a long screwdriver to move the slack in the chain so you can have a good look at where the guide was and if it is hanging or completely eaten through.
I ran mine for a few months missing the guide and just had little little groves in the aluminum. Since the chain tensioner is operated off oil pressure your typically going to hear the noise when your in lower rpm ranges or in 5th gear. The chain is getting a bit more slack causing it to rub and make that sound.

Kiroshu

you can take the valve cover off and have someone spin the motor over and you can see the chain jumping and jerking in a direction its not supose too... if so.. then yea... chain issue but you can ride a while like that. Just a random thought---> I think Toyota did not use metal guides from the factory in fear that the metal gudies wearing out and metal chips coming off them from chain slap would lead to motor failure, plugging up oil passages and what not.... just deal with it until it starts to sound like a bad poping...then its time..

Jay351

Well im happy to know that the t-chain is not gonna go right now. If its just the guide then its still drivable...

I would like to fix it within the next two weeks, since it is the best time to do it (on vacation) I still don't want to remove the head or oil pan, so...

like I said, I will pull the cover on wed or thursday, and we will conferm everything.

regaurdless We are ordering the engnbldr timing kit with the drivers side metal guide and the new timing cover (its cheap!!!).

Jay351

So anyone know what happend to 4crawlers site? Ive been trying to look at his cheap tricks timing chain replacment page but his sites down...

Im gonna give this t-chain a shot, if I mess it up then I gotta take it to a mechanic anyways so whatever.

Plan is to keep the head on (if it blows a Hg in the future I'l worry about it then!!!), but im going to drop the diff slightly so I can fish all the timing bits out of the oil pan.

I have dropped front diffs on these trucks a few times, d-shaft bolts and 3 main mounts and you can move it enough to get the pan down.

any suggestions on how to avoid tearing the HG when removing the timing cover?

oh yeah, Ted at engnbldr is awsume! Prompt, friendly, helpfull emails, gotta love it. I have been waiting for a chance to order from him as soon as I get a price for rush delivery the timing kit will be ordered.

toyota4x4907

Good luck with everything, man! Take lots of pics when you do the work