Dianna

I have a '94 4x4 with the 22RE. I just started it after it's been sitting for a couple weeks. It rattled (like usual) on startup and after about 15 seconds I heard a loud clunk and the engine died. Anyone have any idea what to look at first? I have 111,000 miles, possibly the timing chain? I haven't driven it in a couple weeks because by brake line rusted out over the gas tank. I lost my brakes while going down a steep 2 mile hill. Luckily it was at about 2am, I was able to downshift (manual transmission) and then pull my ebrake at the bottom of the hill, not a fun ride.

toytech76

Check make sure you have oil in the engine. Possible engine seizure. Also check and make sure you don't have coolant in the cylinders. Possible hydrolock. If thats all ok then check your chain. If it broke you probably bent valves

langzaiguy

x2 toytech. Is it able to crank at all? Yeah, take the valve cover off and have a look. Let us know whats up.

Matt16

Mine did that, it was my timing chain snapping on start up. When your oil pressure is low, say at a start up, the chain tensioner is not doing its job as it uses oil pressure to exert pressure.

That said, if your engine is still turning over, it isn't you timing chain. Pull off your valve cover and see if the chain is still there, that might answer your question.

Dianna

I removed the bolts holding the cover on an took out the rubber plug and I can still see the chain intact. I didn't have time to take off all the emissions stuff from the cover (I need to label everything so I can get it back together!) so I'm not sure if the guides are there. After the horrible sound it made when it died I didn't want to attempt to turn it over. I'll dig into it a little further in the next couple days and get back. I really hope my engine isn't crap! Thanks for the replies.

ovrrdrive

If the tensioner was all the way loose you could have jumped time and the sound you heard could possibly have been pistons hitting intake valves...

Only way you'll really know if you don't want to try turning it over is to pull the cover and check the timing. If you get to #1 TDC and the marks don't line up it jumped. If it jumped, as already mentioned, you'll probably need either a remanned head or at the very least a valve job...


I had a similar experience and ended up with 4 bent intakes...

84sr5yoty

Take the valve cover completely off so you can poke and prod around. Grab the correct socket and driver for the crank bolt and turn the engine over slowly while paying attention to the cam gear and timing chain. Once you hit top dead center (if the chain isn't broken), check the cam timing against the crankshaft.

Good thinking!! You may have just saved yourself some serious damage, time, and money!!

Dianna

Thanks for your response 84sr5yoty, after reading some of the other posts I was thinking about just trying to turn it over again to see what happens, glad I didn't! I'll just pull off the valve cover and take a look and post what I find. Hopefully I'll get some help then on what to do! Thanks again.

Dianna

Well I pulled the cover and there was no drivers side guide, it's in little pieces at the bottom of the chain. There doesn't appear to be any oil in the coolant and there isn't any coolant in the oil so hopefully no major damage. So is it possible that when the guide broke it caused the chain to jump and the engine died because the timing was off? Should I just replace the chain? Anything else I need to worry about?

Dianna

I just read 84sr5yoty's post again about checking the timing. I guess I should have done that, I didn't even think about it once I saw the guide pieces floating around. So I should see a shiny link on the chain that matches up to a mark on the crankshaft and camshaft?

ovrrdrive

When mine fell apart, a big chunk of the guide fell into the bottom of the timing well and went between the chain and the bottom timing gear which cause the timing to jump because the gear teeth could no longer engage the chain. When that happened it broke the timing cover because of the extra radius of the gear with the guide in it, caused the timing to jump, and all 4 intake valves hit the pistons and bent.

I'm really hoping you faired better than I did...

If you turn the motor over with a socket on the crank until the timing mark points to 0 degrees and be sure you're on the compression stroke the timing marks will line up if the timing didn't jump. If there's little or no compression holding the engine back while you turn it over by hand the valves are bent.

Matt16

You're lucky. My chain failed because the top bolt holding the drivers side guide to the block loosened off and fell in between the chain and the lower sprocket, severing the chain.

thook

I just had happen what I believe to be similar to what you're dealing with.

Here's the thread. Of course, skip whatever doesn't apply or is uninteresting.
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...-input-133789/

You can check the current timing position against the rotor location if that would make it easier. It should either be pointing at the #1 spark terminal on the distributor cap or 180* from that with the crank at 0*. Pointing at #1 terminal would be on the compression stroke and opposite would be the exhaust stroke. If it's deviated from either you know it has jumped timing....unless the distributor shaft has broken. That's very unlikely, though.

You can run the compression test I did to determine if any valves are bent. Make sure you distributor is disconnected at the plug.

Lovely cruiser in the avatar, btw. Is that yours? Can I have it when you're done?

thook

FOUR!? Ouch.....

ovrrdrive

That's what I thought too...

Dianna

Thanks for all the responses, I probably won't have a chance to dig into it any further until this weekend, I'll respond on how it goes, I'm hoping for the best! Hard to believe that a broken piece of plastic could cause so much damage.


Thanks for the compliment, and yes it's mine! I've had it for about 7 years, it's my obsession according to my friends. It's mine and you can't have it!

rdlsz24

You ever find out what the problem was? I'm facing a similiar situation right now

Rob

Dianna

Haven't has the time (or the weather) to dig into it yet. I bought a new timing chain, guide and sprocket from engnbldr but it will be at least another month before I will be able to get to it. Rob, did you find the problem?