neilo

My parents have a 96 Tacoma with a 2.7 in it and it has 230000 miles on it and the timing chain has never been changed. It developed a shutter and what sounds like pre ignition in the engine. I am thinking it is the timing chain is just worn out enough that it gets some slack in it and is causing the engine to be out of time. I have read the procedure to change it out of a Chiltons manual and it sounds like a real PITA. According to that you have to remove the head, the oil pan, and the front differential along with everything off the front of the engine. Now while I am capable of doing all of that I am thinking it would be easier to just pull the engine and do it with the engine sitting on an engine stand. Has anyone done this either way? I am looking for some advice from someone with some experience here any help is appreciated.

96743runner

Hmmm, are you sure that its the timing chain causing the problems? I'm no expert, but I remember reading somewhere that it isn't a servicable part...but then again, that truck does have a lot of miles.

neilo

What is not a serviceable part? I was planning on changing the timing chain and the guides and dampers. The one thing I do not understand without seeing how it is set up is why there is 2 chains on it. It looks to me like the only one that would actually affect the timing would be the outer one.

Kiroshu

It has 2 chains. 1 for the timing the other chain spins th counter shafts which disribute oil and lower vibration in the engine. The couter shafts and the chain for it rarely are bothered with. Those timing chains are not replaced much on those type motors but they are. Your sure its the timing chain? Even if its loose or streched a tad it should not cause engine perfomance problems unless its jump a tooth then you would know it was having probs cause it would bearly run. Video? Tune-up? Proper plugs and wires? Check coil pack. Ask them if its ever had a tune-up. Usually the chains on these engines rarely has issuse.

Kiroshu

Just start small with a tune-up with NGK plugs!

1988toyotaFOURrunner

is it making a clicking noise when you drive it? i mean i had the same type of problem with my 88 yota except mine was a timing chain tensioner. i thought it was the timing chain itself but when i had someone else look at it, they figured out that it was the tensioner not the chain. idk man just somethin else for you to look into before you go take everything apart and spend money.

KrashDH

Ok so I have a 99 2.7 and I did do the timing chain replacement. It's not your chain that will usually wear it's the guides for it. When these get worn out there is slack in the chain and some people have reported that it slaps the front cover. this was not my case, i had a burnt valve and I had to pull the head and front cover to do a valve job, and while I was in there decided to do all of the timing as well, for insurance.

When me and my buddy took this on, we had to do it in two rounds. To do the valves and timing, we DID not pull the front diff. You are able to get to everything by pulling the head off. I remember we couldn't figure out why the front cover wouldn't come off (we tried pring after a few irish car bombs, I don't recommend this...) Then realized that the oil pick-up tube was bolted to the underside of the front cover. All of the timing can be accessed this way. We replaced all of the timing and zipped it back up. Now it's not all that HARD, but it is very time consuming. I think the stress that comes with this is expecting not to have transportation if you don't have another vehicle. The crucial part is getting the timing lined up correctly, but it is self- explanatory. If it's not lined up, then your engine will blow down the road. We had a local shop that had a blown 2.7 engine, so we were lucky if we did come across anything we needed... We ended up using rubber bands on the upper part of the chain/guides to hold the chain from slipping down inside the cover while we got things lined up (it says this in Haynes too).

Also, I'm not one of those people who can just remember where everything goes, so pretty much all of the bolts I removed went into tupperware containers and were labeled. Having leftover bolts is not a good feeling...)

Anyway, awesome part of all of this was round two. Started her up and she purred. For about 10 seconds. Oil light came on. Tried troubleshooting everything! Tore the front diff off to remove the front cover (this is the second way you can access this) to check/prime the oil pump with Vaseline. Finally we figured it could be the pick-up tube not working correctly. Replaced that , put her back together. Still a light. Took the front diff off again, dropped the oil pan, checked the tube again, low and behold we used the wrong gasket on the pick-up tube. Will NOT do that again. Was the biggest PITA for such a small part.

One more addition, that clicking could also be your valves out of adjustment. If this is the case that clicking is the shims getting "slapped" because they are out of adjustment, I think they recommend this shim adjustment be done every 60k or so. that's the whole reason I had to replace my valves, the previous owner neglected this adjustment.

Anyway, good luck and have fun!

ChrisWilhelmArt

Im in the middle of a head gasket job on my 98 2.7 4x4. how do i easily remove the front diff to access the oil pan and therefore the oil pick up tube bolts? can i remove the motor mount bolts and lift the motor up to get the oil pan fully removed? i know this used to work on my 1980 first gen, but not sure if i can pull the same move on a tacoma.

thanks!