24festus

I know this is an old post but thought I'd reply anyways in case what I experienced helps anyone else in the future. I too had an engine tick with my 2003 Tacoma with the 3.4 V6 when it was warm. The Toyota tech was fairly confident it was the valves or injectors seeing as my truck has 250,000 on it. Not being one to believe everything I hear, I did not have a valve job done or replace the injectors. What I found after messing around is that the Vacuum Switching Valve Assembly is bad (part# 25860-75230) and creating the ticking noise. It's odd because where the unit is located is very decieving because it does actually sound like it's coming from the top of the motor. Which, is probably because there is other noises around that impede your hearing precision. I just happen to unplug the valve assembly and the noise went away. Plug it back and it's back! So, hopefully this helps somebody in the future.

johntrickpony

Im having a similar problem. I made a video hopefully someone can help me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJdD...ature=youtu.be

Texas_Ace

The sound quality is really bad so hard to know for sure, nothing stood out to me though.

I would do a full seafoam treatment in both the oil and intake along with some marvel mystery oil then change the oil with some good synthetic oil and see if things improve any.

I made a long writeup on how I do the seafoam treatment many years ago on here. It might be stickied?

soundboarder

I have a similiar sound coming from my swapped engine (3.4 into a 94 pickup). I did my plugs and wires thinking it sounded like an arc. Seems to be coming from my driver side valves. Still a mystery to me but otherwise truck runs great

mmw0k7o

I've had two ticking issues on my 4runner.

The first turned out to be a loose weld on the corner of the aftermarket catalytic converter. I drilled a hole threw the weld and then pinched it shut with a bolt and two washers.

The second was a stuck valve lifter that I found while replacing a head gasket.

soundboarder

I will check the Cat and wait until the next overhaul to keep and eye for a stuck lifter. Anyone have any advice on additives or any other way to address this?