vonscorpio

Hello again fellow yotatech forum friends!
As a result of your good advice for my last question about why my truck wouldn't start I narrowed the issue down to a slipped timing chain. (Which was 100% correct)

My vehicle: 1989 Toyota pickup DLX 2WD 22RE (EFI), 210K miles.

What I have done since my last post:
Replaced the oil pump (Japanese), timing chain, cogs, rails and tensioner (Japanese), timing cover (aftermarket, possibly Chinese, but a perfect fit) and all associated gaskets.
My method was to leave the head gasket alone and loosen the oil pan. Used the gray RTV stuff to seal the oil pan back in place in the front where it seats with the timing cover.

The issues:
After getting the engine back together (took me 2 times... I cracked the oil pump on round 1. $100 mistake) I slowly filled the motor with the recommended amounts of oil, with a nice fresh piece of cardboard under the engine to watch for any leaks. Everything held just fine. After filling the coolant I fired up the engine and used a timing light to get it purring away. Oil and coolant began to collect on the cardboard.

I suspect that the coolant is coming from a hose that I didn't get 100% tight or possibly the water pump bearing gave out. Not really my major concern.

The oil is a mystery to me. It is coming from somewhere high on the timing cover although I believe it's below the head gasket and only leaks when the engine is running.
When the engine seemed to get to temp (choke turned off) the engine began to run rough and although it ran well enough to make it out of the driveway and park on the street, once I let off the gas the engine stalled out. Wouldn't restart without me resetting the distributor.

I am eager for advice from some of you master mechanics out there who have perhaps witnessed this before. Not sure where the common areas for leaks are but I do know it isn't the self forming gasket on the pan.

TL: DR after replacing the timing chain the motor is hemorrhaging oil from unknown regions and engine runs rough and dies after a few minutes. Seeking advice on how to fix it.

ToyoTech559

im assuming you did the t chain swap without taking the head off. if so, sounds like you didnt put any silicone where the timing chain cover and head gasket meets.

is the distrbutor installed correct and in time with the chain?

vonscorpio

You are correct on the swap leaving the head in place. I trimmed the oil pan gasket off even with the engine block, and filled it in nicely with the silicone. I left the head gasket in place and just put the silicone on both sides. I used the silicone on the rest of the timing cover assembly (water pump, oil pump and cover) on the outside of the gasket surface.
Is it advisable to trim off the loose part of the head gasket and just seal the area with silicone?
As for the timing, I followed a walkthrough I found online for getting the timing close when mounting the distributor, then tuned it with a timing light and got it so the notches lined up very well, although I noted it bounced around a little, and the distributor had run out of room to advance (toward the numbers on the oil pump?) the timing any more. After running for a few minutes and getting up to temp then the timing retarded by about an inch and the engine would stutter and die.

I plan on relocating the truck to an area where I can rip it apart again without the eye of the HOA watching me. I know I really need to remove the oil pan and get some debris from the worn old timing cover and guides cleaned out of there.
Is it possible that gunk is blocking the oil intake to the pump? Thus preventing the tensioner from working correctly?

crashchaser

Did you by chance reinstall the bolt that goes under the distributor through the head into the timing chain cover?

vonscorpio

I did reinstall the "hidden" bolt. I used the cardboard cutout method to keep track of all the bolts. No spares when I was done.

vonscorpio

Perhaps a deep technical question, but assuming the issue is that top paper gasket "baconed" when I put in place and is leaking past my silicon seal, would that creat a lack of oil pressure? And would the lack of oil pressure cause the fluctuation in the timing since the tensioner is operated by oil pressure?