81 22R. I have searched and searched and can't seem to find an answer. This motor starts and idles great, no noise. When I accelerate it makes a loud clicking noise, almost sounds like the noise a fan blade would make if it was hitting a piece of the shroud. I've read a lot about timing chain slack, but none of the post say how much if any slack there should be. I removed valve cover and I can take a long screwdriver and push the center of the chain over about an inch on the driver side. Also the guide on that side looks like shiny metal. Isn't it supposed to have some black plastic on it?

 

Does it happen when you rev it in neutral or just when accelerating?

 

Both ways

 

also, when I start it cold it doesn't do it at idle until the motor warms up

 

I don't know, but the more I listen to it. Sounds like the bottom end. If I pull the pan can I tell if its a bad bearing or wristpin by visual inspection?

 

I don't think it is normal for your guides to be down to metal, might want to look into that! The fact that it is less noticable when the engine is cold must be because of the thicker oil. A bad rod bearing has a distinctive knocking sound, usually more present when the engine is ''coasting'' with light throttle.

I'll be diagnosing mine this winter aswell since I'va had a knocking sound above around 3000 rpms for most of the summer, I still drove it hard all summer and the noise isn't worse, I did replace my guides last winter but not my tensioner, the block is pretty tired too.

 

A thought? was the oil pan hit or jacked up by mistake. Thinking if so could the oil pick-up be bent and in contact with crank or rod?

 

81 22r is a double roller isn't it. guides are metal, and this setup hardly fails.

When I check for spun bearing, I would pull plug wires one @ a time and crank. (do #1 last) engine will run like arse but try one at a time and listen closely past the miss. when you pull the right wire that piston will go slack and tick will quieten up. that is if its spun bearing.

So its not rockers? you checked clearances when valve cover was off?

with valve cover off you can manually spin crank around, then reverse crank and see if there is any slack in chain. Cam won't immediately move when you reverse direction if there is slack in chain, or tension-er is wore out.

 

the short answer to your question is yes, you can check the rod bearings by removing the oil pan. Drain the oil, remove the pan then bar the engine over till one rod cap is at the bottom of it's stroke. You can then push on the cap to check for any looseness. Depending on the mileage of the engine, it would be a good idea to replace the rod & main bearings while you are in there just to be on the safe side. The bearings are fairly cheap and easy to change. Just do them one at a time and be sure to properly torque each one.

 

I found a method of checking rod slack without removing anything but the spark plugs.

step one: remove a spark plug. put a non-marring rod such as a wooden dowel inside to feel for piston position. May want to mark it to gauge piston travel. Rotate engine until it reaches it's highest point of travel.

(the piston will have been moved upwards to it's fullest extent by the throw of the connecting rod on the crank. This means the top of the crank journal is in contact with the connecting rod upper bearing.)

Step two: continue to rotate until the feeler rod moves down 1/8"-1/4". Now you can be sure that if there were play in the connecting rod/crankshaft relationship (at the journal/bearing), that it is past it's point of looseness.

(the piston will have now been pulled down by the opposite surface of the connecting rod/crank. if there is rod knock, a gap will have opened between the previous two surfaces mentioned since the crank is now pulling down on the rod cap.)

Step three: try to push down on the "feeler rod". If there is rod knock due to a bad conrod bearing/ crank, there would be an amount of play you can feel by pushing down. This is because when the piston was traveling upwards towards TDC, it was pushed by the top of the connecting rod surface, and when it began to travel down, it was being pulled down by the upper surface of the connecting rod, and if there were play, there would remain a gap between the top of the connecting rod bearing and the crank journal which pushing down on the piston would close, and you would feel that movement.

if it doesn't 100% make sense, or you don't speak mechanic-ese, check the video I learned it from. I did do the disconnecting one spark plug wire at a time and my noise got quieter but was still there, but have yet to try the above method for myself. But I understand it. Now for the video.

 

It wasn't rod or main bearings or a wrist pin. I have it all tore apart as we speak and turns out there was so much slack in the timing chain that it was actually slapping against the guide bolt heads!! One had already had half the head shaved completely off and when I removed the oil pan it looked like I was panning for gold!!Going back with new timing chain set and all new gaskets from engnbldr

 

Wow!! How many miles on the engine? Does it have the double roller setup? The double rollers seem to last a long long time. My 1980 20R has the double roller. I don't know when they switched over to the single gear setup. 1983 or later I think?

 

My 83' has the double row, and my last 2wd 83' did as well.

 

I have a 95 4Runner automatic v6 3.0 an a coolant hose popped off and I had coolant everywhere and was smoking really bad. I cut the engine let it cool and put the hose back on I trie to start it and it would not idle it would just die. If I give it has it reves fine. The oil isn't milky no smoke that was coming out of the tail pipe. Got very hot check engin light came on. I plus it over let it cool I added water and tried to start it up. But it would just crank. If I gave it a little gas it ran fine but died almost instantly after I let off the gas I only did it for a few seconds I didn't want to do more damage so I stopped and had it towed home. Anyone that can help its my fist runner. Please?

 

Try starting a new thread for your issue.

 

I've gone ahead and ordered my timing kit from ENGNBLDR.COM as I did before with my '83 with he plastic timing guides and single chain. It seems my engine tapping noises are getting a little stranger, but it could be something else. In any case, it's a great company to order from, they have great products, the packaging graphics seem a little weird and generic, but the parts are great.

Last time after the timing chain install, I had no oil leaks even in doing the job without taking the head off. Sneaking the timing cover back on under the head is easiest with the oil pan off or at least dropped down if someone sealed it without a liquid gasket compound last time they put it on. I took mine off and cleaned the ˟˟˟˟ out of it, and applied nothing but RTV the whole time on all the seal corners and tricky areas, and an entire oil pan gasket out of RTV.

It was oil leak free afterwards to my delight. The only little catch was that after 3,000 miles, the area up near where the timing cover intersects with the head did have a little oil weeping. Something easy to wipe with a rag each time the oil dipstick was checked. Not buildup too major.

This time, since I have a tube of Threebond anaerobic gasket sealant, I think I'll get away leak-free in that area since this stuff is a lot thinner than the RTV silicone I used last time. It will penetrate better, dries more like paint and is less 'boogery', and I even thought of having a little special tip to inject a little bead at the difficult corner around the head and timing cover intersection.

The only bad thing about the '82 I'm working on now is the apparent rear main seal leak I have. Cleaning the oil pan won't be as nice as it was with the other truck because I know if I don't take care of the rear main seal too, I'll be still leaking there...

sorry this is so much about my disdain for oil leaks as it is about timing chain tick as originally posted... I have the timing chain tick too, I'm pretty sure. I'm trying to get in as much info as I can about how to take care of it best.