While working on my 1985 Toyota Pickup 4x4 22r, I took off the valve cover to adjust the valves and saw the fuel pump arm off to the side of the eccentric cam lobe.


The fuel pump had been working fine as far as I could tell before removing the cover so I can only assume this happened during removal. I may have bumped it as I jostled the cover around as it took quite a bit of wiggling to get it off. I was able to rotate the engine and get the eccentric cam lobe on the low side and push the fuel pump arm back on the lobe. Unfortunately, the arm now looks like it is riding on the very edge of the eccentric cam lobe instead of in the middle where the wear line shows up in the picture.


I unsuccessfully tried to straighten it without using too much force but ended up putting the cover back on with the arm positioned as shown above on the edge of the cam.

Now that everything is back together the engine is running much better but I can hear a loud tapping noise coming from the fuel pump that did not happen before. It is even audible over the engine and road noise in the cab and increases and decreases with engine speed.

Has anyone else had problems with this? Should I try and bend the arm back? It appears to be functioning well, but the loud tapping has me worried. Any suggestions are appreciated.

 

Fuel pump is junk.
Change it immediately before that arm comes off and fouls the timing chain.
If that happens, you'll have real problems.
It is VERY unlikely that merely removing the valve cover bent the pump arm.

 

Thanks millball. I'll see if I can get a toyota one on order. I've heard a lot of bad reviews of aftermarket ones on this site.

The part that threw me for a loop was that it must have happened fairly recently due to the wear pattern being right in the middle of the cam. It doesn't look like it has been riding on the edge very long at all and it definitely wasn't making the noise before I opened the cover.

 

After reading the recommendation I was nervous about the potential damage to the timing chain assembly and I decided to get an orielly pump. It will have to do until I get a toyota one. But I'm very glad I, did here is the underside of the old pump arm.

The issue appears to be resolved temporarily. No more tapping from the front of the engine!

Thanks again!