Its an 84 p/u 22R and I have a weird rattle or whatnot coming from the valve cover (near #1 cylinder) I would say it sounds close to change in a washing machine and it happens mainly at idle or under slight load. I was thinking maybe the timing chain, but not sure. I have replaced the timing chain on my 87 p/u and it was a more constant noise at all rpm's and this one is only at idle or slight load. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Check your rocker arms for looseness.

 

It very well could be the timing chain. If the damper is severely worn or broken the timing chain will slap the side of the cover and eventually wear a hole in the cover and fill your oil pan with water. That will be catastrophic. You need to find out what is making the noise NOW. Before it's too late. The 22Rs as good as they are, this is one of there major flaws.

 

Yeah I will, but would I be able to look down through the valve cover to see if there is any sign of wear or would I need to remove the timing cover? Or is there any other way of detecting wear?

 

First of all, are you sure that its coming from there? To the best of my knowledge I don't know of any way to check for wear other than to pull it. No easy task. But if you have a noise that is that bad and you know that it's coming from the timing cover, you need to pull the cover. Something is not right and if you let it go your going to pay for it.

 

Yeah, I'll look into it, gonna rule out all else first...pulling the cover isn't fun. By the way heres an updated pic of it. (my profile pic on side)