Hello all,
I recently purchased a new head for my 22-re engine (89 4-runner), and over this past weekend I finally had a chance to install the head. After installing the head and driving for about 100 miles it has developed a terrible chattering noise. I just finished adjusting the valves again thinking that could be the problem but it did not get rid of the awful noise. It sounds like the timing chain could be loose, but I have the metal timing guides in the engine (supposed to make the chain tighter than stock) and when replacing the head I did not remove either the timing guides or the chain tensor and it was fine before disassembly. I am really at a loss as to what to think, and I was hoping for some advice. When I installed the head I assumed that the camshaft came from the vendor properly torqued into the head, and my deep fear is that this assumption was false. Any advice you could offer would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

 

If its a pretty terrible noise from under the valve cover, definitely pull the cover and inspect it. When cold, check the torque of those cam bearing cap bolts, they should be 14 ft. pounds. get a flashlight and examine the timing chain and guides. Look for anything else loose in there. When hot, the valve clearances are .012 exhaust, and .008 intake. A sloppy tappet can make a racket.

 

Camshaft not properly indexed causing the pistons to impact the valves?

 

Thank you all, good suggestions and I really should check the torque of those cam bearing bolts, however I found the chatter. In my close attention to making sure everything else was torqued correctly I did not torque the 4 little nuts holding on the fan pulley. It was rattling back and fourth and making all of the noise. Thankyou all though.

 

i had a similiar expierence. i put a new motor in my runner and had a chatter that i thought was the valves. just short of catching it on fire my buddy brought over a tethescope and found it was my steering pump.