tgsopher

I am new here and just went through a hell of time fixing a toyota pickup--it took a year to figure it out (ok, well 9 months of weekends but who's counting).

After doing some research and finding no substantive issues (documented that is) I bought a new chinese knockoff 22re engine and put it into a 86 4x4 Pickup (EFI, auto trans, etc.). The truck ran great! But it started breaking flex plates. After replacing 3 of 4 failed flex plates and $2000 total cost, I figured out that the crankshaft was ~2mm too high in the block. Not enough to affect the engine operation but really flexed and broke the flexplates. I documented this what happened so if folks are interested let me know via email.

What is interesting here is that as the vendor said, this can't be because they manufacture these in runs of 500 and he has sold 1000s, if so many engines would be problematic. My thought is, either there are thousands of mis-manufactured 22r blocks out there or, I just happened to be the unlucky "1"--and I doubt that.

Doubt it or not, I "posit" that if one of these engines are placed in a car with a manual transmission that the effect will not be seen for "perhaps" years. It is only in an automatic you'd see the effect in short order. Think about it, we had 4 flexplates fail in less than 2500 miles.

Finally, if you have one of these engines and you have a small (or large) mainseal oil leak, this is one of the symptoms. In my document I show that mail oil seal is overly compress at the top and not touching at the bottom.

Here are some Pictures:
http://s1136.photobucket.com/albums/n493/tgsopher/

I am really curious to find out if I am the only one.

Thanks for reading, Ted

angrydogtattoo

Any chance of returning it, or warranty RA for another?

tgsopher

Yes, the company has taken the engine back and is rebuilding it. Instead of a new "knockoff block" I have asked for a real rebuilt toyota block. They agreed and they are giving me a new flexplate also.

What I don't know is the manufacturer of the block, I was too hungup on getting something back.

I am not getting a good deal here, but I need to get this truck going so I'll take the loss. Nevertheless, I was hoping to save others the pain.

Thanks for asking.

Ted

tgsopher

Folks,

First off, thanks to the systems admins who left my post up. Sorry for any trouble I caused.

What is amazing is although folks looked at my photos, no seems to experience a block that was manufactured wrong. I guess this may answer my question "am I the only one?", I just might be...

But just in case I am not, the key is this:

The surface of the top rear main seal to the bottom of the top alignment pin should be 11.6cm. If you find it is 11.4cm, take that engine back!

All the best, Ted

bassbro1

I read something a while back about Japanese engines. They may be the same engine you have here in America, but a lot of their measurements are different and won't work properly with American transmission. Now if you bought engine and tranny from Japan you would have a better match. Send it back, get your money back, and find an engine here in America.

4wd4fun

saw the pics and see what you meant about the rear seal "pinched" at the top and gaping at the bottom.

i can't say why the block would be that way and i can't see a reground crankshaft doing that if the right bearings are installed. it would be interesting to see the seal on the other end of the engine too though