larrys93pickup

All,

I have been working on a friend's, 87 toyota longbed pickup with 22r, carburetorated motor. The truck has about 258,000 miles. He got it free, and got it running. He noticed that the truck got super hot. He replaced the thermostat, new coolant, truck was still overheating, loosing coolant. He noticed white smoke from the tale pipe.

We suspected a bad head gasket. So we started taking the engine apart. We got down to removing the head, but before we did that, I tried to rotate the engine to TDC, rotating clockwise, but the damn engine would not rotate, I could see the chain tentioner push on the chain. WTF? The truck did run, we even took out the spark plugs, but the damn chain is binding on something?

What do you think? The truck was running, but now using a offset 19mm wrench on the crank bolt, the chain is binding, but on what? it was running before?

Any suggestions?

From what I can see, the engine looks like it was rebuilt before. The timing chain guards look like new, the chain looks like new.

We now have the head off, and are getting it checked for cracks.

What do you think would cause the chain to bind up?

Thanks,

larrys93pickup

yoterr

i had the same prob but i had allready taken the head off and the chain got binded up between the crank pulley sprocket and the tensioner, also after you got the head off were u able to rotate the crank?

larrys93pickup

yoterr,
Right now we have the upper sprocket zip tied to the chain, so that we don't lose the timing marks that we do have. I guess I can unloosen the zip ties and try to move the crank with someone holding the sprocket tight.

The chain tentioner looks like it is fully extended, would this cause this problem?

I guess the worst case would be to take the timing cover off, and actually look at the timing marks, but I was hoping to get this to TDC, without much resistance, it really shouldn't be that difficult to rotate the engine.

Any suggestions?
larrys93pickup

yoterr

should be able to rotate it with zip ties on, should have a lil play, just back and fourth, and if it still doesent rotate i would look into removing the T-cover, also did you get a good look at the head? if it has a bent valve it can be really hard to turn over (just had that exact prob )

algranger

Somethings not right. I would definitely pull the timing cover and possibly the oil pan if need be.

larrys93pickup

yoterr,
the crank does have lil play. I'm going to the machine shop next week to have the head checked out.

It could have been an issue with the valves.

I'll wait to hear back from the machine shop.

Should the chain tensioner be all the way extended, without any oil pressure?

I guess what I can do is get the head work done, put it back together, and see if the binding goes away. It doesn't look like any valves were hitting the pistons, so I'm pretty sure that the timing chain was put on right, by the previous rebuild.

What is freaking me out is that this damn thing would not even budge, even using all my strength on the wrench, this damn crank would not budge. It did however rotate a little back and fourth a little, but at some point, it would not budge.

larrys93pickup

yoterr

yeah doesent sound good, even with the bent valve i was able to rotate the crank just barked and poped a little when the valve guide broke i know u prolly dont wanna get into but if everything is fine with the head, ide go ahead and pull the T-cover like algranger said and take the ciming chain off and rotate the crank see if it spins freely, if not you might have a bigger issue on ur hands..also if you do take the T-cover and chain off make sure you put the bright links on the marks mine werent so i pulled the T-cover and ended up screwing up the HG then when i replaced that i bent a valve plus its just good peace of mind lol

larrys93pickup

All,
thanks,
first things first. We are going to have the head looked at. If the head is good, then my friend is going forward with the repairs. Right now he has nothing to lose, because he got the whole truck for free.

If the head comes back as good, Well pop off the timing cover, make sure the crank and pistons move freely.

We are trying to get this truck back on the cheap, I mean real cheap. It looks like there is some slight ware on the piston bores, what would you say to a cheap piston hone or even just some emery cloth, to get the bores rid of an ever so slight bit of rust?

Realize that this truck was sitting for about 3 years not running.

What about honing it with the pistons inside? would that be a wise thing to do?

thanks,
larrys93pickup

yoterr

im sure you could run some emery cloth round there to smooth things up, then ide DEFINITELY lube up the cyl walls with some light oil or pb blaster, dunno about honing....someone els has to chime in fer that one