Brandon Dodson

Hello all. New to the forum and Toyota world. I bought a 94 3.0 automatic 4 wheel drive from a guy I knew. He's a mechanic and instructed me all it needed was a headgasket job. Ripped into the truck bought an entire fel price gasket kit. Did timing belt waterproof and had the heads milled to be sure of no warpage. Start the truck up and I have an atrocious noise. Pull the bottom end apart and there's a spun bearing. Buy a brand new crank and bearings kit as well as ring kit. Put the motor together and it runs fine at first. But again I have an atrocious noise. I thought it was a rod bearing again but I have a video of both sounds and they are different. Car had good oil pressure and it gains oil pressure as you accelerate if you drive it. Shifts and runs smooth just seems to have a lack of power. And very noisy. I'm curious if the valves could make this much noise. I'm reading they are noisy motors to begin with but this isn't normal. Using a three foot pry bar I can tell the noise is coming from the motor. But doesn't seem as distinctive as before. I will post both videos and links. But is there a way to rule in or out the valves before I pull this motor for the fourth time? I appreciate any and all help.

Brandon Dodson

This is the sound clips I recorded when we first started the motor after the headgasket job and it was in fact a spun bearing on cylinder #3.

Brandon Dodson

This is the new noise. Which sounds noticeably different. Truck runs very good, maintains good oil pressure. But as posted, a loss of power and very noisy.

PLEASE HELP ME GET THIS TRUCK FINISHED!!!

MudHippy

Well...it sounds better than it did!

I'm leaning towards valvetrain. Sounds like a fricken 22R-E. And would be pretty normal sounding if it were. But in this case it would likely be valve clearances too loose. Or maybe the camshaft and lifters aren't getting enough lubrication.

But I wouldn't be too surprised if it was the injectors. Which it also sounds like, but way too loud to be considered normal for those.

Or possibly even a notchy timing belt idler.

Or all of the above.

Brandon Dodson

Idler was just replaced as well. Cams were covered in assembly lube all over the lobes and I put some on top of all the lifters as well. Poured oil on top of everything prior to putting valve Covers on. Deffinately think it sounds better but I don't know how to diagnose the valve train or Injectors.

If someone had a normal sounding 3.0 I could listen to that'd be great. The power loss is deffinately my main issue.

MudHippy

1. There's 2 idlers. Upper and lower.

2. Everything lubed during assembly doesn't mean properly lubricated after assembly. The problem could be insufficient oil pressure and/or insufficient oil flow to the heads, and/or to the camshafts(the rest is oiled via runoff from the camshafts). That's what I mean by that. Anyways, the only way to know is to take a look. As in pull the valve covers and check for excessive wear(to the camshafts lobes specifically, which can be measured for heights within specs) and/or for lack of full oil pools above the lifters(unless it's sat for months without running they should all be full). While you're in there check the valve clearances. Check the oil and thrust clearances of the camshafts. Anything more requires removing the heads, valvetrain diagnosis wise.

3. The injectors either spray good or they don't. It really doesn't matter how noisy they are. But those would be the loudest ones I've heard. If that's what I'm hearing.

4. There's got to be a vid of that somewhere. I know I've posted one here before. If/when I feel like it I'll dig that up.

Brandon Dodson

Mudhippy. What are your thoughts on the lack of power. I mean flat to the floor the truck gets to about 3k rpm and can barely increase speed any. That's what's confusing me the most.

MudHippy

Low compression. But why would that be? Is it possible? Have you checked it? That's the first thing I'd want to be sure of.

Have you verified the valve timing is correct?

Ignition system in good shape? Plugs, wires, ignition coil, distributor cap and rotor.