rockyota

So many threads on ticking in motors but I haven't found my answer yet, hoping someone can help out. I've narrowed things down a bit, when the outside temp is below about 40 F, (I'd believe freezing may have something to do with it?) and RPMs approach 2k, I get a ticking noise that seems to be toward the rear of the motor. It is most audible from inside the truck. Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. She's got 230k on the motor and is in need of some new tires, but otherwise she's going for 300k! Thanks...

excelagator

Here are some possible thoughts.........

1. I was a Toyota Tech in Northern Wisconsin years ago and worked on 22REs. When the temps were below 32 before the temp gauge reached just above the L-line on the gauge you could heard it as a slight rattle right around 2900 rpms once above that it was gone. If this is what you are hearing it is piston slap. Once the temp gauge got above the L-line it is gone. Toyota engine engineers, "I believe built this in to the design". We never got a straight answer from Toyota directly, and never heard of a engine failure because of it.

2. On my 93 x-tra-cab I would get a "ticking" if the heater temp control was in a certain postion. Move it and it was gone. I believe there was a bullentin on it????

3 and more. Could be the injectors, misadjusted valve.

4. Someone could chime in. Man there are some very knowledgeble gurus on here. :bigclap:

Dan

rockyota

Thanks Dan, I"ll try all of those suggestions and hopefully find something that works. The odd thing about my ticking is that it seems to have very little to do with the actual engine temp / temp gauge. It doesn't even seem to have much to do with the ambient temp in the engine compartment. When the bank sign is below 40, it ticks..above 40 it doesn't? I keep thinking its something stupid in the dash or something that rattles when its cold but it sounds too much like a valve/lifter for that explanation. Thanks for the help.

Brian

Firefightertaco

What kind of oil are you using, have you tried using a thinner oil in the winter?

mochester

i too get a strange noise around 2300-2500 rpms when the truck is as cold as it will get (basically only when it has sat out overnight). and only when its cold

but i'm not concerned about my noise, because the only thing it sounds like to me is a rattling heat shield

i have inspected all the exhaust heat shields the best i can, but they seem tight as can be. i hope this is the sound i hear anyways...because if it isn't a heat shield, it's probably bad. i mean, it just sounds like someone put a vibrator on an empty beer can or something, and it goes away as soon as the truck starts warming up. must be some frequency at which the motor vibrates at the right rpms and temperature. it does occasionally sound like a 'tick' - if i keep the rpms right on the spot where it makes the sound i can get it to sound like a tick. but i've heard so many different 'tick's from this engine...exhaust leak, valves, timing chain eating into the head, throddle body opening/closing, injectors, etc
it could be anything
and BTW the timing chain noise acted a lot like this other noise...happened the most at a certain rpm range under load. only it didnt discriminate between hot and cold
also consider the possibility that it is ping
i found that a ticking sound i thought i was hearing from my timing chain was actually some really gnarly pinging going on
then again, that doesnt really make sense with the whole temperature thing does it
if anything it would ping more when hot

rockyota

The oil I normally use is 5W-30. I did change it up a little the last time and put some 10W-30 in, didn't make any difference with the noise. The ticking to my untrained ear sounds as if the oil isn't getting to the top of the motor, or very little of it is anyway. I had thought maybe the oil pump had something to do with it and for whatever reason was affected by the cold. Doesn't make much sense though, you'd think that after the engine warms up it would work properly. I'll have to do some more trial and error stuff and see what else I can find out. Maybe I'll try flushing the motor with something?

excelagator

hmmm...hard to tell, but Mochester's sounds alot like piston slap. Both my 91 and 93 had it.

Not mocking you Yota, but you said untrained ear. You think what you are hearing is the injectors opening and closing?? Being young and stupid my first day at a Lexus dearership. I commented, Why do all Lexus and toy motors tick!!!

Dan

mochester

tell me more about piston slap


what exactly was i describing that sounds like it?

how big of a deal is that?
that doesnt sound good

excelagator

This taken from the net, breaks it down better than I can.

Piston slap is nothing new to piston driven internal combustion engines and compressors. It is the secondary (sideways or perpendicular) movement of a piston against the side of a cylinder bore where the primary movement of a piston is intended to be parallel (up and down) to the cylinder bore. All piston driven internal combustion engines and compressors have a certain amount of piston slap.

Excessive piston slap occurs when the clearance between the piston and the cylinder bore is too great. The piston to cylinder bore clearance becomes too great either through wear, mismatched pistons and cylinder bores at manufacturing or, a combination of both. The audible noise associated with excessive piston slap is due to the perpendicular impact of the piston against the wall of the cylinder bore. Audible piston slap is typically loudest when the engine is first started up. The pistons then expand with heat reducing the piston to cylinder bore clearance thus, reducing the perpendicular impact of the piston against the cylinder wall and its resulting noise.

Now from my 150,000 miles (which is not much compared to some old hands here) of driving 22REs and driving in sub-zero temps in Wisconsin to Florida temps never heard of a breakdown from owners or anyone else for that matter. I had heard mine do it very well in sub-zero temps, and once it was warm it was gone. I and others came to the conclusion is the Toyota engineers designed this into the 22RE. Because metal expands and that is where the engine runs.


There are 22REs that have easliy ran 300,000 miles without a rebuild and because of that I personally think that the 22RE is the best built 4 banger ever built!!!!!

Targetnut

My truck does exactly the same thing and I've just figured it was likely piston slap because it is also load sensitive. If i rool out of the throttle or give it more it changes the noise or it goes away. A few of the different vehicles I work on have this condition to some degree or another and so far it does not seem to really have any ill effects.

Just let it warm up real good before taking it to redline

P.S. I also have a '93

excelagator

We had a customer that complained about the piston slap. We took him to the car lot and showed him that all 22res did it when cold. He was not happy and requested a new motor. Guess what....the new motor did it as well.

The 22RE is not the smoothless idling motor or a quiet one of the toyota. It is the one that is known for going the longest with minimal problems of any gas 4 banger built period. Personally, let it slap alittle on warm-up at a certain RPM. We do have to remember it is a Toyota truck motor not a $50,000 Lexus.

Dan

89red4x4yota

not to join in late but...whenever i take my truck on the highway (89 pickup with a 3.0) i notice a pinging at about the same rpm, however when powering uphill it goes away, it is very noticeable with the radio off and when going downhill without touching the gas, happened rather recently or i noticed it rather recently...i always thought it was the lifter, any advice excelagator

slater442w30

my old 3.slow had a loud tick, and so have a couple more i have driven, and it was the fuel injectors. They get dirty and get louder as they get dirtier. Makes a high pitched exhaust leak kind of noise. I kept chasing down my "exhaust leak" only to discover dirty injectors the cause.