Let me start with my question first of all:

Does anyone have any info on where a 22RE's cam sprocket key should be pointing when the crank's key is pointing straight up?

The rest of the story isn't really relevant to answering the above question, which is what I need. For context and your amusement, I will relate some of the rest now. If people are interested, I will be happy to expand and answer any questions beyond this.

So I'm working on a 93 pickup with a 22RE. I did a head gasket, timing set and new cover. I followed all the wonderful guides here, primarily "92 TOY"s very detailed writeup. Putting it all back together, I got zero compression on all cylinders. I was baffled. I re-checked and triple-checked every step I'd taken. I've been pulling my hair out over this for 2 weeks now. I pulled the head back off and re-did the gasket. Same results. My friend and I tried everything we could think of to track down the problem. I'll omit most of the thrashing and flailing I did since none of that got me anywhere anyway. Today, we finally made a breakthrough: the cam / crank sprocket timing marks are WRONG!!!

I even pulled the oil pump to visually verify the dimple in the crank sprocket still points at the dark link in the chain. I can easily see the cam sprocket's dimple lines up with the dark link on that end. However, when turning the engine by hand, and observing the behavior of the valves, what I saw was the intake valve still open as the piston was coming back up for what should have been the compression stroke. It was not generating enough compression to register on the compression tester's gauge at all.

So, I pulled the cam sprocket off, and rotated the cam with a pair of pliers to the general area of where I thought it should be at TDC. Then, I slipped the chain around the sprocket, one link at a time, til the keyway roughly lined up with the key. Then I put the sprocket back on the cam. I rotated it several times by hand to make sure there was no resistance, and there was none. I could immediately feel the difference. It felt much more normal. I finally hit the starter - and the compression gauge now gave me a result! it was around 80-90 PSI. This seems low to me, but I'll take anything over ZERO right now!

The only conclusion I have remaining is that the marks on the timing set I got must be wrong. The set I got is a Duralast brand, part number 76027S. Which, as far as I can tell, is indeed the correct set for this year and model. Now I'm no Toyota expert, but from what I gather, all 22RE's used basically the same timing components. Different motors probably came with different cams, but I would imagine the different cams would have their key at a different spot if they needed to be advanced or retarded a bit - not relying on the sprockets to be accurate.

I know I can't attempt to fire the motor in this guessed state. I want to find some way to set the cam's timing without using the marks on the sprockets and chain. Anyone have any ideas?

thanks,
-wes

 

Both keyways should be facing up. This is an interference engine. Possible the valves are bent if the timing was off

 

80-90 psi is about half of what it should be. I agree with the bent valves brother. Even a little off on an interference can lead to trouble.

 

I've had the head off since I put this chain on. The valves looked perfect. I turned it by hand and felt no hard resistance. Also: the pistons in this motor are dished for the valves. Possibly it's been rebuilt at some point? It can stand at least a little bit of cam timing error.

I think the compression is low just because the timing is still not quite right.

-wes

 

If both marks are dead up and there is still not good compression its something valvetrain related. My pistons have some relief but not much.
How many times did you bump for compression?

 

confirmed: keyways pointing up -> 150psi compression!! wooooohooooo!!!!

also confirmed: interference motor. I set the crank to TDC first and then tried to rotate the cam. at one point it got stuck and I trying to keep turning harder and harder. thankfully I realized what was happening before bending anything too bad.

With both keyways pointed up, the dark link on the chain was 6 links away from the dimple in the cam sprocket. this is with the other dark link lined up with the dimple on the crank sprocket. conclusion: bogus chain!

thank you all for your help.

-wes

 

Awesome!!

 

Glad you got it sorted out. But I doubt the chain was marked incorrectly. Probably installation error. Did you try flipping the chain over?

 

there weren't any instructions relating to positioning the chain one way or another. I visually triple-checked that the dimples matched up with the dark links on the chain.

when I looked at another box of the same set (same part number) the dark links on that chain were exactly halfway across the chain. so there was no orienting.

I would really like to believe it could simply be installation error - and indeed occam's razor suggests so quite loudly - however I still have not figured out how I could have screwed it up.

it's correct now, and with the mark on the crank sprocket lined up with the dark link on the chain, the mark on the cam sprocket is 6 links off from the dark link on that end. I have no other explanation.

-wes

 

Good thing you didn't do any damage! What brand was this chain? I'll stay far away from anything with that poor of quality control!

 

I posted it earlier: Duralast 76027S. I have a hard time blaming them too much... any and all manufacturers have errors that slip out. it's pretty easy to get chains mixed up when the only difference is which link is dark.

I'm not defending Duralast necessarily, but I haven't had particularly worse luck with them than anyone else. The people I DO have really bad luck with are Schucks / O'Reilly's - for whatever that's worth. This is relevant because Duralast is a house brand for Autozone. No idea who really made it for them.

As far as actual manufacturers, I have also had bad luck with Standard. Again, FWIW. Everyone has different experience with every part. Can you believe there are actually some people out there who have owned a Ford that never broke down on them???

-wes