My 22re (83000 miles) seems a little loud to me. Besides the tick of the injectors. It does seem to quiet down some when warm. But still its loud.

I plan on doing a valve adjustment soon.

The fan on the engine spins with the same amount of resistance when the engine is cold or warm. I'm spinning the fan by hand.

Could this be part of the problem?

 

searching the forums has gotten me somewhat confused.

Here is how I understand it.

Your cooling fan should have little or now resistance when engine is cold.
When engine is warm the fan will have some resistance when you try and turn it by hand.

Is that correct?

 

Correct.

On a cold engine, the radiator does not need the high cooling affect that a hot engine would. The fluid in the fan clutch allows the fan clutch to spin freely. (Well maybe not freely, but with not as much force.) As such, the fan is not spinning as much and will be quieter. When the temperatures reaches a certain point in the fan clutch, then the fluid in the clutch engages to allow full air flow through the radiator. When that happens, the fan is much noiser.

In other words, for the 22R family engine with a mechanical fan:
cold engine = quiet fan
hot engine = loud fan