I have a 97 2.7 tacoma with 171,000 miles on it the truck runs good but sounds like a diesel it ticks really loud upon cold start up but gets quieter upon warm-up. I checked the vavle clearances today all the shims are with-in spec what could be causing this noise timing chains,tensioners,guides does it need a head,valvejob? My truck runs excellent just trying to fix the noise I know to change to timing chains you have to pull the head and oil pan so i was just gonna pull the engine has anyone experienced this before??

 

i don't know about the tick, but the diesel sound is probably piston slap associated with the 2.7. when i was looking for a new rig, alot of tacomas i looked at had the diesel sound when started cold. i would just take it easy while it is cold. i don't think it hurts the motor at all. the tick is a whole different subject i know nothing about.

did you just get the truck?

p.s. google piston slap 2.7 toyota, lots of info on it