I have a 2002 tacoma ext cab with the v6. I think there is a slight miss in the motor. I checked the plugs just to look at them and noticed that i have denso on the driver side and ngk on the passenger side. Is this normal for toyota to do this or what? Any knowledge of this would be helpfull. 2nd question when i start the truck after it has been cold, i here a ticking noise for about 4 seconds. Seems to me that once the oil gets circulated it stops. Icalled dealer they told me wasnt anything to worry about probaley a lifter bleeding down. I thought that over head cam motors had no lifters. Not sure if dealer was blowing me off. Any comments will be appreciated thanks scott.

 

I noticed the same thing when i changed my spark plugs at 60k. Half were NGK and the other half were Denso. Anyone else notice this?

 

Yes, I think most 3.4's came like that, if not all of them. I've heard it mentioned before a lot.

 

thanks for your help on the spark plug question. scott

 

as far as i know... ngk and denso are the exact same plug.

at least... thats true as far as honda's go. i'm pretty sure that applies to all ngk and denso...

(i'm a honda guy too, please dont hurt me! **ducks**)

 

Yes, I noticed the same, I was pissed...I thought previous owner had decided not to replace the difficult to reach ones. Now i see it probly came that way from the factory? I don't understand, this logic?


2000 4runner sr5 5speed...

 

Well, I can tell you that in my previous world of mitsubishi's, we called that "lifter tick" and was really a product of the hydrolic valves not getting enough oil on startup, and was usually much more pronounced in cars that ran either a light weight oil, or synthetic oil. The problem was simply that the oil pumps did not flow a high enough rate to keep oil up on the head quick enough. Our simple cure was to run 20/50, which is a bit thicker and allows the oil to stay up on the head/valvetrain. I have no idea if toyota is the same way or not, but that should solve it if it is.

 

Well, that dealer sure sounds impressive. He clearly does not know that the 3.4 as well as most all Toyota engines use solid lifters so there is no way they can "leak down".

Would you trust these guys to open up your engine and change the head gaskets??

Gadget

www.GadgetOnline.com

 

thanks I thought i wasnt nuts. Still ticks at startup iam running synthetic mobil one scott

 

Try switching brans of oil. I was using a synthetic oil called Synergen, but could not find it so I used Mobil 1. My valves ticked all the time with that in there. It was so bad I drained it out at only 1500 miles. I just could not stand it anymore. That is when I started using AMSOIL in it and it was very quiet after that.

My brother had the same problem when he used Mobil and it went away when he started using AMSOIL.

Of course if you need a valve adjustment, changing oil brands is not going to change that, you will still need a valve adjustment. Mine where all in spec, but it sounded terrible for some reason with Mobil 1 in it. I am sure others have had just the oposite result, but it is worth a shot, right?

Gadget

www.GadgetOnline.com

 

What viscosity of amsoil are you using? The ticking noise drives me nuts, at least its only at startup. Thanks scott

 

I think Gadget uses 0w-30 Amsoil in his rig.

 

"Only at startup." That maybe a totally separate issue then a tick from excessive valve lash. You need to have someone that really knows what he is doing diagnose it. It could be many things including piston slap. Some are no need to worry and others are.

Gadget

www.GadgetOnline.com

 

Thanks it better not be piston slap motor has 11,0000 miles on it ticking noise started when i switched to synthetic oil. Only at start up .. thanks for your input