so my 4runner has a bad engine knock/tapping...sounded like it was comming from the top of the left side of the engine(facing in fron of truck) took the exauhst manifold off to get to the camshaft on that side, found the the bearing tops that are numbered and with arrows pointing them in the right direction were put on wrong and bearings on the shaft had some fairly decent depth groves in them...when i removed the camshaft i found 2 peice broken off up towards the belt wheel...could this be what is causing the low oil pressure and knocking?

 

doubtful. That was probably caused from someone trying to remove the cam when it was in a loaded position and it cocked and broke off the ears

 

the lobe is 2 smooth to just be a chip or break it looks as if it has been rubbing on somthing but i don't see anything there...what is a good way to tell if the cam journals are bad? i can feel a decent size cut with my finger nail...also the engine was rebuilt before i got a hold of it and the journals were deffantly put in the wrong positions and he had some of the arrows on them that show what way they go in the wrong direction could this have caused it? thanks

 

which way are the arrows going? Both sides dont point towards the front. There are numbers as well as arrows and they should all be in sequence. If you think that cam is rubbing on that broken part, you should probably replace it to be sure

 

yeah i have them in the right order now...they just wern't when i pulled it apart and looked at it...the thing is im trying to figure out if this may cause the knocking so i don't get a new camshaft kit put it togeather and find out the knocking is from somewhere else in the lower part of the engine. if you don't think its the shaft do you have any ideas?

 

If its not the cam, The only other time I have seen any severe knocking from the top end was from either little or no oil or I have seen several times, a valve seat dropped and the valve is just banging the seat back up into the head everytime it comes up

 

iv'e done a compression test also...

drivers side: 150, 150, 145

passanger side: 150, 160, 133 - this is also the side with the broken camshaft

you think this indicates a blown head gasket?

 

A blown h/g typically wont show that bad a compression loss unless your leak is REALLY bad. I think that would indicate either a burnt exhaust valve or like I said before, a dropped valve seat. Pull the heads and have a machine shop check and repair them. Where are you located?

 

alright thanks i will check um im in south carolina

 

so after breaking the engine down more i found the piece of the cam shaft that was broke laying in the oil by the valve...any one know what to use on the starbit looking bolts that hold the heads on? no socket sizes fits it also got the only set of 5 size starbit looking sockets autozone had...but they all were 2 small any ideas?

 

IIRC, those "star" heads are actually for a 12 point metric socket. Maybe a 10mm or a 12mm.

 

It will be a 12 point 12 mm or 12 point 14mm. The 3.0's used both sizes so your could have either one