ok guys when I did the valve cover gasket I noticed that small gear thats contacts the distributor shaft gear had one of the teeth about 3/4 of it missing! must have happened during the accident! I already drove the truck 2 times close to 10 miles worth before noticing this, and have scense drove about 15 miles after. where do you think this chip is? the truck seems fine but still has me worried some. advice please

 

do an oil change to make sure that metal made it into the oil pan hope it did
just get a new gear

 

yeah I wanna do that asap and drain the oil over a screen or something? use a magnent to move any metal to the drain hole maybe?? whats that gear called anyway?

 

Do you have a manual? You should really get one. The parts guys should know what it is at Toyota. Distributer gear ought to get you started...people should at least know what you're talking about there, as long as they don't think you mean the gear on the actual distributer..

 

so if it dropped down from where it sits in front of the timing chain, does that lead to the oil pan or no? whos had their 22r apart and can tell me what happens maybe? weds im gonna drain the oil onto a screen hope it comes out, if not im thinkin to drop the pan. what are the odds its in the pan? also do I have to replace that gear? it seems to run fine without that tooth??

 

Well, broken timing chain guides often end up in the pan, so a dist. gear piece should. Your method sounds pretty good for locating it.

 

so it should (crosses fingers) be in the pan? is that gear the dist shaft gear mesh with called the cam gear? is it ok with a chipped tooth? seems fine?!

 

Can't tell you if it's ok to not replace it...I mean yeah, if it's running fine, maybe leave it alone, but I'm not speaking from any great knowledge or experience...so it's up to you. If it didn't end up in the pan, you'd know it by now. You'd have scored bearings and noise and things wouldn't be running so good. Change the oil, and if you don't notice chunks, then drop the pan. It's got to be in the pan, whether it made it to the drain plug or not. All oil falls down into the pan then is pumped back up to all the engine parts.

So have you not changed the oil since the accident? Because if you have, those chunks may have already come out and you didn't know it. But it's good insurance to drop the pay to be sure...

 

no the oil is about 400mi old so I was not planning on changing it but when I seen the chipped off tooth I knew id be changing it! I am not driving it today and am changing it tomorrow. I will report my findings. thanks

 

ok so dropped the oil pan and did not see a whole gear tooth, only about 7 very tiny pieces of metal from the remains of the chipped gear?? other then that everything looked exceptionally clean and in order. there was not ANY sludge or buildup of any sort, the whole rocipricating assembly was clean as a whistle and all lighlty coated with 400 mile old oil lol because it was just changed before the accident! so did the chip bust all up or is there a piece still someplace hiding and will take me out someday?!?!? the inside of the pan was very clean with the exception of those tiny pices

 

pics of top and bottom end.....























so from the pics I see nothing bad, I hope the piece is gone but there is really no telling for sure???

 

No way to tell from photos, but I'd say you're cool. You really would know if a chunk had circulated through the engine, I think. If it was a big chunk, the engine would probably be noisy and not working very well right now. Most likely the gear just got chipped and the chips dropped straight down into the pan. If they got sucked into any oil galleys or into the chain tensioner...well...not much you can do. At this point you just need to drive it assuming it's ok. If it's not, it'll let you know eventually. Short of really getting a good view up the cylinders from below like you did, or pulling either the pistons from the bottom or the head from the top and really getting a look, you're not going to be able to see anything.

If it was a big chunk I just don't see it being caught somewhere...but who knows. Look down along the timing chain with a flashlight, I guess. But if there is a bigger chunk than what you found, I'd have a hard time believing that the little pieces dropped down into the pan, but a bigger one didn't.