So. I have a 1983 sr5 2wd with a 22r motor. Recently cracked the side of the cylinder head, so I picked up a used cylinder head and had it rebuilt at a machine shop. It was my first shot at doing anything other than replacing the carb so this was a long shot.

I took everything off and put everything back on per Haynes manual. Took lots of pics of the hoses and positions of everything. I cleaned every part that I took off and replaced all the gaskets. The only thing I broke was the BVSV for the EGR (in this image).

After I got it all hooked up, torqued down to spec, new oil and antifreeze in the motor I cranked it up. It started but was running rough and making a whirling noise from the rear of the motor. I set the timing as best i could, but the motor idles funny and runs rough. I got the timing as close as I could. The noise spooked me so I called a mobile mechanic to come check it out.

Mobile mechanic that I called came and checked everything. Said the compression was 180 on each cylinder so he didnt think i bent a valve, said everything was hooked up right, torqued properly and done pretty decent. He told me that I used the wrong kind of gasket on the plate on the back of the cylinder head and that I could changed it out by just jacking up the transmission and unbolting the five bolts and swapping the gasket. See, I didnt buy the head set for the motor (because I didnt know of this), I just bought individual ones. I didnt get a gasket for the rear so I used red RTV to make one. It had clogged the exhaust ports on the plate and the mechanic suggested that it was the cause of the noise and poor running. So, not wanting to take the cylinder head back off I jacked the transmission and replaced the gasket with a homemade one (blue rubber stuff that said it was for waterpumps and such). Just did that today and now it actually runs a little smoother, but it still runs bad and the noise didnt go away.

If I put on hearing protectors and have someone run the motor, the sound is coming from where the egr thing is in the back of the motor. I unplugged all the hoses to this egr thing and it didnt go away. I also disconnected the BVSV entirely (forgot to mention that I glued it back together because the dealer said they wanted $80 for it) and it changed nothing.

Parts that are new:

• all vacuum hoses
• fuel lines
• head bolts and manifold bolts
• valve cover gasket
• head gasket
• intake/exhaust gasket
• egr gasket and rear egr plate gakset (custom)
• ngk wires
• ngk plugs
• distrib cap and button
• oil/antifreeze and filters

The closest thing I can mention the noise sounding like is the noise camry engines make, but MUCH whinier and louder. Also, if i rev the motor to about 3k the engine shaking smoothes out and seems to run ok, but it feels like it is trying hard and the whining gets REAL LOUD.

I am getting fed up with it and the only thing I can think of is a new EGR, but I don't want to spend the $200 for the egr and saucer thing just to find out that isn't the problem and I can't return them.

so, here I am . . .. asking for wisdom. any help is appreciated.

cheers guys!

 

lookat the website lcengineering and look into blocking ff the egr and fixing the problem. might be cheaper but depends if the state you live in does smog on that old of a vehicle. Basically the gasket (or any gasket) needs to be done right and is the root of you problem. for the 22r you could eliminate the egr for cheaper than buying a new one but like i said check if you can do it with out johnny law aka johnny smog looking into it. It doesn't really create any problems for the motor as far as i've researched but the chioce is yours. Look for egr block off plates on the lcengineering site.

 

So it sounds like the egr to you? I was thinking about taking it off and turning the motor over to see if the noise went away or if it ran any better, but didn't know if that would make something break.

 

to be honest i'm only speculating as to what it could be. For me and my money i would buy a quality head gasket kit and do it right. I know that's a chunk of change you're not really wanting to spend but on the bright side you'll know it's been done proper. Like i said you could block off the egr and see what happens. worst case scenario you have to get one any ways so you're not in the hole too much just labor if it was me i would just disable the vaccum to it. It would tell you how to do it but i'm not positive so do some searching and find a way to temporarily block the egr and see if it improves the engine's ability to run.
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f114...ly-22r-205845/
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f16/...-84-22r-60478/
http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/sh...d.php?t=257459

 

so. today I removed the egr entirely and turned the motor over and the sound was still there. thinking maybe the camshaft was down too tight I too the rocker arms off and loosened the camshaft a little. started it and the noise is still there. gonna have it towed against my will to the toyota dealership tomorrow. anyone have any other suggestions??

 

find a local shop not the dealer. they're not good imo but do what you want. they're going to have the head gasket redone is just my two cents but sounds as though you already know how to do that right? So save yourself the load of money buy a head gasket kit from ted at engnbldr.com and get it done. Since you took the rocker arms off you might have floated the head as well messing up the head gasket in the first place. Also did you check for vaccum/exhaust leaks and how tight did you make the camshaft. To spec is what i would assume by reading your previous posts. If you can it's really hard to describe a noise so try and take a video of it running and maybe qwe can go from there. like i said i'm only speculating from this point with the small amount of info i have. Don't give up yet and take it to the dealer. Check the valve lash? set to spec? real easy to eliminate that as a potential problem by setting it right.

 

I just replaced the head gasket and put a remanned head on. The torque of the head bolts is 58lb and in the order the haynes manual says. All the vacuum lines are hooked up and the valve lash was set to .008 and .012 I think. I checked and set them when I replace the head gasket and today when I took it off to check the cam shaft cover tightness.

I was worried about the dealer, but figured they would be the best place to go as far as experience goes.

 

when you took the rocker arms off the head bolts had to be removed right. To be honest you might be fine but then again you might not be since you relieved the torque on the head gasket by removing the head bolts. Not saying it's automatic as people have removed the head bolts to swap in a cam and been fine but they for one didn't move the head and where very careful of that and to top it off they also in most cases drained the coolant to make sure they didn't float the head. So when you turn the engine by hand via the crank pulley it moves freely and doesn't bind? So we're looking at the "faulty gasket in the rear of the head being the possible cause of the problem right. Why not just get the right gasket for it and make sure there isn't any thing blocking it when you install it? Also when you stabbed the distrubutor you aren't possibly off by a tooth or so? And you've timed the engine proper by now right? If not go ahead and time it the right way by jumping the terminals TE1 and E1 and setting it with a timing gun. Start using the fsm as well. the haynes manual is nice for general stuff but you're using dealing with the motor not shocks here so lets get the right info as well. here's the link. http://www.ncttora.com/fsm/index.html