Well, I was up at my father's autobody shop today getting my truck ready for paint. I have about an hour commute from my house. The truck ran fine (and has been running fine) with no noises or power loss. I did a tuneup on it a couple of weeks ago, and did notice the oil pressure got pretty low at idle a few days after. It would shoot up to normal specs once you gave it gas/started moving. I went to leave around 5:00pm EST and that's when the fun started. When I cranked it, the motor seemed to crank irradically and when it fired up it sounded like crap. It seems the knocking is coming from the top of the motor. I'm thinking it jumped a tooth on the timing chain.

When I tuned it up I put in 10w30 oil with an OEM filter. Like stated earlier, the truck ran and sounded great prior to this. Now I'm wondering if I should source out a used motor or redo thge chain hoping that's the culprit. I've heard that the timing chain tensioners are controlled by oil pressure. Could that be why it was reading low at idle? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Maybe try lining up yer marks on tdc and pull yer cap and see if yer dist. Rotor is pointed at #1! Pull yer #1 plug n see if its up? Hope that can help ya get started, good luck! Let us know what ya find! I'm just gettn ready to reassemble my 85' 22r that had to go back to the machine shop for a cracked #2 piston that went 2 days before christmas! So i totally feel yer pain dude!

 

low oil pressure and knocking usually means a bearing somewhere has gone out. But not always.

My oil pressure gauge gets pretty low at full temp and at idle (750 rpm), just a tick under the 1/4 mark. but no "knocking" other than your typical valve train sound on a 22r motor. And this is on a rebuilt motor that has roughly 7000 or so miles on it.

Maybe a video would help us determine what your sound is.

I don't know of one person on here that has had a timing chain slip on them. Only way I can see that happening is your chain tensioner has completely broken in half or has completely unbolted itself from the block. Which would make one heck of a racket I would imagine and would certainly contribute to a low oil pressure since the oil that would have been held back by the tensioner is no spewing out through through the supply hole.

My advise to you is do not drive this this one bit. I wouldn't even start it without at least taking the valve cover off and looking down each side of the chain to see if everything is intact. You should be able to see the tensioner on the passenger side of the motor.

 

I'm definitely going to get it into the shop on Monday and see what's going on. I just bought a timing chain kit from engbldr, but you may be right. Though the noise seems to be coming from the top of the engine it seems like a knock. Either way I'm going to be putting this kit in this motor or the used one I buy. Know of anyone looking to sell a 22r for cheap????

 

"I don't know of one person on here that has had a timing chain slip on them"

My mechanic told me never to step on the gas when starting a cold motor, since the tensioner is controlled by oil pressure. When the motor is cold, the timing chain is loose, as there is no oil pressure to keep the tensioner on it tight. As the motor warms up, the chain gets tighter.
Stepping on the gas when the motor is cold can cause the chain to jump timing, resulting in bent valves and all sorts of other nastiness.

Not sure if this is the cause of your particular issue, just wanted to add that it is entirely possible for the timing chain to jump.

 

ROFL oil pressure is higher when cold.

so you're saying when my 22R is cold....my tensioner isn't doing it's job?

sorry but that sounds bogus to me.

the only time the tensioner is not doing it's job is when...
A. it has failed.
B. the motor is not running.
C. there is no oil flowing through the motor, in which case you have other more major problems to worry about.

timing chain is extremely simple to check, and won't take more than 5 mins to check. so check it.

 

Let me know what you think. My guess is # 3 or #4 rod went. It definetly sounds like it's coming from the rear of the motor. Below is the youtube link. I popped the valve cover and it all looked ok. I'm in the market for a 22r. Anyone???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9n212wz4IM

 

Sorry that just doesn't make sense to me. When you shut your motor off, all of the oil drips down into the oil pan, there is no oil in the oil pathways. When you start your motor, oil is pumped through the passageways from the oil pan, and oil pressure would naturally build as more of that passageway space is taken up.

For example, is a water balloon pressurized when there is no water in it? No. Pressure doesn't build until water starts flowing into it. Same concept.

 

That sounds way too loud to be a rod knock... Sounds more top end. Plus, a bearing problem wouldn't necessarily make it start erratically. I'd be checking the timing as previously suggested and do a cylinder leakage test. 22R's are valve benders...

 

It's the Foo Fighters fault.

 

77lubr, its 300ultra! just wonderin if ya checked yer timing marks top n bottom yet and if dist. rotor is pointed at #1? also pull yer dipstick with motor runin. Any blow by? mine was terrible, and sounded similar. just wonderin?

 

i always thought it was spelled kaboom.

 

I agree that don't sound like a 22r rod knock. I should know. I completely wiped out my #4 and it will certainly hinder starting the truck, it also hinder driving it. IF it has completely spun. I had to limp mine off the highway about 1 mile with a completely blown rod bearing. Had to pop the clutch several times just to keep it running enough to get me off the highway. To me that sounds like a broken timing chain guide or possibly a broken rocker arm pad. It don't even sound like the beginning of a rod bearing going out. That I know too since I drove mine with a slight rod knock for almost a year. Hard for me to tell right now as it's 1am and I can't run my sound up. lol.

EDIT: got a better look at the video. I stand by my previous statement. Almost sounds as though the knock does not follow engine RPM though.

I would at the very least take that valve cover off and see what you see. It's literally a 3 minute job.

 

After watching the video it sounds like a slightly bent valve. They sometime will not be any visable damage to the top side of the cyl head. But the valve can bend slightly and break part of the valve guide out of the head. A simple compression check will go a long way in helping to determine any problems.

Russ

 

Uh O!.... just watched you vid.... my 85' 22R truck busted a timing chain guide on the freeway once... sounded just like that. While I was trying to gimp it to an exit, the chain busted and went through my timing cover like a chainsaw. If your oil doesn't have any aluminum fleck in it now, take the timing cover off and check out the chain before cranking it over anymore! It's much cheaper that way~ I had to rebuild my motor top and bottom because of running it 2 miles with aluminum in the oil.

 

Well, today I FINALLY got around to wrenching on it with a guy at work. We did a compression test and found #2 cylinder had no compression. #'s on all other 3 were between 120-130 psi. We couldn't find any foul play with the tchain or any stuck valves with the valve cover off, so I think it's a ring problem since it had the low oil pressure. Compression didn't come up with a wet test either.

We decided to remove the motor. It's currently ready to be yanked. What a bit#h the top two bellhousing bolts were to get at. We finally ended up using about 18" worth of 1/2" drive extensions with a swivel ext. and got it from underneath. That's one trick I'll be putting in the memory bank. We could have pulled it in under two hours if it wasn't for the two pesky bolts (manual steering w/ no a/c helps when pulling a mill).

Anyway, everything is removed or at least unbolted from the motor. I am wondering if it's a PITA to seperate the motor from the tranny and pull it out? My buddy had valentine day arrangements with his wife so we couldn't get the cherry picker ready to pull it. Any tricks we need to know? We'll be heading up there next week to swap a new motor in.

 

Its no more a PITA than it is on any other vehicle Ive worked on. Put the cherry picker on it and lift it up just a bit, a few good jerks should separate it. If its really difficult a pry bar will help. Id recommend pulling the radiator if you havent already. It gives you alot more room to work with. And its always nice to not have to worry about punching a hole through it by accident.

 

Thanks!! I don't have to disconnect the slave cylinder from the bellhousing if I'm leaving the tranny and bellhousing in place do I?

 

nope, if the bellhousing isnt going anywhere then there is no reason.

 

No compression on #2, let us know what you find.