Hey guys new to the forum here. I just picked up a 91 Toyota Pickup with the 3VZE motor. Well i noticed it had a tick at all rpm and slight at idle. Well im OCD when it comes to this crap. So did some reading and heard its possible its the valves. Well i did some research and got all the info i needed off ALLDATA and went at it.... got it all apart and they are all a little tight. not loose at all so that wouldnt be ticking... and they are all close together in clearance. So now that I got half the damn motor apart im stumped... What could it be? could the fuel regulator or injectors really be ticking that loud??
Thanks
Ron

 

I find that little tick annoying as well, but it only comes from one area of the engine, the front driver side. I am not sure what is right there, but I am going to say it is fuel related, unless it is something in the distributor? Sorry I can't help, but I hope we both find out what it is! You aren't the only one lol.

 

ya ita a annoying sob!! and mine as well is on the drivers side.... valves are all good idk maybe its injectors. just a excuse to crank the tunes haha

 

GM660, Mine ticks too and has since I got it 18 months ago. I tore it all apart last April and did a valve job, sure that it would stop the tick. The valve job had no effect whatsoever. A lot of folks will tell you that the fuel pressure regulator is really loud on these trucks, and maybe that is your problem. I ruled that out on mine with a mechanic's stethoscope. I can hear the FPR ticking, but it is not my problem. The fuel injectors also click, but again, not the sound I am hearing.

The only suggestion I have heard over the past year and half that I have not ruled out is that it could be a small exhaust leak. Since I hate working on exhaust (aka breaking bolts and using up my swear-word dictionary) I have not looked into it much.

For me the noise gets a lot louder when I run the engine hard, offroading mostly. If I stop while offroading the tick sounds about twice as loud at idle. Since that tells me that it is somehow related to the temperature of the engine, I am pretty sure that it really is an exhaust leak. That could be your problem too.

However, long story short, if you fix the seal that goes around the steering rod on the firewall, you won't even be able to hear the tick inside the cab and you may start caring about it just as much as I do. The part is cheap and the fix is pretty easy.

 

My 1990 4runner 3.0 had the same tick even after a full rebuild . I solved the 3.0 ticking problem in my 92 4runner with a gm 4.3 .

 

While you have the valves exposed you should really consider changing the valve stem seals. I changed those, the cam seals, crank seal, and the valve cover gasket and have not had to add any oil since last April (only about 6000 miles, and yes, I really should change the oil).

You will either need to fill the cylinder with rope or hook up an air compressor to your compression tester to change the valve stem seals, but it is really very easy. If you did not do it already, you may as well pop the camshafts off while doing the valve adjustment. It makes it far easier than mickey-mousing with the shim tools. Once the cams are off it is a 30-minute job to change out the valve-stem seals.