I've been a lurker here for awhile and have gotten lots out of the informative posts.

My '89 22re 4runner (~200k) had been running great for the past year and change that I've had it, until recently, when a bunch of hard starting, and ticking occurred (the former before the latter, though it was always ticky - but it got worse). It also failed smog (high NOx, later).

So I opened up the valve cover and sure enough, the driver's side guide was gone. The PO claimed to have replaced them ~30k ago, with metal, and while he clearly did it (see below), they were plastic. There were two nice grooves in the timing cover, of course.

So I got a new timing chain set, gaskets, oil pump, water pump, and a nice used timing cover thinking I'd do this and not have to worry about stuff for awhile. I tore everything down and have a couple worries now that I didn't have before...

1) the first bad thing was that the outer woodruff key (crank pulley) had been ground into the side of the crankshaft. In order to get off the oil pump drive gear, I had to very gently sand the extra metal off.





2) the crank gear has 3 teeth that are worn completely out (see picture). My gear puller isn't quite long enough (use it for motorcycles), so I haven't taken it off yet and thus, pic isn't great.





2a) the timing alignment seems off. all that I've read indicates that the crank bolt should be at 12 o'clock and the cam shaft at 11:45. this is slightly off - when the cam is there (and first cylinder valves open), the crank bolt is also slightly to the left of 12... Is this just play within the correct link (I marked out the links that it was set to on the tensioned side - counted each one, so I know I'm on the same one now).









3) the tensioner bolts were in really tight, which my kit told me not to do, but that might be ok...


Does it look to you guys like I skipped a tooth on the crank? Is there a way to line it up without popping off the head (I'd prefer not to do this)?

Are any of these problems especially worrying? Should I just put it all back together now (after getting a longer gear puller)?

I haven't done a compression test in awhile (it was fine when I got it) and its been starting to burn oil (1 qt every ~3 or 4k). Am I putting in a lot of time and money (not a huge amount, but a few hundred dollars in all the parts) into an engine that isn't long for the world (the tech at the dealership when I got the parts seemed to think the high NOx and lean condition [definitely is] was probably due to a tired engine).

Thanks,
Eric

 

Yes the wear on the front key is going to perhaps cause you problems.

The way my luck goes it would on my engine.

There is enough slop there that things will start to move .

If you feel your luck is good go for it.

Your not replacing the tensioner??

To me they are a wear item even though the oil pressure keeps them tight they do wear after a time .

I had one engine it wore so hard it started leaking it was pushed out so far.

 

Thanks for the reply.

Yeah, sorry, didn't explain fully. Replacing tensioner.

I mounted the new chain and the kit had two bright links - one for each gear. It was a cog off on the crank. I'll do a compression test when I get it all back together... I haven't heard any valve rattle, so I *hope* I haven't bent any. There seem to be a few threads around the internet that suggest one cog off isn't the end of the world, valve-wise. We'll see tomorrow, I guess.

For that key, is there anything I can do? That requires a new crankshaft - i.e. new engine when it goes, right?

 

All that outer key holds is the harmonic balancer, no??

I'd degrease the shaft and key after everything that goes behind it is in place, set a fresh, unworn key in whats left of the original keyway, and fill the worn in hole with JB weld.

Gotta be an improvement over what ya got.

 

Yeah, just the HB. That's a good idea.

 

Oh hey, I noticed this post right after I made my own post about very similar crank damage from a sheared woodruff key (https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...ley-ok-289657/). I don't suppose you've gotten yours all together again yet, have you? Curious to know what you decided to do and if you had any further problems. Was the slot in your pulley damaged at all, too?

Cheers,
- Ian

 

Timing is actually 5 degrees BTDC on 22R and RE or so it says on the service manual. I also think the grinding down of the key was not a great idea.It would have had to come out some other less desperate way. The thing that matters is that you can put in another key in the slot.