I just did an oil change and found metal particles in the oil. They were only visible when reflecting off of bright sunlight. It was a new, never used oil drain pan so it only could have come from my truck. I opened up the oil filter an found nothing wrong with the filter media.

I am waiting for a oil analysis kit from Blackstone, but I think the rubber from my metal backed guides may be worn through, making the chain ride on the steel. I installed the metal guides, along with all the other timing components at 128,000 miles. I am now just shy of 200,000 miles.

The engine has occasionally made noises from the front end for years. It does not always do it, but seems to more noticeable on cold mornings before the engine has warmed up. I always suspected the timing components, but every time I take the valve cover off to look at the timing components, everything looks normal. I would have thought my metal guides, new chain and tensioner would have lasted longer than 70,000 miles. I am wondering if there is wear that is not visible by taking just the valve cover off.

The metal backed guides were a tight fit when installed, and pushed against the chain. I am wondering if this accelerated wearing of the rubber. Keep in mind this is all speculation, as I won't know for sure until I replace the components.

I am thinking of going with the OSK kit and plastic guides this time around. Does anyone know if all the OSK kit parts are Japanese? The kits are priced rather cheap, making me wonder if some of the components are Chinese.

 

I'm interested to know what you find when you examine your steel guide.

I have recently built a 22re with steel guide, that I haven't run yet.

The fit of my steel guide was tight too, and looking down the tension side of the chain, I can see where the chain might be slightly deflected by the guide rail. I haven't decided what, if anything, to do about it.

I bought an OSK timing set that included the stock type plastic guides for about $90 off Ebay and the tensioner, gears and chain were all Japanese.

These days, you gotta be careful though, they can begin to throw that Chinese junk into the mix at the drop of a hat.

Please let us know what you find with your (potential) steel guide issue.

 

My chain was/is also deflected by the guide rail.

I will be sure to let you know of my findings. It might be a couple weeks until I get to it. This truck is not a daily driver, I only put about 2,000 miles a year on it for the last 5 years or so.

 

I had a chance to remove the valve cover this morning. I turned the crank just a bit counter-clockwise to loosen the chain on the drivers side so I could inspect the guide. I was able to pull the chain away from the guide with a screwdriver and I could see very little wear to the guide. Most of the wear was in the top first inch of the guide, and even that did not have enough wear to be concerned about.

The chain tensioner was making noise when I moved the chain on the passengers side. I will attach a video down below.

The chain had some galling on the links. Below is a picture with 14x magnification. The galling can be felt with a scribe. I still have my original chain that had 128,000 miles on it. There is no galling on the original chain.

I changed the oil in my Highlander this morning. I also noticed particles in it's oil as well. I am starting to wonder if these particles are normal, yet I have never noticed them in 25 years of changing oil. They are very small particles that probably can't be seen by someone who needs reading glasses. I just thought that the filter would have trapped all the particles large enough to be seen by the naked eye. I am using Denso and Toyota brand filters in these vehicles. Both filters have a reputation of favoring flow over filtration.

I just sent out my oil to Blackstone today. I will report back with the results.

Galling on chain...

 

Japanese components, or other??

What maker?

 

They were purchased as a kit back in 2003 from DOA Racing. All the components were marketed as "high quality". The kit was not cheap either, >$200 for chain, tensioner, sprockets and gaskets. The country of origin was not labeled on the packaging.

The tensioner was torqued to FSM specs with a quality torque wrench.

 

I'm thinkin, maybe not so High quality.

The loading on timing chain and gears is relatively light, and constant.

The heat treatment of the chain rollers must be weak.

How do the gear teeth look?

 

And to think I could have saved a lot of money just using an OSK kit.

I am still not sure if I should use plastic guides next time. Like I said my guides appear to be in good condition. Just the chain and tensioner are questionable.

I am not sure that the amount of galling on the chain would make a noticeable increase in the amount of metal particles in the oil. I will wait for the Blackstone analysis to see if I have more particles than normal.

 

Didn't see anything unusual with the gear teeth, although the bottom one is hard to get a close look at.

 

No reason not to keep the metal guide that you have, if its wear is minimal.

The slack side guide should'nt matter if its metal, or plastic.

 

Based on what I saw, I would not worry about the slight deflection of your chain on the drivers side. Like I said there is minimal wear to my guide after 70,000 miles. My issues seem to be on the other components of the timing system.

 

This is comforting to me, thanks!!

 

you could call up tim at doa and get his opinion on the galling, since it's his product.

 

Oil report came back. Lead was a bit high at 25ppm, all other wear metals were good. Insolubles were at .1% which is also good.

I did an oil pressure check and a leaddown test today as well to check the overall condition of the engine. Oil pressure on a hot engine was 18psi at idle and 60psi at 3000rpm. Toyota specs are >4.3psi at idle and 26-71psi at 3000rpm.

Leakdown was as follows...
1- 13.3%
2- 16.6%
3- 12.2%
4- 10.0%

Not bad numbers for an engine with 200,000 miles.

I would think that any chain wear would have shown up in the iron level, but it was good at only 3ppm.

I did have a high sodium level at 650ppm. I use Valvoline which uses sodium at a 200-300ppm level. There is a possibility that coolant is leaking into my oil causing the excess sodium. The leakdown test did not show any leakage from the cylinders to the coolant passages so I will have to keep an eye on it.

 

Just to update the thread. Here are some photos of the metal guides with 70,000 miles worth of wear to them. Not bad, and not close to wearing into the metal.

My timing chain cover gasket felt soft near the coolant passage. I am thinking that this is where my excess sodium came from in my oil analysis.