22re clacks a bit at start up. Thought it was stretched chain/bad guides. Pulled valve cover and plastic guides look new. Driver side guide moves back and forth at top approx 1/16"-3/32". Is that normal?

Balancer pulley moves from 0-10 degrees back and forth with engine off. Is that normal? Any way to check chain stretch short of removal? There is a slight polish on valve cover oil baffle directly over chain.

Thanks

 

The crank pulley will move back and forth as the chain slack takes up. That is normal. You are not supposed to move it counter clockwise btw. As for the guide, I'm not sure if that is supposed to move any.

 

Thanks. Definitely didn't want to turn ccw, won't be doing that again. Might have a surprise when I start it.

Nissan had little match marks on timing gear/head. If it lined up with one, chain was good. If it lined up with other replace stretched chain. Thought Toyota might have had similar.

 

Your FSM has specs, length and link count. It pretty much has to come off and be checked in multiple places.

The spring in the tensioner does wear out from 'fatigue" as well the head wears down over time, both lead to noise at start up..

 

Thanks. Did see the procedure/specs in TSM and others. Can't see tensioner, but guides look brand new. D I D brand timing chain and a local rebuilder's sticker so rebuilt at some point, guessing non oem tensioner.

Is the drivers' side chain guide supposed to have movement at top? Bolt has been bottomed and definitely tight. Didn't come across that info in TSM or others.

 

Remembered I had old shortblock and dug it out. Plastic timing chain guide was tight. Last person in this one put wrong length bolt in.

 

Ahh bummer. That sucks. Another thing to check (yay!)-If you want to go through the process of removing the timing cover, you can check the bolt torque on the tensioner. There's three bolts so uneven triangulation can be an issue here-if one of the bolts it too tight, it can strain the tensioner incorrectly and inhibit the tension bolt from sliding in and out of it's housing properly. If you're saying the guides were installed wrong, this would be good to look at.