Hello New Member here, although I have been helped by this forum a few times in the past while lurking.

EDIT: I loosened valve cover bolts to hand tight with no change in sound. Dont think valve cover is too tight.

1994 Pickup 22re 171k miles, valves are ticking much louder after recent headwork/timing work. They were much more quiet before.

Recently got: full head gasket set, new head bolts, machined head, new full timing kit gears chain tensioner etc, waterpump, oil pump, timing cover, radiator. All OEM Aisin parts.

Some info: One morning on way to work i noticed oil pressure increased a good amount, but temp and all other gauges were fine, my ride to work is 20mins. On the way home i stopped to refuel, and when i pulled out of the gas station i noticed she was idling lower than usual. I noticed immediately the temp gauge was at 65% when it always sat at 48% and was slowly rising. I immediately pulled over, let her cool, noticed radiator was empty. I filled with water, drove another 8 miles and it began to overheat again, never getting higher than 70% on temp gauge. I pulled over, noticed small bubbling around front of valve cover, then pulled dipstick and it was milked. I assumed blown head gasket, got it towed to repair shop. Later found from u guys it was likely timing chain guide failure which lead to wear on timing cover into water jacket. This was confirmed by mechanic.

My question is:
Before it went in the shop, it only had a slight valve tick, mostly at idle and quiet at driving speeds. At idle you heard injectors tick, light valve tick, and mostly radiator fan. After the work listed above, the valve ticking is much much louder and at idle as well as operating speeds. The sound is not coming from the timing cover, this is confirmed by me with a quality mechanics stethoscope, it is definetely the valves.

Mechanic is reputable and claims he checked and all valves were in tolerance at .008 intake at .012 exhaust and needed no adjustment.

What can explain the valve ticking becoming louder after said work, if we assumed the valves were quiter before, mechanic did good work, and the valves are set to factory? Is it merely i need to lash down to .007 and .011? Keep in mind i do hear somewhat of an exhaust leak, but the ticking never goes away ever when warm. Any thoughts or help is much apprieciated.

 

It's kind loud at spec of .008" and .012". It doesn't hurt anything. If you get quiet, tight valves you will have problems.

Also, each person has a different "feel" with the feeler gauges so take that into account. You can buy Go-No Go feeler gauges if you are nervous about setting them yourself. So to set one at .008" the feeler gauge will allow .007" to fit and .009" to not fit. A stepped blade to take the guess work out of it.

I personally always set mine at .007" and .011". Just to make sure this wasn't a problem I rechecked for clearance when the engine was hot. Like I just got home from driving it hot. None of the valves were without clearance. It sounds better to me than the ticking at .008" and .012"

The mechanic isn't going to adjust them tighter than spec for you so you will have to.

And make sure it's DEFINITELY not an exhaust leak or your wasting your time adjusting valves.

As far as the getting hot, make sure the system was purged of air. Sounds like it probably is by now. Pretty common to have to burp the system on a refill.

 

No valve should be substantially louder than any other, but a 22re engine that makes a little noise is a happy engine.

 

Worn rocker shaft assembly sitting there on top of new/reconditioned parts.

Mine is tappy too. Installed old rocker assembly on top of new complete cylinder head. I knew the rocker assembly should have been reconditioned, but simply ran out of money. I went with 7/11 cold, and I have one at the back/firewall that is louder than all the others. Been doing that tappy dance for 5.5 years now!