Hi
I'm new to this forum, thanks for having me! (I hope I'm posting this in the right place):

I just got my dream Toyota truck: 1992 Toyota Pickup..22re engine, manual transmission, 4x4, extended cab. 237,000 miles. Runs great with no symptoms or indications of anything other than greatness! I LOVE this truck!




My question is about the timing chain replacement (if it's necessary), and approximate cost of a job like that these days..2024 (I'm out West in Tucson, AZ and I don't have a ton of money).

My truck has 237,000 miles and the previous owner (son of the original owner), thinks it may have had the timing chain changed once in it's lifetime (but not positive...he said he might remember his Dad having had it changed at around 100,000 miles but not 100% sure!).

Like I said: There are currently no symptoms or indications that the timing chain needs changing (no rattling, banging, timing slipping..not anything).

Question 1: Do you think I should have it changed anyway just because of the history (or lack of confirmed history) and/or the age/milage of the truck - 1992 and 237,000

Question 2: For any of you out there with a Gen.3 (1986 - 1995) truck with a 22RE engine that have had the timing chain replaced within the last couple of years...approximately how much did the job cost in total and what state are you in (USA only)?

Any other advice about the care and feeding of a 1992 Toyota Pickup will, of course, be much appreciated...but I am primarily interested here in getting some answers/consensus to the two questions asked above.

Thank you!, Nick B.

 

Had one done on a 3.4 a decade ago. Bout a $1000 parts and labor.

 

Thanks for the reply...

Sadly for us all...I think any vehicle repair and maintenance costs from a decade ago won't be particularly relevant now...I wish they still were.

Regarding my original question(s) above, I'd be particularly interested in any 22RE timing chain replacement costs from the last couple of years.

 

Just did mine about 6 months ago. Replaced timing cover because my top bolt had been broken off and broken the cast aluminum part on top of that both guides were nearly gone anyhow. Took me and a buddy about a days worth of labor (it was longer but we were waiting for that timing cover all in all about a day).
Parts cost:
Aisin Timing Cover $129 (Rock Auto)
Aisin Oil Pump $43.79 (Rock Auto)
Metal Backed Timing Guides $40.02 (YotaShop)
OSK Timing Chain Kit $130.42 (YotaShop)

Unfortunately 22RE Performance is sold out otherwise I'd have gone there and gotten them. 6 months later and she's running very well after a new TPS sensor install afterwards. I daily my rig to and from work and for everyday tasks and the engine runs like a champ. For ~$342 and my first time doing anything engine related I'd say its a pretty good deal and an easy job, all comes down to how much you value your time and the value of the experience of doing it yourself.

 

If you're thinking of doing it yourself, use this https://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTr...ingChain.shtml

 

$1000 to 1800$ depending on labor costs and parts used. I made the mistake of going with an advanced auto parts kit my last chain, lasted 40k miles. This time I went with everything Toyota and just the parts were 800 bucks. That’s going to be the difference in those numbers.

 

Thanks for the reply!
From everything I'm hearing, it's the extensive labor that adds most of the cost to a timing chain replacement; and I don't have the knowledge or the work area to do the job myself.

 

Book time on the job, depending on a few variables, is about 8 hours. So plug in their labor rate, and then add parts. Odds are, they'll round up to 10 hours as not many techs are all that familiar with the process these days.
Make sure their work includes removing the head and replacing the headgasket. They're charging the labor rate to do the job right way. if they say they can do it without head removal find a different shop.
I prefer oem 95% of the time, but unfortunately Toyota never made a timing chain kit for the 22R# (and yes, we submitted requests) OSK makes a very good kit at a very reasonable price. It's the cheap tensioners that usually make aftermarket chains fail prematurely, and OSK has a good one.

 

replacing the timing chain, along with the head gasket, is a pretty basic job that doesn't take too much time to complete. it is a "driveway-job", if that's all you have available. i've done it three times - twice in the driveway (on '87 #1), and once in the garage (when i rebuilt the engine on '87 #2).

the garage job was with the engine on a stand, since it was part of a rebuild. basic stuff, very easy as far as doing the timing set and head gasket, but not needed for just a timing and head gasket job. reused the aftermarket timing cover on this one.









the driveway job was done twice simply because the original head gasket started to leak externally (down the side of the block) after 30+ years. i did it again about a week later because i forgot to torque the chain guides, and one of the bolts backed out and dropped; when it wedged itself between the cover and crank sprocket, it snapped the chain. so i did the job a second time, making damn sure to torque the guides properly (i had only finger tightened them during the install - just plain forgot to do it). the second time it took about 5 hours from start to finish, but only because i'd just done it, and knew exactly what parts had to be removed, what parts needed only to be loosened, and what parts didn't need to be touched. used an oem toyota head gasket both times (purchased from mcgeorge toyota) and an osk timing set (timing cover was fine). i did not use metal-backed chain guides; the original lasted for 30+ years, and 200+k miles. plastic is fine, and the reality is that most owners will sell their truck before the osk plastic guides fail because of age.














i guess my main point is that this is a basic mechanical job, and can be completed in almost any environment. no garage is required.

edit: fwiw, '87 #1 now has over 20k miles since i did the second timing set/head gasket, and '87 #2 has over 30k miles since the rebuild.

 

I had a duplicate of your #1. Had to change out the head and head gasket when a "friend" threw the water pump belt. He drove it until it overheated, stopped to let it cool down a bit, drove it until it over heated, etc until he got it back to my house. Said it ran great, and thanks for letting him borrow it. I found the belt missing when I went out to start it the next day. Cracked the head. So I replaced the head, twice, since the shop I got it from sold me a cracked head. Anywho, that was back in 2000 or so, and it ran like a dream until I sold it back about 3-4 years ago.
All this out under a shade tree in Yuma, Az. Yeah, just about any location is sufficient to do this job. Not at all a hard job. And this coming from a Radar Tech. I know less than nothing about mechanics. Or I did before I started this job. I learned a lot, just by doing it, one step at a time. When I fired it up the first time, and it burned off all the WD-40 I had sprayed in the cylinders to keep them from rusting at all while I did everything else, I was just amazed. It blew a ton of white smoke for a few seconds, then it all went away, and it ran great. Smooth as silk. I had never done something like that to a vehicle before. I even took my kids out on a 4WD trail, a "road" to a small lake we could swim at, the next day, and they had a blast. Poor dog we had got bounced around a bit, but he enjoyed the swimmin' hole too.

Anywho, thanks for your post. It was great to read.
Pat☺

 

Aloha All,

I was just curious in todays economy what the cost of getting a timing chain replacement with new guides and pumps would be? I have a lc engineering timing chain kit with new hardware as well as a new head gasket. basically would provide all the parts. Just need an estimate on labor cost.

I did my oil pan last week and found some pieces of plastic which im assuming is the original plastic guides. My 22re has 139k original miles on it. I'd love to do it myself but i already got lucky with having an old friend of mine let me use his garage space to do my oil pan. This seems like a bigger job that would require more time so i dont want to be occupying a space for longer than expected.

Im located in Kaua'i, Hawaii. Not sure if many of you guys in this community know any mechanics out here lol. But at least i can wrap my head around some labor cost from this thread so i dont get completely scammed from some random mechanic out here.

Happy New Year!

 

You could go to the local dealer or parts store and ask if any former Toyota techs do side jobs. The older the better (to a point). That might be your best avenue to find someone competent and affordable.
The counterpeople at the dealership may, or may not, be helpful. They're supposed to recommend their own service dept. So use diplomacy.

Some people like doing the chain without removing the head, but i think that's a poor way of doing it.

 

$1000 to 1500$ depending on the labor costs and parts used.

 

I’m in here again for the importance of using OE parts, prices above shouldn’t have changed much this thread isn’t that old in forum years

 

labor costs have jumped up dramatically the last few years. It could easily be $2,000+ in labor alone taking it to an established repair shop.
It's not a bad job to do if you plan ahead are systematic, and have a helping hand at certain times. Having a decent manual is ideal.

I'm not crazy about LCE parts. I've never been impressed with the quality of their aftermarket suppliers, and when they do offer true oem it's awful pricey. Regardless, the kiss of death on any aftermarket timing chain kits for the 22R# is the chain tensioner. A low budget tensioner will ruin everything. and I've seen those fail a lot. I'd verify the manufacturer of that.

 

Jim, could you expand on the concept of changing the chain without changing the head gasket? What are the problems and risks? My first inclination would be to do it that way to save the risk of headbolt and exhaust stud problems, but admittedly, i have not had to do a timing chain job in decades and then it was due to the head gasket anyway.

 

First, the only reason most people endorse leaving the head on is they claim it saves time. I firmly believe if you go in prepared and with the mindset of doing it the proper way it takes the same amount of time.
The FSM way has you remove the oil pan and head, then pull the timing chain cover. So the cover is literally "sandwiched" between the two. So if you pull the cover without removing the head you're gonna have to finagle the cover back in, all the time trying not to compromise the fresh sealant you just put on the pan and head, along with whatever you put on the timing cover gaskets(I use gaskacinch for the timing cover gaskets, the oil pan has fipg.)
No wonder so many of those shortcut chain jobs seep oil when they're done. I can't tell you how many 22R's I've seen with all kinds of silicone sealant slathered on the seams of the timing cover trying to stem a leak, and not working.
Some people loosen the head bolts to give some room to slide the timing cover in, but i think most can agree that it's not a great thing to untorque headbolts on an already-squished, well used headgasket. Now, I can see leaving the oil pan on and trying to save some work there. That's fair. And if it doesn't work out you only have the pan to deal with, none of the upper work needs to be redone.

One reality with the 22R. The headgasket and timing chain have very similar life spans. So the timing chain goes bad. You do this short cut that in the end saved negligible amount of time, and a year later(or less) the headgasket goes. Fantastic.

Our techs would unbolt the header pipe, remove the belts and upper hose, and plenum. With the plenum off they could unplug injectors and other sensors and pull that harness out of that valley.
Once they detached what was necessary they called over another tech for help. One grabbed the intake manifold, the other had the exhasut manifold, and they just lifted the entire assembly off as one piece. Went back on the same way.

 

So, Jimkola, are you saying when doing the head removal you don't try to remove the exhaust (and intake) manifolds,but leave them attached? Or do you remove them on the bench?

 

About $900.00 plus labour 23/24

 

Blueman, you leave it assembled the whole time. Now, if you got a head kit that included those gaskets and wanted to put new on you could, but I'd do it on the bench and drop the head back on with manifolds attached.