22RE in my 95 has a tick, I know that can be normal and it’s not too bad so I didn’t care too much about it till today. Took my kid to a local (40min drive) drift event, on the way home I noticed the oil pressure was pretty low at idle, like that the bottom of the white sweep-but still in the sweep, meaning not off the scale. I’m gonna start with an oil change and filter inspection, the guy I got the truck from always ran Amsoil and left a couple quarts in the truck, they are 5/20, so I’m sure he’s running that instead of the 5/30 it calls for. Valve cover gasket is leaking as well so I’ll also change that gasket and give it a good look in there while apart

 

Was this drive longer than your usual commute? Was the weather hotter on this day?

I know depending on those two factors, mine will tend to tick louder than other days. Also make sure it's a tick on the top end and not a tick or knock coming from the bottom. That would spell disaster

 

You can try the long screw driver trick as a stethoscope to help pin point the noise. The valve lash is routine maintenance so if you haven't done it in a while check. You want to set them when hot. From my understanding though you would more likely to experience loud rockers on a cold engine and less noise as it gets warmer. In reality diagnosing noises on the internet is pretty hard even with a video.

 

Only other simple thing i can think of is, when the rockers tap the valve cover if its over tightened.

 

@jetas yes it was a longer drive than usual but the truck was driven 6hrs+ to get home and the same noise was happening, but I didn’t notice the low oil pressure till yesterday. It may have been because the factory steering wheel covered the oil gauge, because I installed a Nardi wheel a few months back.

Ya I understand that, and I’ve been a licensed auto tech for over 20 years, was mostly just wondering if this was common as these trucks are kinda rare around here so I don’t have much experience with them. I just picked it up this year, valve adjustment is on my list for the winter.

 

Yeah rockers are about the only thing that really comes up as a common ticking noise. You might be able to feel the rockers hitting the valve cover if that's your problem. Being an re in could be injectors. I don't have any experience with the re to know if that comes up often.

 

22R’s just tend to be rather ‘ticky’ motors. But the one thing to remember about them is that they do not have hydraulic lash adjustors - low oil pressure will NOT create a ‘lifter tick’ (but oil starvation to the top end could cause excessive wear, which could cause ticking). With this in mind, it probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to do a valve adjustment when you have the valve cover off. This may help to reduce the ticking. Also, if you haven’t already done so, try changing your oil to the recommended 5W30 to see if that improves your oil pressure.

 

Forgot one other problem that is common in these motors. If you got plastic guilds it can eat one side up and the cover. I'm not sure what noise might be associated with it though. I think it would be more of a grinding but it could be slapping sound because of slack.

I get people say it's just the way they are but the reality is it shouldn't be a lot noisy is such a short time. I got a little tick in mine I never got fully sorted out. I probably would be like it is what it is if I didn't have a video when I first built my hybrid with no tick at all.

 

Mmmmm yea those guides could definitely be the issue. You'd have to pull the valve cover off to check that shit so while you adjust the valves check the TC guides. You can have a bigger failure from a bad guide

 

A timing chain makes more of a rattle or a grind rather than a very regular tick-tick-tick-tick. This is not to say that the timing chain guides COULDN’T be broken and causing a problem. And it should definitely be checked. But I don’t think that the timing chain is the main problem here.

 

leaky exhaust manifold?

 

Doesn’t sound like a guide, it’s more top-end IMO, truck has a header, no leak there. I’m gonna do the valve cover, check the guide, adj the valves and see what happens

 

Another thing that can considerably quiet the infamous 22R valve tick is new adjustment screws. When these accumulate high miles, they tend to wear flat spots where they contact the valves. When these screws are then turned for adjustment, these flat spots become ridges that only contact the valve at small points. Due to high contact stress, these ridges quickly deform and wear down, opening the gap, creating a tick that can’t be adjusted away (since doing so will create another point contact that will subsequently wear and open the gap). New screws can mitigate this problem.

 

Thx Matt, I think mine is at 240kkm, which is gonna be 160k? miles, so I don’t think it’s high mileage, but I will check the screws

 

Quick update on this, pulled VC today and found nothing, valves all set correctly, I used this as a reference https://lcengineering.com/engine-20r-22r-re-ret-valve-adjustment/ to check. So just gonna change the gasket and paint the cover and bracket while it’s off.

 

Pulled the oil pan too and besides a couple big white zip tie ends in the bottom it was spotless, re-sealed and filled it with 15w40 diesel oil, pressure is up a bit, to a range I won’t worry about, and the noise got a bit better. I’ll leave it now and just keep my eye out for an Altezza engine or something else, but in all honestly I doubt I’ll ever swap it.

 

Beams dual VVTi would be nice for sure, but a Caldena or MR2 3sgte would be better! At least if you are a 4 pot guy. Otherwise a V6 would be the way to go. 2JZ is just way too expensive anymore.

 

I wouldn’t say I’m a 4 pot guy, but I prefer them to a V6 in our trucks for sure. I like NA power more than boost too, and the Beams engine makes great power, and looks cool…plus it’s a still a Toyota engine. 2J is nice but big, heavy, and expensive.

 

If you like a project look into the Toyota 5V V8 hemi!

For swaps I like to look at the "cool" factor, not so much performance. Well, not so much any more. N/A fan as well.

 

Supercharge iiiiit!!!!!!!!