Valve tick or knocking?

[gbell12]

Can anybody tell me how to tell the difference between knocking and a valve tick?

I have a '92 P/U with the 3VZE that has *always* made a light, irregular ticking noise when going up hills. Higher octane fuel seems to improve it but not elminate it. On a whim I decided to bug the dealer about it (I have a new engine in it so thought now would be good).

The dealer says its the valves and no biggy, but I don't think they actually found a hill to cause it to happen.

Another poster referred to "normal 3VZE ticking". Is this noise something they all make?

Thanks for the help.

~Greg Bell

[reb]

Sounds to me like pinging, not knocking or valves. Knocking usually refers to a heavier sound, such as caused by worn bearings. Light pinging is not usually a problem.

[GlowinToyota]

ive got an 88 4-runner with the 22re and i hear a regular valve ticking, nothing to worry about. now i know with this motor in some cases you can loose slack in your timing chain and it slaps the timing cover so keep something like that in mind

[Munsterkz]

Yes, remember there is a timing chain not a belt. My chain makes that noise quite often. It got really bad and so I had it checked out. It turned out the chain had streatched a full eight of an inch. Turned out that was causeing the loss of power I was having. It is $ 1,300 to change because its a 4x4 and they have to take out the engine to get to it. I am haveing a rev2 camshaft installed at the same time since the engine will be out.

[hillbilly]

if it just does it up hill then its probably pinging, you can retard the timing on your distributor to get rid of that. (its really easy) a toyota manual for your truck will tell ya how to do that yourself if you had any questions. as far as valve ticking.... well its just a little of the toyota tick, mine does it all the time (actually it stopped doing recently) I was told to turn up my stereo.... thats nothing to fret about.

[fast68]

doesnt take an uphil load to do it, just being under load at all, IE in gear and taking off especially whehn engine is hot, can cause pinging if timing is off etc.

good luck

[manaboo]

Howdy,

My 89 SR5 4x4 V6 has 270,000 miles.

Recently, within the last month or so, I have also developed a 'ticking' noise. It isn't there when the engine is cold, but once it warms up, it ticks loudly. I can't hear it with the windows down, but with the windows up, it is quite noticable.

I also have the pinging you mentioned, and in the same way. Level ground, no problem. Even the slightest grade, and I get pinging.

The ticking noise in itself is odd sounding: The rhthymn is something like:

tickticktickTickTickTICKTICKTickTickticktick...lik e it's coming through in waves...

oil level fine, no burning of oil, quality gas, new plugs, rotor, cap and wires.

The head gaskets were replaced by Toyota at 128K. The vehicle is on it's 3rd set.

It's got me stumped, because it doesn't make the noise while running in the driveway, only while driving...

Help!

Thanks,

manaboo

[grendel]

Make sure your "friends" haven't placed a rubber band with a penny around your driveshaft. LOL I've pulled that trick on a few buddies of mine. And before anybody starts slammin me for doing that, they had it comming 4 fold I assure you.

But seriously, does it do it when coasting down an incline with or without the truck in neutral?

[grendel]

Oh and make sure you don't have an exhaust leak where the manifold meets the head. This would sound like a ticking just in front of the pedels. I had this and it was unnoticable when not under a load.

[manaboo]

grendel,

thanks for the tip, I do think you might be correct about the exhaust leak. The noise appears to be located like where you said, just in front of my feet...
The ticking noise goes away when I don't have my foot on the gas. Wouldn't a valvetrain ticking be present all the time?

[Joh694]

I had the same exhaust leak on my 22re.. When I replaced the head gasket I figured that it was a good time to figure out why the exhaust was leaking, you could even see the carbon buildup all around the gasket. Turns out the two studs farthest from the front of the engine were stripped out and weren't tightening down enough. I just picked up a Helicoil kit and fixed them right up. No more tick. According to the guy at the dealership I talked to, it actually happens fairly often. Might be your problem..