Timing chain question..

[Joh694]

Ok, I've been having some problems with my 22RE lately (no surprise :P), mainly that there is an excessive amount of smoke/vapour coming out of the exhaust.. Now I've been monitoring coolant and oil levels, and they are both steady so I know it's not either of them. My air filter is clean and new, and it looks like lots of air is getting to the engine. The problem is that I rebuilt the engine this summer after my head gasket went on me. I was talking to a friend who helped with the rebuild about this problem, and he got kinda squirrelly and embarassed. He said that when we tied the timing chain up and out of the way, his knot came loose and MIGHT have caused the chain to skip a cog. He didn't want to say anything then because of the amount of work it would be to fix. Is it possible that my chain is out by one link? Could this be causing my excess vapour/smoke? (Seems like the engine would be running lean with that much exhaust but would the chain being slightly off cause this?) And is there any concrete way to check for SURE if the chain is out slightly? Thanks in advance..

[body]

Check in the oil filler cap and see if there is any white/foamy oil. was the engine hard to set the timing? timing may be out a bit but that won't make the engine smoke..White smoke after the engine is at operating temp is water/antifreez..blue smoke is oil blk smoke is excess fuel..let us know a lil more info and maybe we can nail this down a bit.

[Joh694]

Yeah I've checked inside, and there is no coolant mixed with the oil.. I even changed the oil recently and there was nothing unusual. It's not smoke like grey/blue or black.. It's white, and more like vapour than smoke.. The white smoke starts as soon as I start it up, and once in a while it surges (the idle goes up and down a few times). Hope this helps.. I still wonder if it might be running lean.. If one of the intake valves was out could this possible cause a lean mixture? (one of the intake valves is knocking, although it seems from the forum that most toyotas knock a bit). I don't recall about the timing though, I can't remember any problems but that doesn't mean it wasn't a little difficult.

[lexdoo]

I doubt very highly you could even get the motor to run wirth the timing chain one tooth off. Sounds like you're getting coolant into the motor.
Did you resurface the head upon rebuilding the motor?

I Had the same problem, turned out to be a cracked head.

Problem?...Head gasket, cracked head or block ........... hopefully it's just the gasket!

[Joh694]

I rebuilt the motor in the summer, and had the head resurfaced and completely checked for cracks or breaks.. I don't think it's the gasket because there is no drop in the amount of coolant or with the amount of oil, as in neither has changed in weeks, so it can't be coolant being burned in the cylinder. Plus when I changed the oil I would have noticed something and there weren't any problems there. I want to take it in and get it checked but everyone I've talked to basically quotes me an hourly rate and says that there is no guarantee they'll find anything. I've also checked the resistance of the solonoids.. Maybe an O2 sensor but I know very little about them..