Valve cover question. - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

TMB · 06-27-2011, 09:51 PM

I just replaced a broken timing belt in my sisters 96 Corolla with a 4AFE. When I put the valve cover back on the nuts that kind of have stops in them broke through and tightened down more then they used to be. I'm getting a tapping sound which I assume are the cam lobes hitting the valve cover.

I re-used the existing gasket and this problem did not exist before. Why could the valve cover have gone down further then before?

Bitter · 06-27-2011, 10:25 PM

take the valve cover off and look for if it was hitting.

speedy25 · 06-28-2011, 04:18 PM

There should be no way for the valve cover to hit ANYTHING even without the gasket.

If it is you will see the shiny spots.

Replace the gasket, grommets and spark plug seals to keep the oil inside the engine.

-SP

TMB · 06-28-2011, 04:37 PM

Turns out it's not, I found my problem. Now i just have to figure out how to fix it without pulling the whole thing back apart again. Thanks for the replies.

ranjah007 · 06-28-2011, 10:49 PM

What was the issue? I would be interested in knowing.

TMB · 06-29-2011, 06:25 AM

The pin that the belt tensionor pivots on fell out of the block at some point during re-assembly. So the car stayed in time because the belt is toothed but the lack of tension allowed it to slap against the cover.

I had to take the timing covers back off and I actually found the pin in a strange place on the block. I'm pretty happy about that since it saved me a trip to the dealer trying to find one, three days waiting for it to come in and another trip to pick it up. I actually posted a thread here about what it was called and where to get it.

So I put some red Loctite on the pin and re-installed it. I put everything back together and now it's good to go.

I guess the upside is the first time I did this belt I had probably ten hours into it. This time I had it apart and back together minus pulling the motor mount and the water pump change in about five hours. So I've got better at it, it would probably be a four to five hour job taking my time to do it again. This was the first timing belt I've ever done. Now I have to do my Subaru sometime soon. Theirs a lot more to get right on that motor then my sisters Toyota.