Valves and timing chain - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

0celica0 · 02-19-2011, 04:09 PM

I bought my 2000 Celica GT Automatic a couple days ago and am so happy with it. It has 134,xxx miles on it and the previous owner said she never had a mechanical problem with it, and even though that scares me it doesn't suprise me with the reputation of these engines. It does have some very light chatter under the hood and an experienced toyota owner told me it probably needs a valve adjustment and it's possibly that the timing chain is making some noise too.

My question is, how long do these cars timing chain usually last before they need to be changed, and also how long do people usually need to do a valve adjustment on these cars? I'm taking it in to a friend who owns a toyota repair shop and I will be looking forward to getting this engine quiet again.

BTW -- If you don't mind me asking, whats an average price for a valve adjustment and possible timing chain replacement?

Thanks for any advice.

verlaryder · 03-02-2011, 10:49 PM

That "experienced Toyota owner" should know Celicas built after 1985 have timing belts, not timing chains and that the valves rarely ever need adjusting because the valvetrain has bucket style valve lifters instead of rocker arms.

You should make a video recording of the noise and post it on YouTube so people here might be able to tell if the noise is from loose valve clearances or something like an exhaust manifold gasket leak.

Is the intensity of the noise louder or quieter when the engine is cold?

0celica0 · 03-03-2011, 01:17 AM

2000+ celicas with the vvt-i and vvtl-i engines have timing chains.

The noise was louder when the car warmed up, but I took it in yesterday and wendsday morning he opened up the head and found everything to be okay except the timing chain tensioner. He said it was faulty and it wasn't holding tension very well and the chain had some slack.

Luckily it didn't tear anything up but he said the chain could be stretched. I haven't got anymore news on it but tommorow i'm going to find out if the chain was stretched or not and if it is we'll be replacing it.

You Tube

This was my video, but it was not good enough for anyone I knew to tell me what was wrong before I took it in.

verlaryder · 03-03-2011, 01:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 0celica0

2000+ celicas with the vvt-i and vvtl-i engines have timing chains.

Oops, you are right. I was thinking you had a 1990 Celica and all Celicas had belts back then. Some 1998-2008 Corolla owners with high mileage 1ZZ-FE engines have been replacing their timing chain tensioners
http://www.corolland.com/forums/inde...tensioner-diy/

The noise in your video did not sound like loose valve clearances to me. Loose valves on Toyota engines with bucket style valve lifters make a ticking noise like the tapping of a pen on a table

0celica0 · 03-03-2011, 04:32 AM

Thats really good to hear. I'm glad all that noise was just coming from the tensioner and not the valve lifters.

I have alot to learn about these cars, and he said I need to replace the serpentine belt tensioner but I don't know if he meant right now or down the road. Hopefully that's an easier job than doing a timing chain tensioner as I wouldn't mind getting my hands dirty and saving some money.

Thank you for replying to my post, I didn't think help would come for a minute. I have a feeling this is going to be a good car.

Bitter · 03-03-2011, 07:22 AM

probably more VVTI sprocket noise than anything else.

0celica0 · 03-03-2011, 11:30 AM

Is that a bad sign for things to come? I told him there was a check engine light on which I read could lead to a faulty vvti device. He said when he fired it up there was no light but he's going to check for any codes and give me a call back later.

So far we're going to replace the timing chain tensioner, serpentine belt tensioner, serpentine belt, and valve cover gasket.

0celica0 · 03-03-2011, 03:41 PM

Well thats all we had to replace. Only thing I have left now is 2 check engine codes one being some kind of speed dash sensor or something but he said the speedometer works fine.

And the other being a catlatytic converter code, which he said the car doesn't have a cat its just a straight pipe from the manifold and out...he said theres no brakes(?), so he said I should take it to a shop and get a cat put in.

I'm just happy to go pick my car up in 30 minutes, ready to drive it again and hear a quiet engine hopefully.

edit: got the car back, no more engine noise yay! Sounds smooth.