2005 Tacoma Timing Chain Replacement 2.7

Thanks.. My write up is far from finished and there is a whole lot of information I have to include in a final write up on doing the timing on this beast called the 2TFRE.

This has been HUGE learning experience for me getting me WAY TOO Familiar with this motor. I got it all back together last weekend and realized I had left out one guide from the secondary chain assembly..

After taking another day to pull everything a part again I took another day to get her ready to start again (Installing AC, PWR STEERING, ALTERNATOR, RADIATOR, WIRING etc..

After starting it this weekend I am hearing a horrible whine that I believe is coming from the secondary chain assembly gears where the new gear that came with my kit is pushing the vibration dampner gear. Discussions with my engineer friend is making me believe that that gear is not getting oil flow to it. So I will open her up a third time this time to troubleshoot the
gear on gear noise... I should be able to get through it really quick as it is my third time opening it up my process is DOWN..

I am very surprised how much of a lack of information is out there for this specific job. Had I not had a factory service manual for this, I feel I would have been TOTALLY BLIND on this project.

I haven't found one person on this site that has taken this one on, maybe because not too many people have a whole lot of meilage on their 2005's.
This is a great reason for me to do a great write up when this is over on the whole process, things to be aware of, parts to order, issues you will most likely un-earth THAT TOYOTA IS TO BLAME FOR, like the leak from the side of the timing cover.

It was a bit of a process finding out what exactly I needed to replace and what not. It was a challenge finding the appropriate kit. It was an impossible challenge finding oil pump gears to purchase as Toyota only wants to sell you a whole replacement Timing Cover with the gears Included. The timing cover I found online came with gears included and I was lucky to find it for $152 + shipping I think.., But had a few issues like my new factory Water Pump grinding on the Cover.

I was completely DISGUSTED when I got into the tear down to find broken plastic pieces that were fit onto the guides and tensioners holding my whole timing system together. It's like they put too huge chains on and used 7 plastic covered pieces to just SQUEEZE THEM TOGETEHR. Three of the plastic pieces from the new set broke off in my hands before I could even install them on the chains.

Half way through this I decided I would most definitely be selling my Toyota as soon as she is purring again. I can not and will not drive a vehicle that is engineered to fail like this motor WAS. Putting this back together correctly carry's enough stress without resenting the fact that there is this much plastic on metal in my timing system. The thought of one more of these pieces braking after it is all buttoned up is enough fro me to sell it. And their reasoning for using all these plastic pieces on the chains are to "quiet the motor". Thank you Toyota, but no thank you.

My buddy asked me the other day what I though about him buying a 2005 tacoma he was looking at for 16,000. I told him no way don't do it dude...
I also told him a little more about why he shouldn't buy it and that got me in trouble with him a bit because he had just put a down payment on it and didn't want buyers remorse. I was either the perfect guy to ask or absolutely the wrong guy to ask.

I am now looking for another Willy's Wagon that I can put Chevy running gear under with possibly a 4.3 Vortec V6. As disgusted as I am however,
as promised, I will do a bang up job writing up a full Process with Pictures and Part Numbers, and a whole lot more. I really want to help everyone out there that will be taking on this specific job themselves. I don't want
anyone to have to go though what I have gone through so far and feel as disgusted as I have with what I have found in my motor and at the toyota dealer.. At least not by surprise...

Cheers

 

Now that I'm done I will find out how to embed pics and do an awesome write up. End ed up being the new gear I put in for secondary timing assembly. Still have timing actuator check engine code but she's running good. Thanks for all the suggestions and help. This week I will be working on organized write up. Third time is a charm CHEERS

 

Looking forward to the write up.

Before you purchase another vehicle make sure they don't use the same plastic pieces. My guess is they do unless you go to an older generation truck.

Personally I would have had a expert do this job. I would live with the oil leak until I had the 2K for the job. I once did a head gasket on a '95 saturn. It took me and my brother 2 solid days. I was sore and pissed at the end. The dealers time was 4 hours. Learned my lesson. I'll only do that kind of job again if I don't depend on the car and don't have to get it back together any time soon. Also plenty of Jack also helps

BTW - you'll have to pry my Tacoma (warts and all) from my cold dead hands.

 

The 2TRFE has I think a total of 6 parts in the timing kit that have one or two plastic pieces attached to them. The 3RZFE has a total of 5 Parts in teh timing kit that have plastic attached to them. The 2RZFE only has two pieces that have plastic attached and they are only the two tensioners squeezing chain together from sides. and I think the 22RE has two or three plastic pieces. At least the kits have them. Not sure about what the original motors came with, but I assume they are plastic pieces.

So what year is your Tacoma that you like?

Mine is going up for sale as soon as I figure out check engine light throwing p0010 error: timing actuator bank one circuit malfunction...

Going back to old cars after this ordeal.. I always called my Tacoma "the Plasticoma"
because of the plastic bed and everything else made of plastic. Now PLasticoma has a totally new meaning. Can't drive my truck now without worrying about one of those pieces in there breaking and having to open her all up again. Don't get me wrong I Have this process down PAT and can do it pretty fast now. But making sure the chain on the second chain assembly is matched up and in time is farely easy. The Main chain assembly is kind of tricky and took two people because as soon as you get the chain matched up to the three marks, when you let the chain loose to install the guides and tensioners, the chain can jump one of the top sprockets. Thats why it takes a few people for that process. The other tough part that takes two people is installing the timing cover specifically alligning the oil pump gears over the Crank chaft. My mistake two times were assuming that the notch in the oil pump had to be alligned with the key knotch on the crank shaft. Not the case.. Using the old oil pump gears to allign over the crank shaft showed me why I couldnt get it on. The knotch has nothing to do with key knotch on crank.

All and all, I'm glad she's together and driving again. Took a month and a half I think working on weekends.

 

Ok. After some thought here are my thoughts on your ordeal.

I'm impressed you took on this project outside in the cold.

I would stick with the Toyota. I've had 30+ cars of all makes and models and worked on them all. I currently have 2 Toyota's and 1 Honda. If you purchased any other brand you would not have made it to 250K (hard miles - as you said).

Don't ding plastic so hard. Look at the older trucks with the bed made of metal. I live in the North East and all are rusting. No so with Plastic. People a lot smarter than us have determined that plastic is better than metal in some instances. Again you would not have gotten to 250K with an older engine.

I have an '07 V6 TRD Manual. I've had my frustrations with it (read my previous posts). Just dropped $1800 at the dealer to replace the clutch and flywheel. My fault on both since I tow heavy and have smoked the clutch more than once. My first real money on the truck in the first 90K. Thought hard about doing it myself but wanted the TSB done and didn't want to spend the 2-3 weekends under truck.

The Tacoma has its slow burn issues but has never left me stranded. I can't say that with the other cars I've owned.

I hope you reconsider and keep the Tacoma. She seems to have been good to you so far.

 

Glad to see you got it done...finally. I'm sorry I kinda dropped off the map. I went and bought a 15 Tundra w/1UR. My Tacoma wasn't giving me any trouble I just wanted something with better seats and a V8 rumble. I understand if you decide to let your Tacoma go but honestly it's got a lot of good life left in it. Toyota has been using the plastic guides for years. It was a big problem in the 22REs because they weren't steel reinforced and would break over time. I think they changed that in later years. But most manufacturers that use chains use plastic lined guides to keep chain noise down. Only exception would be GM because they still use the internal cam V8/V6s that don't need them.

 

After reading about your entire ordeal OP, I think once my engine reaches this high a mileage, and starts to develop problems, I will just run it till it dies and replace it with a used lower mileage one. I am very impressed with your efforts.

 

Was write up ever put together for this job? Would that have been linked to this thread or stuck somewhere else? Sorry not super familiar with how this site works.

 

Not going back far enough, guides in my 22R were full metal with rubber coating. That thing was and probably still is tank. Just like the show where one sat in the ocean, couldn't kill it. Had over 600k insane miles on that thing. Went thru 2 heads maybe but was same block. Working on that was like a gokart. Even servicing top end was simple. Timing was double roller steel everything other than rubberized steel guide and tensioner pad. No computers, only electronic ignition. so simple to work on. Any wear item could be changed without taking 6 other things apart. Still got over 25mpg when I sadly got rid of it. If you want simple go back to before FI...plastic bed or not.

 

Hey sorry all for not finishing complete write up on this project. I will dig into my old pictures and put something together.

I changed the title of this post to be more searchable.

Update: ended up buying a 2016 tacoma TRD double cab rt when it came out. It was the first quicksand truck in half of my state.

Drove it for two years put 65,000 miles on it and sold it.

Then Bought a 2006 dodge 3500 megacab cummins and have never been more happy with a truck. I am installing my new hydrogen generator and injection kit this weekend.

I will dig thru my laptop and find the pictures and info and post some more useful information on the 2.7 2TFRE TIMING CHAIN replacement project.

Im still a toyota fan and will end up buying another one soon as both small and large vehicles have their value offroad and on road. :]

 

Thank you, thank you, thank you! This thread is exactly what I needed to see.

Chasing down the the 'whys' and 'hows' of going through 1qt of oil every 300-miles, I stumbled upon a dripping timing cover (in conjunction with a few other oil-related issues). The info in this thread explains a lot of what I'm seeing on my own 2.7, and the process detailed here allows me to come up with a game plan.

Great info - Keep it comin'!

 

FYI: LCE sells a "double roller" conversion kit for 22REs. I installed it on my 94 Yota truck.

 

So I did my timing chain replacement and head gasket and I took this bolt out Everything is back together With the new crank in Cam Sensors truck cranks but won’t fire could this have something to do with it

 

DUCKBUTTER!!! Just finished installing my 2tr back in the ol girl, After timing chain, head gasket, rebuilt head, new clutch and an assortment of other things. Fired her up for the first time and she had a that whine going on. Defeat. Read into your thread and saw you took the chain cover off 3x.. didn’t want to dive too deep, I drove it about 20 miles to see if the chain needed to break in the tensioners. From the initial start to now the whine has definitely quieted. BUT IT STILL WHINES! was there anything that you noticed or did to make it go away??? I’m in a pickle

 

I'm changing out a head gasket for a buddy on a 2010 2.7L and came across this thread when looking for advise on removal of the timing cover.

I appreciate all the info found here, even if the original poster ran into difficulties in his reinstall.

I have worked on and rebuilt many different manufacturers motors over the years, and just wish to add a few comments for those who see this thread in the future.

1. Toyota has the BEST timing chain guides I have ever come across - If you are changing out the chain and guides, Use only Genuine toyota parts for this job - aftermarket guides will not last nearly as long, and as this thread illustrates, they can be right down Bad, and break on first use. I replaced a chain and gears on a 2.4 toyota last year with 250K miles, and although the gears were sharp and the chain was flapping, I could have re-used the original Toyota guides if I had needed to.

2. Toyota engineering on the timing chain system (and even the older timing belts) is WAY ABOVE any other manufactures products. Many domestic manufacturers have timing chains / guides that struggle to last even 100,000-150,000 miles and cause bent valves / major engine damage when they fail.

Yes, Toyotas are more expensive to purchase new or used, and oftentimes parts are overpriced, BUT you do get what you pay for in longevity and reliability.

Thankfully with the internet, we are able to find the best price for original parts relatively easily, (even from overseas dealers)

just my 2 cents - Ill get off my soapbox now.

 

Doing the timing system and head gasket on my 2006 2.7 tacoma, was there ever a write up for this.... A lot of good youtube videos out there but I was wondering if anyone has a gasket replacement list with part numbers, the o rings behind the timing cover are a head scratcher. Also some help with which parts should replaced with oem... Thanks!

 

I had both the top end set and timing cover set from felpro. Neither kit had all of the o-rings needed for the timing cover so I went to the local auto parts store and matched up ones to get it put back together. At least at advance auto I was able to go throu the o-ring selection back behind the parts counter to find a matching metric o-ring as they didn’t have a way to look them up

 

i work for an oem manufacturer of timing chains.
One of our products is very similar to this chain. (Blue timing instead of orange)
You guys would shit yourselves to see how much goes into preventing these things from failing.
This guy above me knows what he’s talking about.
The guides are VERY important for a quality install, and I would second his opinion to only get oem components.

tried this work, and more on my old WRX. My buddy went to start it for the first time and we forgot to prime the oil pump.
Blew out pretty much every gasket and seal.
$2G’s to get it working again. By then I would’ve given it away if i could’ve taken the money hit.
Good times. Hahaha.

 

Sounds like oem components and high quality gaskets... Kinda what I was expecting, I am selling the truck when I am done but I don't want to screw any buddy so I want to do quality work. I am going to try to dig and find all the Toyota part numbers for the gaskets and I will post here when I am done

 

Timing Cover O-rings & FIPG:
- Lower oil o-ring 96723-35028
Two o-rings in the middle of the timing cover on each side
- 90301-25014
- 90301-25020
- Lower pass side of timing cover o-ring 90301-19021
- Camshaft oil delivery pipe o-ring 96723-19011
- Seal packing/FIPG for timing cover/oil pan/valve cover 00295-00103