Replacing Timing chain

Hello, newbie here. I just recently purchased a 2000 Tacoma. Truck is like new. 2.4 5speed 2wd. I'm getting some noise from what I suspect is my timing chain and or guides. I cannot find a lot of information about the replacement procedure and or purchasing a chain kit. I would suspect because they don't really give much trouble and its not a part that's sold a whole lot. My truck has 332,955 miles on it. It has never been replaced. I know that they don't need replaced often like a belt of course, but with that many miles on it I would suspect that mine should be.The noise is really only heard at low idle. like a slap click kinda diesel noise. The truck has been serviced by the dealer since day one and been done religiously. It still has stock clutch in it as matter of fact. The oil looks awesome, does not use any, inside of engine is super clean, so i don't think that I have any major issue engine wise. Noise does not change with clutch in or out and i'm getting no noises from the clutch, so i am ruling that out.

My question would be, is it okay to just go and purchase a Napa kit, Advance kit etc or do I need to go to dealer? Also, will I need the complete kit, seals, gaskets etc? or just chain, tension,and guides?!?!?! thanks in advance

 

the noise may be piston slap from excess cylinder wear, you really don't want to go in blind fixing things on a "maybe" its this or that.

if and when you do buy parts, only use Toyota oem parts, don't use aftermarket engine parts and with that many miles, if you are doing the timing chain then you may as well pull the head and get it redone while you have it apart so to be honest, I wouldn't mess with it, leave it alone and it may go another 100k miles like that. start tearing into things and it could become a money pit.

leave it alone and if and when something finally breaks, then just swap out the engine for a low mileage salvage yard engine

 

I thought the 1st gen's had a timing belt?

 

3.4 v6 cylinders have timing belts, inline 4 cylinder 2.4 and 2.7 engines have timing chains

 

Not exactly what I was wanting to hear. Why would you assume that it has piston slap. These trucks can and will go 400 plus?!?! Its been very well taken care of and even tho chains are not problem prone and most people don't replace them is usually because they dont keep vehicles long enough to need to worry about the ones with chains. I see people all the time talking about wanting to replace the chain with 15000 miles on the vehicle and ya they should not need to at those miles, but your saying a truck with 332xxx miles would not be prone to possibly having a loose chain and or bad tensioner? I mechanic for a living so i'm not going in blind to the process, I just want to know what parts I should go with.

 

not saying it wouldn't or couldn't be the chain but it could just as easy be piston slap or valves or anything and until its properly diagnosed you shouldn't be planning and pricing repairs until you know what you are dealing with. in most cases with these engines, the engines fail before the chain does and either would only fail if the engine is NOT well maintained.

9 out of 10 if the engine needs work its better to just drop in a low mileage replacement then get into the can of worms of opening up the engine, unless your a mechanic and just want a project to play with and then money spent on it isn't important.

I would never recommend fixing an engine with more then 175k miles on it because once you get in it, there is no monetary sense in just fixing what is wrong, it only makes sense to do a complete full 100% top to bottom rebuild and you could pick up and drop in a low mileage salvage yard engine for $800 - $1200 installed or half that if you install it yourself


have the valve clearances checked by the dealer or a shop you trust, it may just be they need adjusting. but other then that, if your engine is just making a little noise, it could continue running fine for another 5-10 years if you just leave it alone. if the noises starts getting worse or it starts running bad then and only then would I suggest digging into it further to find out the problem.

 

I noticed that you revised you post and that seems a little more on track, then your first answer. Bottom line I am a mechanic and any noise that is not normal needs to be addressed before you have a issue. Why would I wait for a complete failure? If you are suggesting that a Toyota, Honda, with a timing belt should have a full rebuild when you replace its second belt at round 175k miles, you have fell out of your tree. I assume you are not a mechanic by your post and do NONE of your work. I thank you for your time to post back, but I do not think you and I are ever going to be on the same page about vehicle maintenance.

 

I am not a mind reader to know your skill level so my answers were geared toward basic general good advice for the "average" guy and the most reasonably affordable way to deal with the issue.

please be my guest and tear into your engine, you sound qualified to do so, I will be following your adventures with interest especially the amount you spend on it

after all what do I know, I only rebuilt a couple dozen engines and a dozen or so trannys plus endless motorcycles and lawn mowers

 

I will not stoop to your level of sarcasm. I will keep you posted on what I find and what I do to remedy the problem. Thanks again for your replies.

 

Civil posts, I like

 

you chose to insult and question the ability of someone you know nothing about who was trying to help you, but there was no sarcasm there on my part, I choose not to prejudge people so I really do have honest interest to see how it turns out for you and wish you luck with it.

 

OP, if nobody has said it yet, welcome to TW. My choice would be a good quality chain. With your backround, I'm sure you have resources that you can reach out to. If all else fails, go the OEM route. I'm not sure if OEM is made by Aisen, but you can probably go the Ebay route and locate a OEM chain at a reasonable price vs dealership price.

And for what its worth, I do agree with you. Address the issues before it becomes a bigger problem. Good luck.

 

After that many miles, it could just be the guides (which might be plastic, like the 22R) and/or the tensioner. That would still entail taking off the timing cover to replace, however.

When I re-built a 22R after 200k miles, I replaced the chain, but laying the old and new chain side-by-side, I could not tell the difference. However, the tensioner was shot, and most of the guides were in the oil pan. I still replaced the chain and kept the old as a spare.

 

Timing chains are supposed to last the life of the engine so keep running it til it quits is what I'd do. An engine with that many miles is hit and miss putting money into as it is.

Toyota engines are noisy, every single one of them I've driven and owned made taps, ticks and moans on cold starts. I purchased my 2011 2.7 truck brand new and it made noise from the get-go. The V6 engines are even noisier than the 4 bangers. Look it up online or on these forums if you don't believe me and you'll find a wealth of information on noisy 'Yota engines.

 

My 2 cents

Go to Toyota and ask what they would replace on that service. I'm a red seal tech as well ,I would listen to what they replace and find out what the restocking fee is and take all the parts I think I need , do the job and return what I don't use. And as far as aftermarket parts go sometimes they are better then oem , do your research

 

YouTube what a rattling 22re with broken timing guides sounds like. It's pretty distinctive sounding.

The 2rz and 3rz got metal backed timing guides compared to all plastic ones on the 22r/re. They are not nearly as prone to breaking anymore. Mine had 320k or so when it broke from me not tightening down the cam gear. It separated the plastic outer guide from the metal backing plate, so it could be possible for that to happen. Pulling the valve cover will let you know if you have any issues. You can see the guides plus feel for any slop in the chain without having to take all the accessories off and pull the head.

Tldr: make sure it's the timing chain because it's a bitch to do.

 

You may be on to something. From the little bit of research ive done on the 2.7's, ive heard that the timing chains can start to go around 300. Some earlier or later of course, but 300 seemed to be a consensus.

Thumbs up

 

Ok guys!! So it's been awhile since I posted with my problem I was having. Long story short. Harmonic balancer went bad, I needed to remove some stuff off the front to replace it. I decided to go ahead and dig into the timing chain noise a little more. Pulled it all apart, dropped oil pan and slid cover out from under head, didn't want to remove head. Replaced timing chain, gears, guided,tensioner etc. Put it all back together. New balancer etc installed. I did this on a lift and there is a lot of going from top to bottom btw! Took me about 12 hrs taking my time. Not a quick job, but not a hard job. What I found was the guides appeared to have a rubber coating on them for the chain to ride on by looking at the new ones. My old guides had turned mostly to a plastic substance I suppose from age and the heat. the old chain was somewhat stretched and the old adjuster was really far out. After all was replaced my noise is all gone and everything is great again! Also smoother. I did shamefully use autozone parts. I agree with oem and factory parts useage 100 percent, I could just not bring myself to spend that kind of money on a truck with this many miles and I don't have much in it anyways. Only time will tell if the parts will hold up but if anyone is debating on this they did inatall perfect! Thanks for everyone's insite on this and patients. If I can help anyone with doing this process I will be glad to. Remember my truck sounded like a little diesel at idle only when at operating temp!! The guided were not broke by no means just really hard and a sloppy chain!

One Prob that I do have is now the little actuator that moves the throttle linkage when turning to defrost controls is not working now?!? Haven'tooked into yet but if anyone has anything hit me up!! Thanks again!