Put a new head on and now have valve clicking

Hi,

I have a 2007 tacoma with the 2.7 L engine that I just put a new head onto from ATK engines.

I put on a new head because the engine was hard to start, low on compression (90 all around) and failed the coolant head gasket test. I read somewhere that the 2tr fe heads had a tendency to crack and the cost difference from machining my head and buying a new one wasn’t too big. I figured the hassle of getting a new head while my engine was torn apart wasn’t worth the hassle and it would be easy to just order a new one.

There wasn’t any big issues when putting the new head on I followed the Toyota manual for the most part(left the engine in the truck) and replaced all of the o rings and gaskets that I came across. When I finally fired it up I was greeted with a horrible ticking noise. I read that the hydraulic lifters can take a while to pump up so I waited until the engine was at operating temp but the noise went away. We pulled the valve cover and almost of the lifters were spongy. 2/8 on exhaust side and 5/8 on intake.

We pulled the cams to take out the lifters and it looked like the new head came with some crappy lifters and we assumed that was the problem. We cranked the engine over on the starter with one of the lifters out and it appeared to be getting oil. The copper oil delivery system on top of the cams was also dripping oil when cranking. We swapped in the old oem lifters and I primed them all before install. Truck ran great for about 15 minutes and then the tick started to come back. I assume as the lifters started losing all their prime. I’m pretty lost on what to do now so I was hoping for some advice. Thanks

 

I'm not nearly as familiar with earlier Toyota engines as I am with the later ones. It appears that you have done everything right with the lifters. The valves are actuated by roller rocker arms. The valvetrain is equipped with hydraulic lash adjusters (no valve clearance adjustment required). I'm not familiar with ATK. So from what you describe, it sounds like the lifters are the issue. When you took the old head off did you notice any cracks around the valve seats? That is "usually" where aluminum heads crack. Was the head leaking before you removed it? Compression issues are usually contributed to a crack in the head, head gaskets, timing chain issues (which you would have noticed), warping from the head itself, or scoring from the piston in the cylinder. "Generally" aluminum heads don't crack unless they get too hot. My only suggestion is to purchase new lifters and see if that makes a difference?

Sorry I couldn't have been more help. If I were there I'd be happy to try to help you figure it out.

 

The issue for compression was definitely the head gasket. No noticeable cracks on the valve sears. Big blow throughs on the head gasket between cylinders 1 and 2 and a second blow through between 3 and 4.

I don’t think it’s the lifters because I never had a problem with them before I replaced the head. At first I thought that was it so I put the old lifters back on. Old lifters worked fine before so I don’t see why those would be a problem now.

Also, I believe that Toyota is still using this engine. Not sure about the 4th gen tacos but I know that they were still using it in the 22 model. Only change was that they added dual vvt in 2015

 

Oof...Yeah, that head gasket is done.

Have you run a compression check since putting on the new head? That amount of blow through between cylinders on the head gasket looks like the engine definitely got hot at one time or another.

 

Nope haven’t don’t that yet but I was planning on it. It sounds a lot stronger tho. Don’t think that my main issue has anything to do with compression though

 

I suppose the only advice I could give... I'm not familiar with ATX. Not saying they are bad. Don't know anything about them. But if whatever you do doesn't correct the issue is to have your original head resurfaced. Shouldn't cost that much to have it shaved. Then, at least you will know that the head is the one that works with the truck as intended.

 

Were you able to figure out the issue?