2tr Head gasket job... What is this sound? (solveD)

Never heard a knocking or grinding like this when the truck was last running - havent seen much for metal shavings in the oil. Anyone have an idea what this could be ? Bad piston or rod bearing? Trans is in neutral. Thank you

EDIT, solved:
Tried moving/tapping on the pistons on the downstroke, as mk5 suggested, and there was no looseness or extra play -
had my neighbor come over and press the clutch pedal while i turned the engine, and no sound. so its something between the flywheel and the transmission. not sure if thats normal but everything in there worked fine before so going to leave it be for now.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/lhBrbfgsXns

 

I really don't have much experience to draw on here, other than once doing a head gasket on the v6.

But... I wouldn't worry too much about noises when manually cranking the engine like this -- assuming it was functional before you took it apart to fix the head gasket. You are turning it intermittently, at 1/100th of idle speed, with no oil pressure. When I did the head gasket on my truck, cranking the engine made weird noises... but mostly from my elbows and back.

Push or tap on the pistons on the downstroke if you are worried about the bearings. Inspect the cylinder walls for piston issues.

Again I am not an engine expert. You will get better guidance, hopefully from more knowledgeable people, if you explain why you took the engine apart in the first place. Include specific details such as mileage, symptoms, and what you did since the symptoms emerged. For example, did the engine overheat? Were there misfires? Was the crank case visibly contaminated with coolant? You mentioned seeing "[not much] for metal shavings" in the oil, but this is really vague -- you should see not any for metal shavings, if you are just doing the head gasket. (Also: consider doing an oil analysis to check for abnormal engine wear.)

In any case, welcome to Tacoma World, and good luck!

 

Hey Mk5, thanks for the response, and happy to be here.

212k miles on this truck. 5 speed trans, 4x2. I have had it for about 2k miles of that. It has just been an occasional dump run truck. so rarely used and for only about 30 minutes at a time. However recently started my own property management company and I could really use the truck for my business.

Just finished up an engine swap on a volvo ive had sitting for a while so I have some momentum and garage space.

I have had to add coolant and oil at different times. Upon starting there would sometimes be a brief misfire. Would go away after given a little gas. White smoke from the exhaust that went away when warmed up. otherwise sounded smooth.

When i started I found a vent hose near the back of the engine disconnnected which was spewing oil all over the left side of the engine. I decided to pull the valve cover just so I could get a better look at everything.
After that I did put a borescope into the cylinders and found what looked like coolant on the cylinder walls of 1 and 2 (but didnt see any on 3 or 4) so just decided to get into it and take the whole head off. For a learning experience if not anything else.

I changed the oil about 30 miles, 4 months ago, before i started this work. When I drained the oil for this work it was cloudy/milky but just slightly. I just re examined the oil and put a magnet in the strainer to hopefully catch any metal shavings. But did not get any on the magnet. there were some in my waste oil pan, but those could have been from my old volvo engine. for the 2TR - the block is made out of iron but the pistons and bearings are aluminum, as I understand?

I wouldnt be surprised if the engine overheated at some point but I also dont really have anything to indicate that it did. The cylinder head and deck seem to be perfectly straight, using a thick aluminum ruler and .002 feeler gauge. Head gasket was in bad shape.

What else is moving when I turn the crank here? The crank - the pistons - the balance shafts - the flywheel - it has to be one of those things making the noise right? Or i suppose the clutch is moving too? (throwout bearing? pressure plate maybe?)

I did just try moving the piston heads on the downstroke. and found no up/down play.

Im going to trying having my neighbor press the clutch while i turn the engine see if that changes anything...

thank you for reading!

 

Honestly I've never heard noises like that turning an engine over by hand but they were also 4 cylinders from cars that had timing belts and a manual trans, so don't use me as a red flag. Following this because I'm curious

 

Tapped on the pistons on the downstroke - no up/down play - I had my neighbor come over and press the clutch pedal while i turned the engine. No sound! So it was likely the pressure plate or throwout bearing or something between the flywheel and transmission. I dont know if its normal or not but I know the clutch and trans worked well before so i will tackle that down the road if need be. Doesnt look like i will have to pull the engine Thank you everyone on this awesome forum.

 

Thanks for the detailed post @bball_fan. Like I said I'm not really an engine expert, but it sounds like you're figuring it out, and perhaps more-knowledgeable people will chime in with further insights.

Cowabunga, dude!

It sounds like the drained oil is now irreversibly contaminated by the residual contents of your waste pan... but if you caught any of it in a clean container, consider sending it in for oil analysis. It's maybe like $30, I forget... you request a sample kit from them, then return it with a pre-paid label. This will tell you the concentration of various metals and other elements in the oil, and what is typical for your type of engine. Even better, if there's a ton of certain metals in the oil, they will tell you what kind of wear it might indicate. (I have no idea what materials are used in the 2TR.) I recommend Blackstone Labs.

I'll recommend two other things as well:

1. Take the head to a machine shop for a valve job, if your time and budget allow. Especially if you already bought a gasket kit that includes valve seals -- they can install them for you. They'll also check for flatness and cracks, re-seat the valves, set the lash... well I forget what all they do, but the head will be shiny clean and in perfect condition. And it is not particularly expensive compared to everything else needed for a head gasket job.

2. When re-assembling the engine, do a compression test. This will let you know for sure if the pistons are in good shape. And establish a basis for gauging future wear. The cheapo Harbor Freight compression tester I bought 15 years ago has worked great on all the cars I've owned.

(Sorry if this is all old news to you... you probably know more about engines than I do.)

Good work figuring out the noise. Hopefully there's no actual problem with the clutch either. One of my other cars once had a cracked flexplate, which is apparently what they call the flywheel when you have an automatic transmission. It made a weird noise (when driving) and I kept randomly replacing other things, but I failed to figure out the problem before it let go entirely and trashed the engine. Hopefully this is not your problem, especially since you don't have a flexplate.