98 Tacoma 3.4 engine tick

Not yet. It's been below zero here at night and single digit temps during the day. I have to wait until I can get it in my Dad's shop to check it out.

 

Mine started about a month ago. First time I heard it I thought my motor was done. LOL

 

Here's what it sounds like from the driver seat at idle.

 

It sounds

sounds exactly like a cracked flywheel.
Check if the noise is louder from under the truck

 

Loose sparkplug

 

I checked all 6 spark plugs and they are tight. All the injectors on the passenger side sound the same and fairly quit. The EVAP VSV is already rubber mounted, but I notice the blue & brown VSV for the front diff and hard mounted to the left inner fender.

Actually it is the #1 cylinder and not #3 cylinder that the PO replaced the coil with an aftermarket coil and not a Toyota coil pack. When I put my stethoscope on the intake manifold, I can hear the tick through it. It could be an intake valve on the left side of the engine, but I didn't have time to pull the two upper intake halves off to get the driver side valve cover off. It definitely is a ticking sound that can be heard from 20' away, so it's something very noticeable under the hood, under the rig, from either side, and from the front.

I removed the passenger side valve cover this evening and checked all the valves clearance on that side. This is with the biggest feeler gauge that would slide between the shim and the heel of the cam lobes with a little resistance;

E5 - .013" I5 - .009"
E5 - .013" I5 - .009"

E3 - .013" I3 - .008"
E3 - .013" I3 - .008"

E1 - .013" I1 - .008"
E1 - .013" I1 - .007"

 

I have a 98. 3.4 and 5 speed. Yesterday it started making that exact same noise. Got on the interstate and the noise went away. I also have one coil pack on the passenger side that the PO replaced with a non OEM one. Had Toyota replace timing belt, water pump, thermostat. I did the plugs, wires myself. I might go Check to see if all my plugs are tight. Odd our pickups make that same exact noise. Except mine went away out of the blue. It was almost like something moved or fell and the noise stopped.

 

Have you pulled the spark plugs out and inspected them on that side?

 

It's just the Toyota tick, do t worry about it. It's all over in 1st gens to third gens and I've even heard in brand new ones

 

You must not have watched videos.

 

No I didn't

 

I just read a thread on another Toyota forum about a guy having a ticking issue on his 3.4 and he said it ended up being the K & N CAI on his motor. It came with the pickup when he bought it, and as soon as he replaced it with a stock airbox setup, the ticking went away.

Anyone else have this experience? My Tacoma has a HSP CAI on it with an open dry filter setup, and all the clamps are on correct and tight.

Also does anyone have any experience with the aftermarket parts house coil packs, and could it be making the ticking sound internally without causing any misfire codes?

 

Okay, more of an update now. I listened and had my wife listen and it sounded like it was on the passenger side of the engine. I talked to the PO and he said it was definitely the middle cylinder #3 that had the blown up coil. So the repair shop that he took it to had moved the coil pack from #1 and moved it to #3 since the aftermarket coil was on the #1 cylinder. They must have swapped them for testing purposes.

I had already removed the #1 spark plug and it looked great with a reddish brown color to it. I removed the #5 spark plug and it looked great with the same color as the #1 cylinder. I removed the #3 spark plug and noticed that the color is correct in alignment with the #1 and #5 cylinders, but the crush washer was crap because it was totally squished on one half of it, but the other half was thicker like it wasn't getting squished down normally. I noticed that there was a ring stuck to the head where the spark plug is seated, and that it was probably the original spark plug that had gotten hot and kind of melted the ring to the spark plug mounting area. So I cut up a red shop rag and plugged the spark plug hole with it and then commenced to removing the stuck ring with a long flat tip screwdriver with some elbow work. I got it out in pieces by grabbing them with a 4 fingered grab tool and then I put the spark plug back in with a new crush washer.

It seemed to help some as it seems to accelerate a little bit faster, but it still ticks, just not quite as loud as before, and you can hear it when you drive it down the road still. So my next step will be to do a compression check on all 6 holes and see what I come up with. If all 6 holes seem to be pretty even in cylinder psi, then I will get a new set of spark plugs for it. I checked the engine oil and there doesn't seem to be any metal in the oil suggesting a worn bearing issue.

My friend is a mechanic in a shop and he said it sounds like a wrist pin noise to him, but I sure hope it isn't though.

 

Are you sure that sparkplug is seating all the way and sealing. Use you stethoscope take probe off the end and listen around spark plug boot for the noise. (you'll just have the plastic hose. none of the rest of the stethoscope end. )

 

it sounds like a valve noise..
it could make that noise for another 5 yrs and never get any worse..

 

how many miles on this rig?

 

207k

 

i'm trying to talk you out of wrenching on ur own rig (cause it's fun!) but there's a good chance you'll have the same noise after yo replace a bunch of plugs and coils. if the truck accelerates well and idles smooth then you aren't dealing w/ any mis-fires.. this means that the plugs are fine, the coils are fine, the compression is fine, etc..

 

if you had low compression the engine would be shaking and running rough all the time (at idle, up hills, down the free-way). if the coil boot (for example) was cracked and allowing the spark to arc over to the cyl head you would feel the engine missing/hesitating when the noise/tic is present..

feel me? it's prolly a valve noise. change the oil and filter (if it 's overdue or dirty) and drive it!!

 

i'm (not) trying.. lol