I bought an 86 Toyota Sr5 last week for $500 which ran fine and only problem was a very small oil leak. I drove it home, about 60 miles on the interstate without any problems and no weird noises except for an exhaust leak. I drove it a few miles the next few days and I started hearing a ticking noise. I took off the valve cover and the timing chain guides were broken, so I replaced the chain, sprockets, pensioner, cover, water pump, and oil pump. This fixed the oil leak, but not the sound. You can hear it when the engine is cold, but it gets louder when the engine warms up. I can't hear it when I rev past about 2000 RPM but that could be the exhaust leak. It sounds like it's coming from the top end, like the valves are loose, but I just adjusted them, and they were all too tight. Any ideas? Are they any tests I could do? I did the screwdriver on the valve cover bolt and the ticking was loudest on the passenger side, I could hear it more quietly on the back driver side, and I couldn't hear it on the driver side front.
Dec 1, 2015 at 5:41 PM
