Hi guys, I'm trying to track down a loud knocking noise on my engine. Many have said that if any of the pulleys go bad they can be really noisy. I was thinking of the possibility of starting my engine without the belts so that the pulleys are not rotating and under tension to see if the noise goes away. Before trying it I want to make sure it won't hurt anything if I only do it for a few seconds. Obviously I won't be able to do it long since the truck will be running off of battery and there won't be any water flow. Anything wrong with trying this? Thanks,

Dan

Only the power steering and A/C belts have bearing-loaded idler pulleys. Those are the ones that tend to fail. No problem removing those belts and testing. Usually can feel the pulley by spinning it, will either feel gritty or will be loose on the shaft. I have a few extra pulley bearings that fit the early and later model 22REs if you need to replace them.

My power-steering idler pulley bearing went bad on me. It made a high-pitched screaming noise, like a Piccolo-Pete! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/zombie.gif" alt="" /> No need to replace the whole pulley. You can replace the bearing itself, I think they are like $10.

Ran it without the belts, noise still there.

I have to admit I am getting pretty frustrated with this noise. It's a really loud rattling/ticking noise like loud valves but x10 as loud. It started at the beginning of the summer and this is what I have done thus far with no luck:
-Replaced timing chain
-pulled each plug wire to try to isolate independent piston/bearing noise... found nothing
-took it to toyota for my steering rod recall and had them spend an hour going over the engine looking for the noise. They found nothing and said "it's internal" and they would have to dig into it to find the noise
-Started taking the whole engine apart hoping to find something eventually... this grew into and entire rebuild (even though the engine is only 2 years old). The machinist wasn't able to find anything horribly wrong with the piston/crankshaft assembly, only said the bearings were wearing poorly for such a new engine. They polished the crank, checked tolerances on the rods, and the block needed decking. They also looked over the head while I had it resurfaced.
-Sent injectors out to be rebuilt
-Put engine together while carefully checking every moving part for a possible cause of this noise.

After all this I got everything back together and the same noise persists!! I just got done removing the belts to double check the possibility of the pulleys making noise. Anyone have any other possible ideas on what I could try?? I've combed over the entire engine with a stethoscope hoping to find a source, but nothing really stands out. From the naked ear it sounds like it is coming from the intake plenum area... Thanks for any help... this thing is driving me crazy!

Dan

Pull the valve cover.
Locate a loose rocker on both the intake rocker rail, and exhaust rocker rail. Move them over a little bit against one of the springs.

See if there is wear on either of the long rods under where the rocker resides and does its job.

I had this same issue. I "tightened" the valve lash. Noise came back, tightened again, etc. etc. until one morning there was a really LOUD knocking noise. I'm guessing one or more of the exhaust valves wasn't opening properly anymore.

Anyways, 2 new rocker rods, all new rockers, never a problem since. Worth a shot anyways.

Just checked the rocker rods for wear... there was no obvious wear nor play in the rods... I spent more time with the stethoscope and seem to be able to hear a more pronounced ticking noise when I put it on the fuel rail. This is the area that I originally thought the noise seemed like it was coming from. Any ideas? I'm desperate... Thanks,

Dan

Injectors tick.

How loud can an injector tick get? This just seems really loud for injectors... plus I just had them cleaned and balanced. Although I realize the cleaning doesn't necessarily make them quiet. I'm getting real close to just going back to driving the thing and just turning up the music to cover the sound. If there is something actually wrong, maybe it'll break and expose itself so I can find it. I just wish I could find it. Thanks,

Dan

It&#347; not worn cam bearings/bent cam/excessive rocker backlash is it?

have you checked the crankshaft pulley.. if it's loose and rocking on the key, it sounds like a deep bearing knock... and will bugger up the end of the crankshaft...