that's what a stethascope is for, to pinpoint it, and no it's not that loud with a scope.

 

scions all have a faint valve train noise its just the mechanical moving parts in there doing there job, no worries. unless its obvious and excessive which i hope you would be able to notice if you take car of your ride. if the noise increases with engine rpm then you would have a bigger issue on your hands. EVERY engine has valve train noise

 

ok so i was getting on it today and i got up to 4500 rpm and the engine started pingin like crazy and slowed down... whats wrong?

 

Take it do the DEALER!!!

 

could be a few things. loose rocker arms reducing tension on the pushrods creating the noise. if you sucked up some water it could be a bend rod but unlikely, it would be loud all the time id think. maybe-possibly spark knock but i dont know all 3 wont set a code. take to dealer they may know of this if its common or a known sounds

 

finally took it in....it was a wore out bearing in my tensioner...whatever that is

 

keeps tension on the drivebelt.. has failed before, is well known on the camry (same engine as ours).

glad its fixed

 

how many miles on your car?

 

less than 17k

 

wow i have 21 i need to check mine

 

rocker arms and pushrods

 

lol we have neither!

 

Well...there is a difference between knocking....and normal valve lash...which a little more valve lash is what our Scion's have at idle because of the VVT-i.

Of course there is the difference between what is normal for our engines...and when there is something actually wrong.