I purchased a 2007 scion tc that needed some work done to it. It is making loud lifter noises which I thought was from the valves. I assumed it needed a valve adjustment but was told by the Toyota service Rep. That the valves are self adjusting and that is not causing the lifter noise. Anyone know if that is aucrate? Also, I recently took the engine cap off and discovered the timing chain is not aligned correctly. I believe the timing chain could be causing the lifter noise and all the cylinder misfire codes? Can anyone give any insight into this dilemma before I start taking everything apart????

thanks

 

The valves arent self adjusting, however there also is no valve adjustment. If a valve clearance is out of spec (as everything is solid, no adjustment, the only way this can happen is from excessive wear), than the only way to correct it is to replace the cam follower/lifter with a different value to compensate. Basically youll need to measure the valve clearance, if its out, see what number lifter is on that valve, than use the chart in the toyota service manual to determine what new lifter number you need.

 

Also, you can only use the chain links to set timing when assembling the motor, otherwise theyre going to be off, thats normal. Turn the crank pulley to the 0* mark on the timing chain cover, than with the valve cover off look at the marks on the cam sprokets and they should match up with alignment marks on the first cam cap. If its 180* off, you need to turn the crank over again (remember cam turns 360* for 720* of crank rotation). Also on the exhaust cam you need to use the mark that is simply a dash with no letter by it, DO NOT use the mark that is I or E, thats how people end up getting our cams timed wrong. On the intake cam use the two marks that line up indicating the VVTI gear is locked.

 

Thendawg-

thanks for the help. I was looking at engine assembly timing chain location as opposed to running. I will try it the way you described. Also, idk if 30,000 miles is enough to destroy the valves but that is all the car has. I am guessing that would depend on how hard the previous owner beat it. Hopefully, if the timing is off and i correct it, it will correct the lifter noise.

 

Doubt timing is off, our valvetrain is normally quite loud, so it could be normal noise. Take a video if you can.

 

It is a loud noise and its obvious that part of the motor was altered because there is sealant putting the side engine block back on. So I am thinking previous owner had it off and maybe didn't put it back on correctly. I will get a video when I can.

 

I wouldn't trust most Toyota Service reps... I had a third gear tranmission issue... They claimed to have dropped the transmission, cracked it open, put it back together and taken a look at it in about an hour.

LMFAO! oh and blamed it on my injen cold air intake, as the cause of it... I guess all the excessive power did it =)

Our motors are pretty stout. A lot of people have had to remove timing chain cover and reapply sealant because of leaking oil, due to being boosted...

Its weird that at only 30k miles it seems this car is having these issues.

Maybe the previous owner had the car boosted?

 

Stockscion-

I know they had it boosted at one point. Does that lead to a different reason for the problems. I don't know much about what that may have caused.

 

thendawg-here is a youtube link of the noise
"tc start up and noise" is at this link.
http://youtu.be/2l0HlNbRjtw

 

Car sounds like crap. Maybe it was just because you cold started it then REV'ed it 10 times like you owned a honda civic.

 

Hope you didn't pay a lot for this car :/ Seems like someone else made a mistake because they didn't know what they were doing, and got rid of the car. That sounds horrible

 

Thanks for the intelligent response tccc. The car had been running prior.

 

Don't mind people like him. They are all over the threads posting useless information.

I'd be hard pressed to buy a non-boosted car that was boosted.

Most people that slap a turbo on a car, beat it like there is no tomorrow, lol.

I think it still could be a timing issue.. but could be a valve clearance issue as well, if the other guy didn't know what the hell he was doing, he could have done a hack job putting everything back together...

As with most boosted vehicles, certain components are more susceptible to damage than others... He could have had a bad tune, overboosted, any number of scenarios >.<

Exhaust valves usually wear more quickly than the intake valves because they get the brunt of the heat...

 

Thanks for the info. Ya, I am now positive they beat the car pretty good. I bought the car because a friend of mine trusted another one of his friends. Funny how those things work out. I am going to check the timing this week the way thendawg explained it. I think if the timing is right then the only other thing I can think of at this point is the clearance.