Over 3 years ago i had CT eng. in rancho put a re manufactured 22RE in my pickup, closest thing to a new motor. I am just finally getting it to run/idle correctly after cleaning the intake/TB all out replacing TPS, IAC valve and going through and checking everything.
Down to the point the noise its making sounds like a small exhaust leak. But its LOUD. You can hear it clearly over everything when i drive down the freeway. Thats what i thought it was so i removed the thorley header thats been on for almost a year and checked the gasket and there is no leaks at all. Checked the entire header out and no leaks or cracks on it. Check the egr line that comes off the header and around the back of the motor and zero leaks. Bought a new gasket and made sure the whole exhaust was sealed up good. I took it back to CT yesterday and they checked the entire exhaust and couldn't find one leak. He checked to make sure the valves were tight and they were. The top end all looked good.
I have only put around 18,000 miles on it. Not very much, i used to DD it for 2 years and now its only driven to and from the trail. I have always used toyota air and oil filters, and toyota red coolant. Changed the oil every 4k with mobile 1 synthetic. Always run chevron gas never the cheap stuff.
Now to try and explain the sound the best i can. I will put a video up with the motor running so you can hear it. Its like an exhaust leak but not as deep. More of a tink coming from internally it sounds but hard to tell because the sound travels through metal. Ct suggested i pull the whole motor and tear it all apart and see if i had dropped something in the motor when i had the intake off which i know i didn't im very careful about that. And if i did it would have blown up by now. I put about 400+ miles on it sense that noise started. I thought about a burnt valve but it runs super smooth at idle and i haven't noticed any power loss on the freeway at all. The performance isent affected at all. Just a super annoying noise. Maybe a sticky valve? CT was stumped and had no idea what it could be. When i start the motor cold the noise isent present for about 10 seconds till it starts to warm up then it slowly kicks in. And i noticed sometimes it will sit at idle and the noise will just go away for a minute or two and then come back. Also when driving it if you feather the gas a little and let off it will go away till you step back on it. Im really stumped on this one any thoughts or suggestions help cause im not much of a motor tech. If i have to end up pulling it i might as well just swap a 3rz in and fix every problem. I have had oil get into the cylinders probley 2 times from flopping over on my side. It wasent a lot and it just burned it out. It was the last trip to moonrocks when the sound stared. I never got any water in the motor before. Could carbon build up cause the noise?
