2RZ-E ticking sound

[DaGMan]

Anyone have any ideas? Ticking sound starts when warm 2RZ-E motor 200k. Ticks while driving, on free reving seems to tick on deceleration only, these tappets/lifters use shims and can't be adjusted but noone seems to be able to do shims. Have been to a few places and the diagnosis has varied from tappet/lifters - just ignore the noise and turn up the stereo to, head needs replacing as is cheamer than shims - $1.1k to, timing chain loose and need replacing - $1.8k.

Anyone know these motors and can give some advice?

GMan

[904Runa]

You can adjust a shim over bucket setup on these motors. It's a common setup on toyota motors. There's a special tool available to allow shim removal without having to remove the camshafts. Some who are even experienced and game just use two screwdrivers and a magnet to get them out. A lot of run of the mill mechanics like ultratune or kmart tyre auto etc wouldn't touch them because they may not have the special tool or experience / knowhow to do shim adjustments. They just want to do the older style screw adjuster pushrod, which although easier, needs checking and adjusting much more frequently.

The procedure is to measure the clearances of the valves with feeler gauges. For any that are out of spec, you then remove the shim and use a simple maths formula that will tell you what size shim you need to return the clearance to the right range.

If people are pointing you in the direction of the shims, you can at least do the clearance measurements yourself. That way you can have an idea whether it's the clearance that is causing the ticking noise.

If the clearance is so far out of spec that you could not get a shim to get it back into the range, then yeah you could be up for head work.

[DaGMan]

Thanks Man, will keep looking for someone who can do shims.