92 22re engine failure swap or rebuild?

[yamapro28]

recently my 92 toyota pickup engine blew a head gasket. i recently changed the oil and put in a quart of that lucas oil stabilizer, hoping it would keep my engine running good. The next day every time i started it white smoke poured out my exhaust. my mechanic told me its just the oil and let it brake down for aday or two. well the engine would stop smoking but the idle was very high and it would bog every couple seconds and then rise again. i thought it was a vacum leak and so i decided i would have it checked the next day. on my way home the check engine light went on and i could here a sort of bubbling noise coming from the engine. the water was extremely hot and was hissing. i had it towed the next day and my mechanic said i blew a head gasket and then some. costing me at least 1000$ he said. i havent decided what i want to do to this engine, it has 175000 miles on it and i was wondering would it be smarter to drop in a remanufactured engine with only 50k on it for about 1200-1500 bux or bite the bullet and have it rebuilt? i dont know how easy an engine swap would be but my friend has a cherry picker and he thinks we might be able to do it. could someone send me a reply with some info about the engine please. id appreciate it. i was also considering selling the truck as is because i have a huge sound system that is only custom to this type of truck single cab 4cyl 2wd.

[fast_freddy67]

Dude,

I'll *almost* garantee you that your headgasket is fine. I'ts your timing chain cover.

Here's what happens. There's a plastic chain guide that gets worn through and dumps into the oil pan. That leaves the chain swinging out through centrifigul force sawing into the aluminum timing chain cover and into a water jacket. Once that happens, your coolant dumps into your oil.

Conventional troubleshooting does point to a head gasket, but this little piece of Toyota timing trivia has not let me down yet.

The fix costs around $200 in parts for DIY or between $700 - $1200 depending on what you're mechanic is like.

I don't have all the part numbers right here, but I have found an aftermarket timing chain set with a steel chain guide, and Pioneer makes an aftermarket timing chain cover (PN 500220) I bought the cover at a Schuck's.

I have a few more details if you want to DIY...

FastFreddy

[yamapro28]

Ya i think im going to do it myself, since i dont really wanna pay 1k+ for it, could you give me some more info?

[fast_freddy67]

Okay...

First, you may want to look to make sure you're not going down the wrong road. Remove your valve cover and find the timing chain there in the front. With a small flashlight, look down the right side (drivers side) of the chain. If you see that there is no chain guide, or two grooves in the inside of the cover there... you're on the right track.

Wanna test it farther? fill the radiator and find a way to pressurize it then look down the inside of the timing chain cover if water is oozing or squirting there on the right side...bingo.

I found 2 places that tell this story very well, read them both if ya want, I like the first. The only thing they dont cover, is getting rid of the oil/anti-freeze mixture. Mine had 3 gallons of the goo. (I bought the truck non-running) I soaked it down several times with 3 gallons of deisel, the last gallon directly through the oil pan.

Toyota 22R Timing Chain Replacement

Timing Chain Replacement Instructions

The after market timing chain cover is here. Pioneer Products PN 500220. I got mine from Schucks, Checker, I can't remember all the names this company uses.

While you're there, don't forget the valve cover gasket kit! Oil, filter, anti-freeze, etc...

I found several places for timing chain sets. You want one with a metal backed chain guide. The one I have is from Top Line. I got mine from a local machine shop for around $70. I also found this.

Hope this helps. Like I said this has been right on for me several times. I wonder how many trucks are for sale cheap out there with just this problem?...

FastFreddy

[yamapro28]

thanks much the info was helpful, now i just need to try it out an see if that was the prob. much appreciated thanx again.

[mooseketer]

We had the same problem. The plastic Timing chain guide had broken off long ago and the timing chain ate through it's cover into the water pump area. This caused the water to go into the oil. (your oil level will be rising) We purchased all the necessary timing parts through http://www.partsdinosaur.com/. Real good prices. *******Don't forget to clean out the oil pan. ******* For this you will need to drop the part of the front end and remove a cross member or the oil pan won't come out. However, after that was fixed, (we didn't clean the oil pan, just changed the oil), we through a bearing. Now I don't know if the bearing was because of age (425,000 miles on the engine) or if the radiator sealents that we added prior to this went into the oil and cause the damage, or both but we are now rebuilding the engine. Live and learn. Good luck with yours.

[yamapro28]

after reading your articles i took consideration of my timing chain and that area. however it turns out that it wasnt that guide you both have spoken about. while it seems plausable, it was actually an act of elctrolisis. apparently for the past 50000 miles, the coolant has been eating away at my cylinder walls, it actually went as far as to eat through my exhaust ports or valves, im not sure which one it was. either way, i had to get a new cylinder, and everything up form there......i guess there wasnt much i could do about it, but im just trusting god that he will turn the tables back around for me and send me on my way with a pretty new engine.....all i can say is....trust god and have faith and everyhting will come with ease. thanx for your support though guys it made me think a lot. anyhow have fun and god bless.

[KimMG]

Hi, I'm new to the Toyota board, so sorry I didn't read about your problem earlier. Causes of the electrolisis could be a poor engine ground. Make sure the ground strap is good to prevent future problems. I live in the San Francisco Bay area, and usually the cheapest and best fix for engine failure like yours is to replace the engine (machine shop might miss any weaknesses caused by the electrolisis in the block or head). There are many places in the east bay that sell low mileage (35,000-40,000 miles) used engines with 12 month or 12,000 mile warranties for less than $500-. These engines are imported from Japan. Japan has strict emissions laws requiring engine replacement. Two of the places the shop I worked at purchcased engines and transmissions from are Engineland and Shen Trading Company. At local autoparts stores you can get free classified ads, and you will find many of these engine and transmission importers listed in them. The 22R/RE engine was also used in Celicas, so there are lots of these engines available.

[PRF]

Yeah, i had the same exact things happen to my '92(white smoke, bubbling noises, also there was white goop under oil cap) all that lead me to strip my engine apart to replace my head gasket. As im working on it i found out the main reason that the head gasket could be messed up, and it was because whatever nut job that worked on the truck last broke a couple head bolts, and just left them in there. anyways i decided to replace the head gasket, new head bolts, timing chain, and water pump. it works good now except in the winter time the white goop came back under my oil cap, but it only comes in the winter time, and my idle is all messed up, because it idles hhigh and low..... so if i were u, and u were going to replace the head gasket i would do it yourself becuz its not worth it to have a mechanic do it. It would of cost me $1500 for everything i did, and i only did it for $330(parts) but good luck

[KimMG]

PRF- In the S.F. bay area you could have replaced the engine for not much more and you would have had warranty.

[el salsero]

Originally Posted by fast_freddy67

Okay...

First, you may want to look to make sure you're not going down the wrong road. Remove your valve cover and find the timing chain there in the front. With a small flashlight, look down the right side (drivers side) of the chain. If you see that there is no chain guide, or two grooves in the inside of the cover there... you're on the right track.

Wanna test it farther? fill the radiator and find a way to pressurize it then look down the inside of the timing chain cover if water is oozing or squirting there on the right side...bingo.

I found 2 places that tell this story very well, read them both if ya want, I like the first. The only thing they dont cover, is getting rid of the oil/anti-freeze mixture. Mine had 3 gallons of the goo. (I bought the truck non-running) I soaked it down several times with 3 gallons of deisel, the last gallon directly through the oil pan.

Toyota 22R Timing Chain Replacement

Timing Chain Replacement Instructions

The after market timing chain cover is here. Pioneer Products PN 500220. I got mine from Schucks, Checker, I can't remember all the names this company uses.

While you're there, don't forget the valve cover gasket kit! Oil, filter, anti-freeze, etc...

I found several places for timing chain sets. You want one with a metal backed chain guide. The one I have is from Top Line. I got mine from a local machine shop for around $70. I also found this.

Hope this helps. Like I said this has been right on for me several times. I wonder how many trucks are for sale cheap out there with just this problem?...

FastFreddy

This was great information, this is exactly whats happening to my truck. Thankfully the chain did not eat completely through the metal. I just want to replace the right side guide with a metal guide. After reading the 'how-to' links, do I really need to go through all of that just to replace a guide? I'm hoping I can just pop off the cover install a new guide and be done with it. Any opinions would be great!

[Kalani808]

I have had alot of water in my oil on my 22re 92toyota pickup, There was mass ammounts of water found in my engine. I took the inteke manifold and exhaust manifolds off lossened all the many bolts and nuts Everywhere, and pulled the head off.. I looked at the gasket and saw that there was not really any major damage on the gasket.. when i took the head into the machine shop, the shop owner, said that the gasket looked fine and that he would still undergo the pressure test. I get it back in 1 day hopefully he will have the results and say that the head is fine, but If its not the gasket, then how is my oil so milky??? Please any one who can offer me some advice.. This truck is kickin my butt... thnx

[mooseketer]

The water problem was a hard one to find. Turned out the timing chain guide had been worn off and the timing chain has eaten a hole in the timing housing causing the water and oil to mix. Because of the water/oil mix I rebuilt the whole engine both crank side and head side. I purchased new parts at http://www.partsdinosaur.com/. The timing chain guide from Toyota was plastic so I replaced it with a steel guide http://www.store.partsdinosaur.com/product0.html, and a new cover.