H all, Sent this out to the boys earlier, but they may be a while…your ideas on this are appreciated: Dear Click and Clack, I am a long time listener and ex -mechanic, isn’t everybody ? I could really use some help here…I brought my wife’s 93 Camry w/ a 2.2L 5SFE 4 cyl engine w/ auto and a/c to have the PS leak checked out. I knew , also that it needed rear brakes. After getting an estimate for about $550 ($140 for the pump, $40 for the hose and brought my own eggs , I mean brake pads (allowed with this cook)plus labor. So I asked if I could get a timing belt to go with that (over due, last one 80 K ago). The car has 160 K on it. He said 400 and would put in the window reg I brought him free, and toss in the water pump, seals , dogbone mount and accesory belts with that. Great !
Picked it up and though I heard some valve tapping but though…naaahhh, probably a slight exhaust leak or somnething and then, thought I heard some pinging…was a tad sluggish b4 the belt…thought …ok, now that the valve timing is correct (no stretched belt) the ign timing probaly needs to be toned down a tad.///no worries.
Then my wife drove it…she tells me it is making a noise …like what? like it’s idling…ok like what when it’s idling? …like tap, tap , tap.
so I bring it back and he tears the front down twice double checking his work and the marks , etc but all is good, of course. BTW…I believe this guy to be honest…I know, don’t laugh too hard. Anyway, I tell him, ok, pull the valve cover and check the obvious…if there is excess valve lash …not you, if enough oil coming up…not you, right? right, he says.
ok…all valves about the same …little lash, except the 3 or four in front of motor…they are looser. We did not discuss tolerances at this point…so I say …see if you can adjust (oh , that’s a big deal…gotta take out the cam , put back in , take back out till it’s right ) or if more cost effective to get a head.
Mean time my Haynes shows a tool to compress it and wedde the shim bucket down against the valve spring while slipping the shim out and the corrective shim in(based on lash measurement plus current shim thickness , minus min lash dimension). He says he doesn’t have the tool (which the 2 can be had from Snappy for around $70 for the 2 of them) and neither does Toyota , where he used to work.
I tell him to find out which is cheaper and hear I wait. I think this is where we were 3 days ago and he finally called me back today to tell me he had to call toyota to price the shims. I am still waiting.
so what do you think of this whole mess. Is tere anything that coulda caused this. %sfe is non-interference motor , from everything I’ve heard / read ., so he wouldn’t have bent a valve on me…and bottom of the cam is bottom of the cam …couldn’t cause excess lash, right ? says plenty of oil getting up there. whatdo you think and also , is he justified in not wanting to change out the shims with the “valve adjusting pliers and wedge tool” ?
I can’t wait to hear what you think and also…what’s he book on a 93 Camry valve adjustment ?
thanks a million…and please don’t give me a safe , easy blow off answer , like I hear you do on the radio from tim eto time lol
your stauch admirer,
Al Block
Va Beach, originally Long Island (but don’t hold it against me…what ya mean, figures?