I've never done it on my 4Runner because I've never been concerned, it's loud and makes noise no doubt. But if I was curious about it, I'd just listen to the injectors or the valve cover areas with a screwdriver to the ear to isolate where it's coming from, it would be obvious.
Save the trouble. The Toyota VVTII, 1GF RE, at least in the newer units; uses direct fuel injection. This means that the fuel is injected directly into the combustion chamber, NOT into the intake manifold; that is for air only.
Toyota's 1GR FE in the 4Runner does not have direct injection. It has port injection.
Save the trouble.
The 1GF RE has a lot of valve train noise. Steel chains, running 4 cams, hydraulic lash adjusters, and 4 valves per cylinder . It also, has the variable cam timing solenoids doing their thing too.
FJC, 2nd Gen Taco, 4th Gen 4Runner, 5th Gen 4Runner.Pretty sure this is the same motor that is in the 4th gen as well. Before I knew they were just noisy, I took it to 3 different shops figuring SOMETHING was wrong. Lifter click, noisy injectors, valve train problem... Nah. They are just noisy.
My new to me '18 sounds like a god damn diesel when it is cold.
I guess I'll just get used to it. It is alarming as a new owner.
Pretty sure this is the same motor that is in the 4th gen as well. Before I knew they were just noisy, I took it to 3 different shops figuring SOMETHING was wrong. Lifter click, noisy injectors, valve train problem... Nah. They are just noisy.
My new to me '18 sounds like a god damn diesel when it is cold.
I guess I'll just get used to it. It is alarming as a new owner.
I will say that the oil used does affect how loud the engine sounds at idle. I just recently switched from Mobil 1 "Fuel Economy" to Valvoline High Mileage w/ Max Life and the engine is noticeably quieter at idle.
They are two different viscosities. The Valvoline is 10W-40 and the Mobil 1 is 0W-20, and synthetic to boot. A thicker oil will always make an engine quieter.
You only need to change to a higher viscosity if your engine is using oil. Also, the difference between normal oil and a "high mileage" oil is additives to soften seals than may have become hard, and thus may leak.
Synthetic oils lubricate better and last longer than regular (mineral) oil. Thus, the oil change interval for synthetic oil is twice a long as for mineral oil.
I was concerned about this too but was comforted by the wide range of viscosities approved for this engine in other markets. And it seems to work well for me.
I think you made an assumption there... the Valvoline I am using is 0w20.
Not so. I specifically looked up "Valvoline High Mileage w/ Max Life" on the Valvoline web site and it stated clearly that it was 10W-40. Valvoline does make a synthetic oil but it is not Valvoline High Mileage w/ Max Life.