4runner V8 sounds like Diesel post mechanic

[Whytey]

My girlfriend purchased a 2006 Toyota 4runner Sport Edition V8 a few months ago. I definitely encouraged it and spoke highly of them as I have had mine for 2 years now.
Within a month of owning it there was a huge coolant leak. Turned out to be he head gasket as the previous owner had taken it to the cheapest place he could find so I'm assuming they used a cheap gasket this the failure 6-10 months later.
This was a very pricey repair as he sent the heads off to get machined and the whole works. Timing belt and water pump were changed as well (did not appear the water pump was changed before).
She gets it back and at the gas station before home it empties coolant onto the ground. Back it goes.
Turned out to be the thermostat housing o-ring must have been installed wrong or got rolled on installation. She finally gets it back and immediately she notices the engine is chugging (just audibly, it seems to drive fine) but it sounds like a diesel.
She has already been without a vehicle for over a month at this point and needs it for work. She notified the mechanic immediately and sent him videos. His response is asking if any codes are being thrown and engine lights on.
She gets time to take it in to him and he pretty much says he won't open it up to work on it as he does not know what is wrong and there are no engine codes. My gf then takes it to the dealership to see if they can source the sound without opening it up. They do a quick one hour inspection and without getting in there the guess is a loose camshaft spring. Any idea what this is? She takes that info to her mechanic and he did not know there is one. I've googled it and can't find anything by that name so perhaps it called something else.

This morning she messaged me a video of the sound getting worse along with a new squeak. Fall is here and it's been raining and cold so it could just be moisture on the belt but I'm not sure. Hoping someone here might be familiar with this sound and can help diagnose it or at least lead us in the right direction before the engine blows.

Yes we are pretty pissed at this mechanic and never plan to take a vehicle back there but we are looking to get him to fix his mistake so she's not shelling out a bunch more cash.

I have found very little info on this but one guy on another forum had a similar issue but his was from bent valves and then something else. Another guy replied to it and said it was the bearings on his water pump and that fixed the issue. I plan on posting there as well.
Here's the forum:
https://www.4runners.com/threads/ticking-sound-after-valve-replacement.6065/

Any ideas would be very helpful. Thank you
Vehicle stats are:
2006 Toyota 4runner Sport Edition V8
220,000km

Here is a video of the sound.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NvwLm-QCvPg&feature=youtu.be

 

[rdruss]

May be miss-timed when cam(s) & sprockets removed/reinstalled.

 

[duffdog]

My girlfriend purchased a 2006 Toyota 4runner Sport Edition V8 a few months ago. I definitely encouraged it and spoke highly of them as I have had mine for 2 years now.
Within a month of owning it there was a huge coolant leak. Turned out to be he head gasket as the previous owner had taken it to the cheapest place he could find so I'm assuming they used a cheap gasket this the failure 6-10 months later.
This was a very pricey repair as he sent the heads off to get machined and the whole works. Timing belt and water pump were changed as well (did not appear the water pump was changed before).
She gets it back and at the gas station before home it empties coolant onto the ground. Back it goes.
Turned out to be the thermostat housing o-ring must have been installed wrong or got rolled on installation. She finally gets it back and immediately she notices the engine is chugging (just audibly, it seems to drive fine) but it sounds like a diesel.
She has already been without a vehicle for over a month at this point and needs it for work. She notified the mechanic immediately and sent him videos. His response is asking if any codes are being thrown and engine lights on.
She gets time to take it in to him and he pretty much says he won't open it up to work on it as he does not know what is wrong and there are no engine codes. My gf then takes it to the dealership to see if they can source the sound without opening it up. They do a quick one hour inspection and without getting in there the guess is a loose camshaft spring. Any idea what this is? She takes that info to her mechanic and he did not know there is one. I've googled it and can't find anything by that name so perhaps it called something else.

This morning she messaged me a video of the sound getting worse along with a new squeak. Fall is here and it's been raining and cold so it could just be moisture on the belt but I'm not sure. Hoping someone here might be familiar with this sound and can help diagnose it or at least lead us in the right direction before the engine blows.

Yes we are pretty pissed at this mechanic and never plan to take a vehicle back there but we are looking to get him to fix his mistake so she's not shelling out a bunch more cash.

I have found very little info on this but one guy on another forum had a similar issue but his was from bent valves and then something else. Another guy replied to it and said it was the bearings on his water pump and that fixed the issue. I plan on posting there as well.
Here's the forum:
https://www.4runners.com/threads/ticking-sound-after-valve-replacement.6065/

Any ideas would be very helpful. Thank you
Vehicle stats are:
2006 Toyota 4runner Sport Edition V8
220,000km

Here is a video of the sound.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NvwLm-QCvPg&feature=youtu.be

I am not so sure you will have any luck getting a gas station mechanic to fix a 2uz-fe motor. Those are the most complicated engines most mechanics will ever see in their lives and its unlikely that he will be able to fix it without breaking even more things. By the way, listening to your video sounds like the following happened:

Mechanic removed cam sprockets, accidentally moved one of the cams without noticing that they are spring loaded on the valves and didn't mark them. Fixed water pump issue and then installed the cam sprockets back onto the engine even though one was slightly moved. Upon starting the engine, all hell broke loose and crazy clanking sounds came from the engine due to the pistons hitting the valves, bent some of the valves after starting the engine with one of the sprockets installed wrong and all the lights on the dash went crazy. Mechanic freaks out. Mechanic clears all codes and takes engine apart again and corrects bad cam timing. (unfortunately all the valves are already bent and correcting the bad timing does not un-bend them) Mechanic starts engine with cam in correct position with 4 valves bent and confirms that ECM thinks everything is ok even though the valves are screwed and engine now has low compression.

The ECM does not detect anything wrong yet since bent valves do not tend to throw codes as they are mechanical and not electrical.

I wish you the best of luck in getting this fixed, but I don't think I would have your gas station dude play with that engine any longer.

 

[blackoutt]

Do a compression test. Does it have normal power? Could be internal, but could also just be related to a pulley, tensioner, or accessory, hard to tell with ticks that are cyclical like that.

 

[Runn4est]

I am not so sure you will have any luck getting a gas station mechanic to fix a 2uz-fe motor. Those are the most complicated engines most mechanics will ever see in their lives and its unlikely that he will be able to fix it without breaking even more things. By the way, listening to your video sounds like the following happened:

Mechanic removed cam sprockets, accidentally moved one of the cams without noticing that they are spring loaded on the valves and didn't mark them. Fixed water pump issue and then installed the cam sprockets back onto the engine even though one was slightly moved. Upon starting the engine, all hell broke loose and crazy clanking sounds came from the engine due to the pistons hitting the valves, bent some of the valves after starting the engine with one of the sprockets installed wrong and all the lights on the dash went crazy. Mechanic freaks out. Mechanic clears all codes and takes engine apart again and corrects bad cam timing. (unfortunately all the valves are already bent and correcting the bad timing does not un-bend them) Mechanic starts engine with cam in correct position with 4 valves bent and confirms that ECM thinks everything is ok even though the valves are screwed and engine now has low compression.

The ECM does not detect anything wrong yet since bent valves do not tend to throw codes as they are mechanical and not electrical.

I wish you the best of luck in getting this fixed, but I don't think I would have your gas station dude play with that engine any longer.

Didn't listen to the video, but this is what I was thinking. Mis-timed interference engine =

 

[Whytey]

I am not so sure you will have any luck getting a gas station mechanic to fix a 2uz-fe motor. Those are the most complicated engines most mechanics will ever see in their lives and its unlikely that he will be able to fix it without breaking even more things. By the way, listening to your video sounds like the following happened:

Mechanic removed cam sprockets, accidentally moved one of the cams without noticing that they are spring loaded on the valves and didn't mark them. Fixed water pump issue and then installed the cam sprockets back onto the engine even though one was slightly moved. Upon starting the engine, all hell broke loose and crazy clanking sounds came from the engine due to the pistons hitting the valves, bent some of the valves after starting the engine with one of the sprockets installed wrong and all the lights on the dash went crazy. Mechanic freaks out. Mechanic clears all codes and takes engine apart again and corrects bad cam timing. (unfortunately all the valves are already bent and correcting the bad timing does not un-bend them) Mechanic starts engine with cam in correct position with 4 valves bent and confirms that ECM thinks everything is ok even though the valves are screwed and engine now has low compression.

The ECM does not detect anything wrong yet since bent valves do not tend to throw codes as they are mechanical and not electrical.

I wish you the best of luck in getting this fixed, but I don't think I would have your gas station dude play with that engine any longer.

Thanks for the detailed reply! Was fearing something like this but wouldn't be surprised. The mechanic and his shop specialize in British vehicles (she had a land rover before the 4runner) and I doubt he ever worked on one before.

In your opinion what would be the best way to confirm it is bent valves and how it was done? If there is a way.
I see 3 options going forward:
1) The mechanic repairs the engine back to where it was (I dont want him touching it again)
2) The mechanic covers the cost to have Toyota do the repair (any idea on what a price estimate would be?)
3) Court (we have video of her vehicle before and after the last trip to the mechanics and the sound was clearly not there before. We also have email and text proof of communication regarding this sound immediately after it was discovered. Obviously this would be a worst case scenario but we'll see what happens.

Thanks for all the replies and if you got any more info please keep it coming.

 

[Runn4est]

Thanks for the detailed reply! Was fearing something like this but wouldn't be surprised. The mechanic and his shop specialize in British vehicles (she had a land rover before the 4runner) and I doubt he ever worked on one before.

In your opinion what would be the best way to confirm it is bent valves and how it was done? If there is a way.
I see 3 options going forward:
1) The mechanic repairs the engine back to where it was (I dont want him touching it again)
2) The mechanic covers the cost to have Toyota do the repair (any idea on what a price estimate would be?)
3) Court (we have video of her vehicle before and after the last trip to the mechanics and the sound was clearly not there before. We also have email and text proof of communication regarding this sound immediately after it was discovered. Obviously this would be a worst case scenario but we'll see what happens.

Thanks for all the replies and if you got any more info please keep it coming.

I imagine that it would be a very costly repair -- I'll let one of the toyo mechs chime in. I'd also assume that the easiest way to check the valves is via a compression test.

 

[duffdog]

Thanks for the detailed reply! Was fearing something like this but wouldn't be surprised. The mechanic and his shop specialize in British vehicles (she had a land rover before the 4runner) and I doubt he ever worked on one before.

In your opinion what would be the best way to confirm it is bent valves and how it was done? If there is a way.
I see 3 options going forward:
1) The mechanic repairs the engine back to where it was (I dont want him touching it again)
2) The mechanic covers the cost to have Toyota do the repair (any idea on what a price estimate would be?)
3) Court (we have video of her vehicle before and after the last trip to the mechanics and the sound was clearly not there before. We also have email and text proof of communication regarding this sound immediately after it was discovered. Obviously this would be a worst case scenario but we'll see what happens.

Thanks for all the replies and if you got any more info please keep it coming.

This probably is not what you want to hear, but I would do take the truck to Toyota (on a flatbed, not driving it helps your case should attorneys get involved) advising them what happened. Include all information and advising them that the truck sounded completely normal 2 weeks ago and ask them to document everything wrong with the engine in writing and provide an estimate to repair. Then take that estimate to gas station mechanic offer 2 options, either gas station mechanic fixes the engine or pays Toyota to repair. I'm sure that they have a labor book at that shop which shows just how much labor it takes to R&R the heads from a 2uz-fe. The labor book hours for the v8 4runner are insane.

 

[ZiaMan]

You should prob start looking at attorneys and how to go after the mechanics insurance to fix the repair.

 

[07V8]

Why did the V8 need a HG job? Sounds like the PO tried to cover something serious up.

 

[V8Man]

[MENTION=143805]Whytey[/MENTION]
That engine is toast. The 2uz-Fe is a very hard engine to rebuild and at 136,000 it shouldn’t have needed anything except a timing belt. The engine in my SR5 was removed from my #1 Sport and now has 256,000. Only have replaced timing belts and plugs.
Either get a lawyer and angle for a new motor or start looking for a salvage engine. The gasket set for thee engines are over $400. Everything thing else including labor is higher.

 

[horsey]

Just wanted to chime in with my experience 5 months ago. I was in the same situation when it was time to change my timing belt. The mechanic had no clue about how sensitive the timing on these engine. Started the truck and it was F'd up. Click click click on the left bank. I had the truck towed on the flat bed and went straight to a certified ASE Toyota Mechanic.

After getting back my truck after two weeks, my bank account was short of $3700. :rant::rant:

Here is the break down of my bill:
$1400 for the machine shop to change the bend valves and guides.
$400 for the new gasket kit.
$1900 include labor and new timing belts/coolant
My truck is running great again...so smooth and quiet...

These are good engines. Treat it with good ASE mechanic and it will give you in return many trouble free miles.

Good luck!

 

[Legender]

My experience wasn't near this bad and you might try an independent Lexus Mechanic as they are familiar with the VVT engines.

Had a local garage do the valve covers and timing belt on my LS 400 with the 4.0 VVT engine. I took it there as they would use the parts I'd already purchased and the Lexus independent would not. Post work, it sounded like a diesel. They told me to turn the radio up. Unbelievable... I've had Lexus vehicles for years and know what they sound like. When running correctly you don't hear them in the cabin at all. Same description as your 4runner; no codes, ran fine with plenty of power, but sounded like a diesel with all the clacking going on.

In the end I took it to the independent Lexus garage and they showed the prior mechanic what he did wrong and also fixed it for about $2k. Nice part was the first garage owned up to the mistake and paid the bill for the Lexus garage so I didn't have to pay for it twice. Since the repair I've put about 25k miles on the car with no issues.

Bottom line, the job was not done right, but can be repaired and you may get the first garage to foot the bill as I did. Good luck and I hope you get your 4runner up and running.

 

[AuSeeker]

My experience wasn't near this bad and you might try an independent Lexus Mechanic as they are familiar with the VVT engines.

Had a local garage do the valve covers and timing belt on my LS 400 with the 4.0 VVT engine. I took it there as they would use the parts I'd already purchased and the Lexus independent would not. Post work, it sounded like a diesel. They told me to turn the radio up. Unbelievable... I've had Lexus vehicles for years and know what they sound like. When running correctly you don't hear them in the cabin at all. Same description as your 4runner; no codes, ran fine with plenty of power, but sounded like a diesel with all the clacking going on.

In the end I took it to the independent Lexus garage and they showed the prior mechanic what he did wrong and also fixed it for about $2k. Nice part was the first garage owned up to the mistake and paid the bill for the Lexus garage so I didn't have to pay for it twice. Since the repair I've put about 25k miles on the car with no issues.

Bottom line, the job was not done right, but can be repaired and you may get the first garage to foot the bill as I did. Good luck and I hope you get your 4runner up and running.

Can you elaborate on what the first garage did wrong i.e. what was the issue that needed to be redone, the more details you can give if possible the better for others that may have the same issues?