Lifter replacement sources? 1GR-FE

[Swimupstream]

Anyone know of any good sources to walk through a lifter replacement for this engine? I find all kinds of things for this engine or all kinds of lifter replacements for other vehicles, but not this. I'm guessing if I'm not finding it it doesn't exist, but sometimes you all know better! I've followed many timing chain and other related ones, but nothing to help on this. Brand new to me.

I have a pretty classic lifter tick after burning up a coil and blowing out the plug. (I've got pics if that seems hard to believe) Mechanic that I trust dearly who usually gives me a diagnosis and sends me on my way to figure out if I want to do the work barely even noticed it... then just dismissed it and said don't worry about it.

Done plenty of reading here and feel at peace with that. However, it gets really old and the kids have had enough humility with Dad picking them up and dropping them off at school, friends, practice, with that rattling. Character hath been built, time to take care of it.

 

[rdruss]

"Lifters" are under the camshafts. I would pull valve cover on side you had problems with and check valve clearances and go from there.

 

[AuSeeker]

Anyone know of any good sources to walk through a lifter replacement for this engine? I find all kinds of things for this engine or all kinds of lifter replacements for other vehicles, but not this. I'm guessing if I'm not finding it it doesn't exist, but sometimes you all know better! I've followed many timing chain and other related ones, but nothing to help on this. Brand new to me.

I have a pretty classic lifter tick after burning up a coil and blowing out the plug. (I've got pics if that seems hard to believe) Mechanic that I trust dearly who usually gives me a diagnosis and sends me on my way to figure out if I want to do the work barely even noticed it... then just dismissed it and said don't worry about it.

Done plenty of reading here and feel at peace with that. However, it gets really old and the kids have had enough humility with Dad picking them up and dropping them off at school, friends, practice, with that rattling. Character hath been built, time to take care of it.

The V6 engine is a "overhead" cam engine (actually 4 cams, 2 for intake and 2 for exhaust) and doesn't have lifters nor pushrods in the general sense like old style engines, the valves have a "cap" on top that has shims inside between the cap and the valve to adjust the valve clearance, the cam lobes rides directly on the cap/s to open the valve/s.

If there's clicking/ticking and it is indeed from a valve/s then you have to check the clearance/s, if it's out of spec you need to note how much out of spec for each vlave that's out of spec and then the cam/s have to be removed, the cap on the out of spec valve/s removed the shim size measured and then changed out for a correct size shim to get the clearance/s back to specs.

Of course all of the valves clearances should checked when doing the checking, you don't want to remove the cam/s twice.

Also it should be noted that the V6 engine is known for being a bit noisy, i.e. tapping/ticking sounds normally.

 

[SurferUK]

Also it should be noted that the V6 engine is known for being a bit noisy, i.e. tapping/ticking sounds normally.

Always good to have that reconfirmed, every now and then my paranoid side hears a noise and thinks "Normal?!"

I don't know why they went bucket 'n' shim on this engine vs maintenance free hydraulic lifters, it's not exactly high revving.

But then being a Toyota...as long as it's looked after, will they ever need adjusting, really?

 

[Swimupstream]

Alright, finally decided to tackle this (valve shims/buckets) following your thoughts [MENTION=149207]AuSeeker[/MENTION] & [MENTION=101325]rdruss[/MENTION].

Done a bunch of homework, not the easiest to find on this engine (1GR-FE). Called a dozen shops, some don't want to touch it (both what more work usually ends up needing to be done and the mileage), some won't give a ballpark quote for "let's say 3 shims... and another quote for 12"...

Best I could get is from Toyota $650 for bilateral valve cover gasket job. Then work up from there. I estimated another $300 in my head since the tear down is already there. WRONG!

Finally got a shop a motorhead here at work recommended 30 miles away, guys were freaking awesome-- they even went to do some specific homework on the engine history to call me back. He said $2,000 in shop time alone. Even if that's an overzealous price, then we're looking at, say, BEST case scenario $950 in shop time alone someplace dirt cheap. BEST.

At that price point, I'm willing to learn something new, or learn that it's way beyond my capability.

One of the biggest hang ups is that there are a total of 77 shims (learned all this from the guy at the shop) for this engine. And you can't get them at Advance Auto to have 'em all on hand and return what you don't use. Toyota doesn't even keep them in stock-- both Toyota dealer and local shop's words. (They're only a couple hours away in Jax, so it'd only be a day or two. But still, not a one day down time.)

My biggest challenge (as suspected and why I keep putting it off) is having 2 separate days to work on it close together, and having a vehicle to drive in the meantime. Probably a week-long effort for my slow self and schedule.

Final decision: Going to do both valve cover gaskets and assess while I'm in there.

I'll buy the feeler gauge when I pick those up, do all the measurements, take a good look at all the valves from the top and then

• a) Determine it's workable, finish the gasket work, put it all back together and order the parts and schedule for another day to play the shim game and re-do the gaskets (cheap), or
• b) Determine there's a bit more going on with the valves (or that it's not a valve bucket tick), and reconsider my options.

The goal is to rebuild this (not necessarily collector's restore) to give the vehicle to my son next year for his 17th at the same time I'm due for a new vehicle. If I can tackle this and an exhaust issue, I'm game and can do the rest of the cosmetics. (A few thousand is less than $20k for a 4R with 180k miles with unknown gremlins.)

 

[Swimupstream]

Ah yes and the guy at the shop suggested that putting on new loaded heads is a fairly simple, straight forward DIY job if the shims end up not being the problem. He even suggested it is less hassle and cost less DIY than paying their shop to do the shims.

 

[Swimupstream]

This is an AWESOME procedure resource, includes the full chart to avoid all the math. Wish this kind of process was this easy to find for everything!

https://www.purefjcruiser.com/docs/...ngine Mechanical/Valve Clearance/00600310.pdf

 

[BlackWorksInc]

For what it's worth... the updated version of the 1GR-FE with dual VVTi has hydraulic lash adjusters as does UR family of engines and a smattering of the 4-bangers.

That being said, the shim & bucket design is surprisingly robust in terms of not really needing to be adjusted often... I remember my buddy's '98 Corolla shocked me (a very neglected car passed around to people who needed it in his church circle) and at almost 300k it was still within spec.

 

[Swimupstream]

Thanks blackworks.

Any ideas from anyone what I should go ahead and tackle while I'm doing the gaskets? (First round, before deciding on valve shims etc.)


Also, why just shims and not just replace the bucket itself? Pros/cons?

 

[Swimupstream]

[MENTION=66389]BlackWorksInc[/MENTION] is right... 165k on this motor (245 on the vehicle, replaced at 160 with an 80k motor) and all of the valve clearances are in spec.

One is kinda-maybe a little wide. Exhaust is to be 011-.015. The 0.16 can fit but gets wedged and have to wrestle it out. I had two different sets bc the curved set only had even number graduations at the lower end. On a couple cams 16 fit from one set and not the other. (high quality stuff!) One of those both 16s fit but it's tough to get out.

I don't think that'd be the source of that much noise (leaving the more extensive culprits). But more importantly, things are pretty spot on like blackworks said. And what's even more, I learned something new thanks to you all again.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

[MENTION=66389]BlackWorksInc[/MENTION] is right... 165k on this motor (245 on the vehicle, replaced at 160 with an 80k motor) and all of the valve clearances are in spec.

One is kinda-maybe a little wide. Exhaust is to be 011-.015. The 0.16 can fit but gets wedged and have to wrestle it out. I had two different sets bc the curved set only had even number graduations at the lower end. On a couple cams 16 fit from one set and not the other. (high quality stuff!) One of those both 16s fit but it's tough to get out.

I don't think that'd be the source of that much noise (leaving the more extensive culprits). But more importantly, things are pretty spot on like blackworks said. And what's even more, I learned something new thanks to you all again.

You can take a pair of calipers and measure the thicknesses of the exhaust shims, often we're able to swap shims around to "even" out clearances and minimize the amount of shims that we have to order for a customer. There's a section in the FSM with a chart or calculations on how to determine what shim is needed for a given clearance range, but's relatively simple math.