18RG oil drain?

[tricky]

In the oil drain hole in the back and centre of my 88210 head, there is a plug/metal thing. Is this supposed to be here? It isn't fixed too firmly, and it comes out easily. It's got me a bit confused. I might post up a pic tomorrow.

[Mr DOHC]

is that the onw with the huge hex-head in it

[SeptemberSquall]

is that the onw with the huge hex-head in it

If yes, then yes, it is meant to be there. But I have a feeling you're clever enough to work that out and you're probably talking about something else, so post a pic.

[tricky]

If yes, then yes, it is meant to be there. But I have a feeling you're clever enough to work that out and you're probably talking about something else, so post a pic.

You flatter me so! No, the drain I mean is under the rocker cover, at the back of the head. It is in line with the hex plug though. I'll take a pic when I get home. I have a feeling it isn't meant to be there, but I am perplexed as to how it got there in the first place!

[tricky]

This is the drain. It is in the centre of the back of the head. The drain runs straight through the head, straight through the block and into the sump.



And this is the plug:



and this is how they were when I pulled it apart:

[ra_28]

Thats not a plug thats a shim for your buckets which the cam runs on to push the valve down. Check to see if all your shims are there. Was the engine really noisy, tappet wise?

[SeptemberSquall]

OMFG that's not a shim i mean look at it FFS it's concave/hollow.

It looks like a welch plug from the back of the camshaft. Check the tail end of the camshafts each and tell me if they've both got something like that in them. I'll bet you're missing one. Were you having oil pressure issues at all?

[Mr DOHC]

now why the fuck was there a bung in the oil drain

[jeffro ra28]

OMFG that's not a shim i mean look at it FFS it's concave/hollow.

It looks like a welch plug from the back of the camshaft. Check the tail end of the camshafts each and tell me if they've both got something like that in them. I'll bet you're missing one. Were you having oil pressure issues at all?

Im with Michael on this one, looks very similar to the cam welsh plugs

[tricky]

Oh dear... That seems feasible. I shall check my cams when I get home. It's somewhat fortunate that my cam journals and cam bearings are still OK!

[tricky]

Thanks lads! It is indeed a welsch plug for the exhaust side cam. I shall get a new one pressed in tomorrow.

[Celica RA45]

its better to tap and use a grub screw with a touch of wicken on the threads or loctite ,as the cam plugs always come out and it will drop the pressure by about half but it wont hurt your cam s and cam bearing caps as the cams get to much pressure any way

[The Witzl]

you mean the cams get too much oil pressure?

Might be worthwhile checking all my heads at home to see if any of the cams are missing the welsh plugs.... if it is indeed common then perhaps tapping and bolting might be a good idea

[Celica RA45]

when we use to race these ,we put a alloy plug into the oil hole on the block with a 3mm hole for the oil to go to the head ,as in most motors even the gen 1,2,and 3of the 3sges has a big 6mm oil hole to feed the cams .toyota finally fixed the problem with the new steel h/gaskets to slow the flow down they are 3mm also in the gaskets ,does the same thing

[The Witzl]

.... ok im confused! Sorry to say dude, but punctuation can go a long way when trying to explain something complicated via text only

To confirm:
- the cams losing their welsh plug will lower oil pressure to the cams by about half
- welsh plugs popping out is common
- best fix is tapping and bunging the welsh plug hole
- restricting the oil FEED to the head is something you used to do before Toyota upgraded their head gaskets to include this restriction.

Would you not still want some decent oil supplied to the head for the valves and shit as well as the cams? Sorry, i dont mean to doubt you, I wish to be educated in an area i am not otherwise