1uz - Engine 'whirring' noise.

[stradlater]

I can hear a whir / whine coming from what appears to be deep within the motor - may be around the head area though.

Sounds kind of like a pulley on it's way out - it's directly proportional to the RPM, but it doesn't SOUND like it's coming from the pulley area.

Having minced one 1uz in the past due to lack of oil I did check this out and it all appears to be acting fine, the way I figure it is I'll be running it until something goes wrong, but hey.

Anyone experienced anything like this before?

[dumbass]

pull belt of and start motor
if its gone then its an outside pulley
if its still there quickly stop and pull rocker covers off
seen and heard many times of cam caps seizing
they have issues with gunk getting to top of head in oil feed pipes and cam caps
and they seize cams and then cam snapped
ive seen afew cams snapped

[stradlater]

There is only one thing on the outside belt - the Alternator.

So the cam idea sounds great... How do I solve it?

[dumbass]

like i said pull rocker covers off
prick of a job
and pull all cam caps off
normally front ones seize from oil starvation

[lexsmaz]

It might be as has been mentioned a cam bearing, but personally i would think its probably a cam belt tensioner bearing or idler pulley bearing for the cam belt, pull off the plastic covers around the distrubutors & start up the engine & use a stethescope or even a screwdriver & put it close to the bearings or its support & have a listen, but obviously be carefull ..

[hosking1991]

Timing belt tensioner ?? Seen them make Noise when they a tensioned too tight?

[stradlater]

The timing belt and tensioner were fine, why would they have changed if I hadnt' made any changes myself?

Maybe just that the tensioner needs to warm up to flex out a bit...

[litldv8]

did you check the water pump - seen them seize as much as the tensioner
neil

[stradlater]

Water pump. Thanks mate... That is WAY more likely.... Next question is - how on earth do I check that sucker....

[litldv8]

the water pump is one of the timing belt tensioners though
give it a spin
run the motor with a stethoscope or screwdriver on it
got to take all the covers off to see it
have you done a belt lately
neil

[Supra967]

all this talk of pulleys and pumps must be giving you a heart attack with your engine bay clearance strad...

[Jaffa]

Centre cam gears on the 1u can sometimes makes this noise, it is easy to pick with the rocker covers off and run the engine for very short time but be prepared for an oil fest.