1JZ clicking noise after cam gear installation. - Fixed

[Jabtronic]

Hopefully someone can help me out with this. On my 1JZ I recently installed GReddy adjustable cam gears. (I also removed the A/C compressor and replaced the serpentine belt with a 6PK1875 which fits perfect)
After I installed the gears and turned the motor by hand a few times, all the markings etc are back in the original positions so I started it up and now there's a loud clicking noise coming from that area at idle. It's a very fast clicking noise.. kinda like swinging a ratchet handle around in circles. It's also varies with engine speed.
I'm hoping the noise has something to do with the fact I havn't bolted the cover for the cam gears back on yet.. but I'm going to take the gears back off soon and inspect them behind them for any noticable marks etc.

Just wondering if anyone have any other ideas what the noise could be? I'll report back soon after I've inspected the gears.

[af300e]

There's a thread on this.
"how to install cam gear on 1jz in 1.5 hours" or similar is the title.

Short story, adjustment bolts are too long and foul.

[big_zop]

I think he would have noticed if there was interference from turning the engine over by hand.

Not too mention he has posted in that thread too.

Sorry Jab - cant help you out either. Think the cam covers could muffle whatever noise there might be? Did you change the belt or just loosen the tensioner to fit them up, maybe look there?

[af300e]

May not be noisy at hand speed, idle speed is a bit different.

Don't forget to let us know what you find.

[Slim]

Yeah, my guess is that the bolts and the backing plate bolt are touching each other ... just. At hand speed they'd glide past each other quietly. My current cam gear didn't touch possibly because when i had the wrong one (see the thread in the above link for my saga) i had removed the washers from the backing plate bolt. So my backing plate bolt sits about 2-3mm more flush than it used to. I put loctite on it before i put it back in because one of the washers was a spring washer.

[oldcorollas]

belt tooth profile is different shape to the aftermarket gears? and you are hearing the slapping of the edges of the teeth?

there are probably 36 teeth on gears, turning half engine speed.
if idle speed is 800rpm, thats 36 teeth at 400rpm = 14400/min = 240Hz

if they are bolts hitting.. then there are 5 (or 10) points to hit per rev = 33Hz (or 66Hz)

trying to guess the speed will help
in compairson, injectors are once every engine cycle (maybe?) = 400/min = 6.7Hz..
so there is a big difference between 5 or 10 times faster, and 4 times faster than one injector clicking..

[Jabtronic]

Fixed. Thanks for the help guys.. I think it ended up just being a misaligned timing belt and/or dodgy tensioner..
I'll try to explain what was wrong, I lined the harmonic balancer marking up with 0°, and the cam gears were a tooth (and a half actually) off TDC. When I turned the engine so the cam gears lined up.. it sat at around -10°.(Off the scale)
Also I think that my tensioner is playing up, the belt was a bit loose and I could sort of slide the belt back and fowards on the gears.
So I loosened the tensioner again, took the gears off and put them on the next tooth. This time when I tightened the tensioner the belt was tight, and now when the cam gears are at TDC, the balancer mark sits on 5°.... But it should be on 0 right? It was on 5° with the original gears on, so would that mean it's time for a new belt and tensioner??

As for the clicking, it's now sort of turned into a small rattle that is only noticable at around 1000rpm when blipping the throttle, maybe it has something to do with the timing being on 5° (or cause the belt is stretched maybe?)
My 1JZ has the timing sticker on the cam gear cover that says 92xxxkm. No idea how many K's are on the engine

[Slim]

As for the clicking, it's now sort of turned into a small rattle that is only noticable at around 1000rpm when blipping the throttle, maybe it has something to do with the timing being on 5° (or cause the belt is stretched maybe?)

Or the bolts have "self clearanced" as someone so elegantly put it in the other thread. lol

[dustyae86]

valves hitting the top of pistons haha most liekly not it though

[fatboy13]

non interference motor....

[Jabtronic]

Or the bolts have "self clearanced" as someone so elegantly put it in the other thread. lol

Nah the bolts are actually recessed in a little, so no probs there (eg -----_-----)

In other news... I cleaned my throttle body today and it made my car idle slightly better, maybe if I clean out the whole intake it might fix my irradic idle

[HAVABEER]

its not injector noise clicking is it?