Toyota 4age 20v squealing

I've got a wierd one: My 20v is squealing something fierce. Increases in pitch with engine speed, and sounds like it's coming from the front of the engine. I pulled the belt off to make sure it wasn't the alternator or the water pump. Still there. The front pulley doesn't rub on anything.

Any thoughts? No oil leaks are coming from the front of the engine or I'd say it might be eating the front seal.

Thanks in advance.

Brust

Wow, that is weird. Squealing usually means seizure if it's not belt related. You might want to listen close (use a stethoscope or long screwdriver) to see if it's top or bottom end related.

Yeah I agree. The squealing is a little different...

I've got one and I mean... they are notorious for head noise. Mine definitely has it but I've read up on it and most people have driven tons of miles doing nothing and it seems to be very benign. Not exactly a squealing noise though..

Timing belt tensioner/idler pulley seized?

ansonivan- I think you've nailed it. That has to be the culprit. Oil pressure is good, it's not just normal head noise.

That must be why I ask you fart smellers, I mean smart fellers, before anyone else.

Yeah, I'm witn ansonivan. If the accessory belt is off and you still have the squeal, timing belt/pulleys are the only thing left.

If the timing belt is making noise and it is still running, then the waterpump and cam gears are right. It would have to be a seized up tensioner. The 20V is interference IIRC, so I would check it out.

If it's a Silvertop 20V it's the same tensioner as the 16v USDM part. not sure about the blacktops, I think they are a different part.

i think blacktops are oil pressure driven. not positive though... oil pressure driven tensioners are usually used with timing CHAINS, not belts. but im pretty sure blacktops use them. correct me if im wrong

Yeah, could be water pump. Regardless, I think the front fo the motor needs to come off. If you need some JDM part numbers, lemme know.

Silvertop idler sub assembly is 13505-9505, uses a spring. And a blacktop does use an oil pressure driven tensioner. Learn somethin' new everyday.

I'm pretty sure the silvertops are non-interference- at least when I rebuilt it, I didn't have any problem running the crank through. I obviously did have a problem replacing all the parts I should have. I've got a tensioner on order- thank god it's the same as the 16v-- the more I look at it, the more glad I didn't get a blacktop. The silvertop has so many parts interchangeable with 16v it's ridiculous.

I'm pretty sure it's not the water pump- when you've got the accessory belt off and the noise is still coming- water pump not spinning, it has to be something else, and I'm pretty sure it's that tensioner pulley the more I think about it.

Dug this back up because I finally replaced the timing tensioner pulley. Seemed like the squealing went down for a few minutes of running, but came back just as before.

Any other ideas?

Sounds like it's coming from the bottom half of the engine, and again, is still present with the accessory belt off, which in my mind eliminates the water pump and alternator.

Did you replace the waterpump and oil pump?

oil pump was fresh about 100 miles ago. Water pump shouldn't be it- I pulled the belt to check and the noise was still there. Good oil pressure.

are you running AC and PS? i have a squeal coming from i think the lower tensioner. when i did my swap it wasn't there initially, but because my belt was super loose it started up and now won't go away until the motor has been running for a little while. every time i tighten the belt it goes away a little then comes back. my guess is that because i was running the belt really loose i might have wasted it already so i think i'll get another one. but i have a pulley from a 16V GZE motor that i'll try to borrow to see if that fixes it.

Get a mechanic's stethoscope and start carefully poking around with it and see if you can find what's squeeling. My AC clutch went out a couple weeks ago. After gassing up, I noticed there was no AC. Looked at the volt meter and it was WAY down when the AC button was in. The coil was totally shot, to the point of embedding bits of copper wire into the pulley. I have a couple extra 16 and 20v pumps and pulleys, so I put my spare 20v pulley and coil on. Of course, the pulley was a bit bent because that's how the motors wind up in the breakers in the first place, or the breakers are a bit rough with them, so I beat it back into about round. The belt squeeks a little bit, but I tracked it down to not a bearing, so I'm not going to worry about it.

Anyway, I'd pull the covers off and start it up and poke around with the stethoscope. You could touch the middle of a spinning bolt like on the crank, for example, or the bolt holding the tensioner bearing. Also look for any wear signs on the timing belt and the covers. Maybe the belt is rubbing against the cover somewhere. My 5SFE did that once on the original belt when it got a bit loose.

I found it- believe me, I wasn't the only one who would have sworn it was mechanical, but it was an air leak on the #1 throttle body. Ridiculous. I am ashamed.