Gaday guys and gals. I recently bought a 2006 Prius for $500 from a seller who had bought a new prius due to mechanical issues with the old one. It has a top end noise which sounds like a tap tap tap from the cam train area. I took the chance thinking at the worst case scenario, i could put a new engine in for a another $500 with a 4 month warranty from a local wrecker. I put a ODB2 analyser on the car but it showed no fault codes. all systems run well apart from the engine noise. I used a large screwdriver to my ear to localise the area of the most noise, and it seems to be coming from the number 4 piston area at the back of the cam train. i am going to remove the rocker cover and do a inspection on the cam trains to see if anything obvious appears. Before you say it ! the car has been to the toyota dealer for anaylasis and they told the previous owner the engine was stuffed without giving her a detailed explanation and tried to sell her a new car. Honesty is not the path that this dealership follows. And on top of this, they dissabled the engine by pulling a few relays so it no longer ran and faults showed on the display screen. I replaced these relays and got the car running again. No one seems to investigate this issue which has been common with many cars before from what ive read so far, so i would like to know if anyone has further information about this problem. Im not worried about replacing the engine. just would like to know why and what is going on. Just because i like to know and investigate to gain knowledge before saying screw it, lets take the easy option. Kind regards Jeremy
My primary philosophy for repairing anything is start cleaning and disassembling and hunting for signs of wear or anything out of the ordinary. Seems like you're already on that path... @Patrick Wong on here says in a similar thread: "obvious thing to do would be to remove the engine valve cover and measure valve clearance. If the OP wants to do that, I suggest he subscribe to techinfo.toyota.com to determine the exact procedure and the valve clearance specs." Also some questions: Does the noise in the top end change when there's a heavier or lighter load on it? Such as the noise it makes on long hill climbs when battery is mostly drained versus revving it up when you have the screwdriver to you ear? Also how are you MPGs?
Welcome Jeremy! Yes, the advice about investigating the top end is really all that we guessers can do. Like most service techs, it really takes investigation - 1st with the obvious. Follow Patrick Wong's advice. He's a smart cookie. He used to live near by and we got to meet him on at least one or two Prius events. I just barely beat him at Prius trivia, & to this day I suspect he let me win. .
We had Hondas without fail, for over three decades. I'd buy the shop manual, and it payed for itself the first time I checked the valve clearance. It was fairly easy, about 2 hours. Last Honda was a bit more of a pain, just because of access: somewhat similar to the Prius the windshield trim and cowl needed to come off. But other'n that, the same old system: loosen a lock nut and turn a screw adjuster, with a feeler gauge. Toyota adjustment, you practically need to remove the engine? You need to lift off the cam shafts, and in order to do that you need to take off the timing chain, and in order to do that you need to remove the timing chain cover, and in order to remove/install that.....
