Tundra timing chain rattle….again

Sure, thank you! I did not find replacement of the tensioner itself to be too difficult, more time consuming. Retiming is a whole other story, I do not recommend it to people that are not experienced mechanics.

 

Well, the new Toyota tensioners anf gaskets are in. I really hope this is the end of the road for this issue. Waiting on the gasket maker to fully cure before I refill coolant and start it up.

will update in a few weeks time

 

Truck is running and noise was instantly there again…. I was pretty discouraged. It got quieter as it ran.

I continued to run the truck to burp coolant. While it was running I checked oil level, it was significantly down. Ended up having to add almost 2L of oil. Once I added oil, tensioner noise went away.

I’ll be honest I never checked the oil level when I had noise with the aftermarket tensioner. I don’t think the engine lost 2 liters while I put the new tensioner in but who knows, oil pump was drained, oil filter housing was drained, etc.

For now noise is gone. Now to repair the connector I accident ripped a wire out of.

 

One week update

Timing chain rattle is non existent. It has not come back since adding oil

 

Silly, somewhat obvious fix after all of that. Glad you rattle is gone! Thanks for sharing what really fixed it, even if it’s one of those “D’OH!!” Moments.

 

Just saw the OP said oil was added to engine solving his issue, but maybe this is relevant or helpful to somebody with the bank 1 tensioner problem. Use at own risk, maybe folks with low value trucks like mine
My 2007 (252k miles) sat all winter and the horrible rattle was worse than ever when firing it up this spring. It always went away before and was intermittent, this time it rattled hard for a ten minute drive. You would swear there was a loose pulley someplace, it's been that loud! I was about to order and change all the parts, but finally decided to look at the tensioner from the oil fill location. To shorten the story, I sprayed the tensioner with Gum-Out carb cleaner, then let it sit for five minutes. Started up, shut it down, did it all a few more times. Then did it once with a small squirt of engine degreaser. The problem is 95% better in a half hour of investigating and spraying. Changed the oil shortly after, no loud rattle since! Don't lose the red gum out straw down the engine.