1997 FZJ80 Engine Tick with Sometimes low oil pressure

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lanierjcl

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Jan 27, 2026
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Spokane, WA
Hey, I realize that there are a lot of threads addressing an engine tick in the 1fz-fe engine but I have not been able to find one that seems to fit my issue.

I have a 1997 Toyota Landcruiser FZJ80 with the 1FZ-FE. It has an engine tick that seems to be coming from the bottom/front of the engine. It increases in frequency with RPMs. When first started it is not very loud but gets a little louder as the engine gets warm.

Also, the oil pressure gauge on the dash is acting weird. When first starting and warming up it sits at about half on the gauge. Once warmed up it starts to drop. It is not gone all the way to the bottom line but close. When I am driving it goes up to between half and 1/3 on the gauge but goes back down when not pressing the gas.

Thanks in advance.
 
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Best thing is to put an oil pressure gauge on your engine and verify pressure. You can do this pretty easy by pulling the oil sender on the passenger side of the block behind the ac compressor it screws into the oil cooler. The thread is 1/8 BSPT(British standard pipe thread) verify your pressure is good before chewing up your engine. The stock sender could be not reading correctly or your gauge could be malfunctioning that’s best case scenario and you have good pressure! I would is not worry about anything else making the noise until you verify pressure is good.
 
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I am pretty sure it is not the belts, I am going to go more bigger this weekend but it sounds like it is coming from the engine. From doing research it may be the rod bearings but hopefully not.

I ordered a new oil pressure sender to see if that is the oil pressure problem.
 
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Fj80oregon said:
Best thing is to put an oil pressure gauge on your engine and verify pressure. You can do this pretty easy by pulling the oil sender on the passenger side of the block behind the ac compressor it screws into the oil cooler. The thread is 1/8 BSPT(British standard pipe thread) verify your pressure is good before chewing up your engine. The stock sender could be not reading correctly or your gauge could be malfunctioning that’s best case scenario and you have good pressure! I would is not worry about anything else making the noise until you verify pressure is good.
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What should the pressure be at?
 
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Pull your oil filter and replace, cut open your filter and have a look. See if you see anything metallic.
 
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Fj80oregon said:
the oil pressure should be around 4.3 PSI at idle and between 36 to 71 PSI at 3000 RPM when the engine is warm.
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I checked oil pressure. Once warm the pressure was sitting around 20 psi. When revved to 3000rpm it went up to about 55psi. After revving a few times it went down to about 12psi. Not sure if these are normal numbers.
 
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After listening to to the tick some more with a screw driver, it seems the sound is coming from the front bottom of the engine near the crank pulley. As I move towards the back it lessens a bit.
 
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lanierjcl said:
After listening to to the tick some more with a screw driver, it seems the sound is coming from the front bottom of the engine near the crank pulley. As I move towards the back it lessens a bit.
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I have a rhythm tick I decided to chase with an actual $13 auto stethoscope from Autozone. So mines not my belts but definitely coming from the fuel injector, or whether this brown plastic component is

IMG_2099.webp
 
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Yes, that's a fuel injector - they're supposed to tick softly. When they STOP ticking is when you have a problem! Is that fuel injector the prominent ticking from the front of your engine? That could be a problem.

As for OPs ticking, based on the location, the Oil Pump Rotor is right about there. Many of us have noticed a cold start tick from there when it's cold out. Covered extensively here during cold weather months, and goes away once the Oil comes up to temp.
 
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LongDuck said:
Yes, that's a fuel injector - they're supposed to tick softly. When they STOP ticking is when you have a problem! Is that fuel injector the prominent ticking from the front of your engine? That could be a problem.

As for OPs ticking, based on the location, the Oil Pump Rotor is right about there. Many of us have noticed a cold start tick from there when it's cold out. Covered extensively here during cold weather months, and goes away once the Oil comes up to temp
LongDuck said:
Yes, that's a fuel injector - they're supposed to tick softly. When they STOP ticking is when you have a problem! Is that fuel injector the prominent ticking from the front of your engine? That could be a problem.

As for OPs ticking, based on the location, the Oil Pump Rotor is right about there. Many of us have noticed a cold start tick from there when it's cold out. Covered extensively here during cold weather months, and goes away once the Oil comes up to temp.
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I will say yes, the rate and tone I hear over the engine is as the very clear and distinct tick I hear with the stethoscope when pressing against the injector. I don’t think it’s overtly loud
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LongDuck said:
Yes, that's a fuel injector - they're supposed to tick softly. When they STOP ticking is when you have a problem! Is that fuel injector the prominent ticking from the front of your engine? That could be a problem.

As for OPs ticking, based on the location, the Oil Pump Rotor is right about there. Many of us have noticed a cold start tick from there when it's cold out. Covered extensively here during cold weather months, and goes away once the Oil comes up to temp.
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I am probably going to eventually replace that pump gear. With what you described though, the tick stays around even once the engine is warm.
 
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So…I took it to a shop to get looked at. They said that the noise sounded like timing chain noise and that I should get a full rebuild. They confirmed that the manual oil pressure looked fine. Said that the noise was coming from the oil pan and was most likely timing chain than something on the bottom of the engine. There is a shop nearby that can rebuild the engine for $5k. Thoughts?
 
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lanierjcl said:
So…I took it to a shop to get looked at. They said that the noise sounded like timing chain noise and that I should get a full rebuild. They confirmed that the manual oil pressure looked fine. Said that the noise was coming from the oil pan and was most likely timing chain than something on the bottom of the engine. There is a shop nearby that can rebuild the engine for $5k. Thoughts?
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Have you put a stethoscope on the time chain cover. Would be easy to validate if you hear any loud ticks. $13 vs $5000 on a hunch.
 
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