1997 FZJ80 Engine Tick with Sometimes low oil pressure

[lanierjcl]

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.

 

[lanierjcl]

So, took it to another mechanic and he said that it did not need a rebuild in his opinion. I said cool and took it home. On the way home it misfired and the check engine light came on. Got it back to the mechanic and it stopped clunking. He is looking at it again

 

[Kernal]

@lanierjcl (to answer some of your questions):

Did the most recent mechanic (or you) jiggle or pull on the engine harness while he was checking it? Not saying he did anything wrong but the wiring harness is known to sometimes get damaged over time where it passes near the hot EGR pipe. That heat can melt the insulation of the wires inside the wiring bundle causing shorts, or one of the wires going to a fuel injector could be damaged.

Point is, sometimes a pull or movement of the harness can cause misfires if any wires were already damaged.

A loose or bad connection of a spark plug wire (at the plug or the distributor cap), a fouled spark plug, or even coolant in the cylinder from a leaking head gasket can also cause a misfire.

Has the power steering pump ever been taken off the engine or replaced? Even slight damage to the gear teeth while handling it
or moving the gear from the old to the new pump can cause ticking.

The oil pressure normally drops significantly with a warmed up engine at idle, the needle being close the lowest mark with a fully warmed up engine at idle is not unusual.

When the engine is started cold the oil may bypass the oil filter (as designed) and you can see oil pressure at or above the third mark. Then as the oil
warms up the oil filter will stop bypassing and the needle/pressure will drop. Depending on the oil filter (if it's bypassing), oil viscosity, engine/coolant temps, and ambient temps the range of the not-so-accurate stock oil pressure gauge can be anywhere between just above the lowest mark to just below the highest mark, IME. The thing to look for is movement of the needle, if it reads high on a cold start then drops down once the engine warms up the oil pressure is probably somewhere in the normal range for this engine. If there's a sudden change from it's normal behavior you can get the actual pressure checked by any mechanic (or yourself) with an oil pressure gauge.

Always run a good oil filter, a Toyota oil filter is likely the safest. There are other known high quality filters (IME Mobil 1 filters work well) other people have their favorites that are known to be reliable.

One method to get some real data on the health of the engine is to collect a sample of engine oil after a few thousand miles and send it off to
Blackstone Laboratories for an Engine OIl Analysys (EOA). That can tell you if wear metals are higher than they should be or if there's coolant in the oil for example.

Oil Analysis | Blackstone Laboratories

Learn what's going on in your engine with oil analysis. Our free kits are easy to use and we explain the results in plain English! Since 1985.

www.blackstone-labs.com

What filter and what engine oil viscosity are you running?

 

[Brindleboxer]

I hope it works out for you. As for the $5k rebuild quote, I would be skeptical and would ask for a breakdown of what the shop would be providing/doing. That cheap, I know Spokane has some lower prices than the West does but I couldn't even get all the machine work and rebuild kit done for that. @Fj80oregon might be able to shed some rough numbers as he does rebuilds.

The only other thing I would suggest is to compartmentalize your issues. From your posts you now have possibly 3 items that may need addressing. Follow the FSM (download from Resources section) and work one system at a time. Don't throw parts at things that aren't verified as being at fault.

Keep us informed as to what transpires.

 

[lanierjcl]

@lanierjcl (to answer some of your questions):

Did the most recent mechanic (or you) jiggle or pull on the engine harness while he was checking it? Not saying he did anything wrong but the wiring harness is known to sometimes get damaged over time where it passes near the hot EGR pipe. That heat can melt the insulation of the wires inside the wiring bundle causing shorts, or one of the wires going to a fuel injector could be damaged.

Point is, sometimes a pull or movement of the harness can cause misfires if any wires were already damaged.

A loose or bad connection of a spark plug wire (at the plug or the distributor cap), a fouled spark plug, or even coolant in the cylinder from a leaking head gasket can also cause a misfire.

Has the power steering pump ever been taken off the engine or replaced? Even slight damage to the gear teeth while handling it
or moving the gear from the old to the new pump can cause ticking.

The oil pressure normally drops significantly with a warmed up engine at idle, the needle being close the lowest mark with a fully warmed up engine at idle is not unusual.

When the engine is started cold the oil may bypass the oil filter (as designed) and you can see oil pressure at or above the third mark. Then as the oil
warms up the oil filter will stop bypassing and the needle/pressure will drop. Depending on the oil filter (if it's bypassing), oil viscosity, engine/coolant temps, and ambient temps the range of the not-so-accurate stock oil pressure gauge can be anywhere between just above the lowest mark to just below the highest mark, IME. The thing to look for is movement of the needle, if it reads high on a cold start then drops down once the engine warms up the oil pressure is probably somewhere in the normal range for this engine. If there's a sudden change from it's normal behavior you can get the actual pressure checked by any mechanic (or yourself) with an oil pressure gauge.

Always run a good oil filter, a Toyota oil filter is likely the safest. There are other known high quality filters (IME Mobil 1 filters work well) other people have their favorites that are known to be reliable.

One method to get some real data on the health of the engine is to collect a sample of engine oil after a few thousand miles and send it off to
Blackstone Laboratories for an Engine OIl Analysys (EOA). That can tell you if wear metals are higher than they should be or if there's coolant in the oil for example.

Oil Analysis | Blackstone Laboratories

Learn what's going on in your engine with oil analysis. Our free kits are easy to use and we explain the results in plain English! Since 1985.

www.blackstone-labs.com

What filter and what engine oil viscosity are you running?

I am running a Toyota filter (90915-YZZD3) and 5W-30. I am hopefully getting it back from the mechanic tomorrow so we will see what he says.

 

[lanierjcl]

@lanierjcl (to answer some of your questions):

Did the most recent mechanic (or you) jiggle or pull on the engine harness while he was checking it? Not saying he did anything wrong but the wiring harness is known to sometimes get damaged over time where it passes near the hot EGR pipe. That heat can melt the insulation of the wires inside the wiring bundle causing shorts, or one of the wires going to a fuel injector could be damaged.

Point is, sometimes a pull or movement of the harness can cause misfires if any wires were already damaged.

A loose or bad connection of a spark plug wire (at the plug or the distributor cap), a fouled spark plug, or even coolant in the cylinder from a leaking head gasket can also cause a misfire.

Has the power steering pump ever been taken off the engine or replaced? Even slight damage to the gear teeth while handling it
or moving the gear from the old to the new pump can cause ticking.

The oil pressure normally drops significantly with a warmed up engine at idle, the needle being close the lowest mark with a fully warmed up engine at idle is not unusual.

When the engine is started cold the oil may bypass the oil filter (as designed) and you can see oil pressure at or above the third mark. Then as the oil
warms up the oil filter will stop bypassing and the needle/pressure will drop. Depending on the oil filter (if it's bypassing), oil viscosity, engine/coolant temps, and ambient temps the range of the not-so-accurate stock oil pressure gauge can be anywhere between just above the lowest mark to just below the highest mark, IME. The thing to look for is movement of the needle, if it reads high on a cold start then drops down once the engine warms up the oil pressure is probably somewhere in the normal range for this engine. If there's a sudden change from it's normal behavior you can get the actual pressure checked by any mechanic (or yourself) with an oil pressure gauge.

Always run a good oil filter, a Toyota oil filter is likely the safest. There are other known high quality filters (IME Mobil 1 filters work well) other people have their favorites that are known to be reliable.

One method to get some real data on the health of the engine is to collect a sample of engine oil after a few thousand miles and send it off to
Blackstone Laboratories for an Engine OIl Analysys (EOA). That can tell you if wear metals are higher than they should be or if there's coolant in the oil for example.

Oil Analysis | Blackstone Laboratories

Learn what's going on in your engine with oil analysis. Our free kits are easy to use and we explain the results in plain English! Since 1985.

www.blackstone-labs.com

What filter and what engine oil viscosity are you running?

After replacing the oil pressure sender the reading on the dash is looking better. As for the power steering pump, I am not sure if it has been replaced.