Bent Valves and Cam issues

[shenanigans0]

I apologize for posting this question if its already in the forum, i am new and couldn't find a link. Feel free to link me!

(2000 Toyota Celica GT, standard) So I was driving one day, and i heard an odd engine sound like a thud as my car lost acceleration and died. It would not turn over when i turned the key it just sounded like a car trying to start. I took it to a shop where they told me the cam key had sheered off and they would replace it and test it for bent valves. The key was replaced and it was said to have 3 bent valves. I asked why the key sheered off and if my timing chain needed to be replaced. The mechanic said the chain looked tight. When the car was finished he told me it runs but makes a kind of ticking sound and he took off the cover and the valves looked to be positioned fine and goes away when warmed up, it might just be the cam getting use to the new valves or some damage to the cam where it contacts the valve. He didn't believe it was a problem; i do because my engine shouldn't be making sounds. He didn't replace the chain as I had asked.

So i have a few questions:

1. Is my car interference or non-interference?
2. What can cause a cam key to sheer off?
3. Should my engine be making any noise after this work is done?
4. Should I go back and tell him to replace the chain since it has 120k miles, and i don't want it to "slip".
5. When I have valves fixed, and a cam key replaced, should the car generally be as good as before?

Thanks for your replies.

[CallMeCelly]

Hey, im new here as well but just finished rebuilding my 2nd 2001 Celica Gt and decided to try and help some people out. OK, so the 2000 - 2005 Gt are all the same, run off the 1zz-fe motors. Im assuming this cam key you speak of is what holds the gear on at the end of one of your cams. The chains on these cars seem to take more of a toll than other cars due to its skipping feature. Both of the celicas i've worked on shifted 1 full link after manual testing, but they still ran fine. You can look more into this feature if your interested. But i do all my mechanic work myself because i dont trust shops, they tend to be stinjy people.

Anyway back to your problem, in between the cams and the tops of your valves are precisely measured bucket caps. They are measured with a certain clearance between the two, but they have a tendency to warp after long term use. The last celly i bought, the guy had all the bucket caps in a pile so i had to manually measure each clearance, what a pain. But i found out that a newer cap that read the same size as the old one was much larger due to no wear. So if you are still concerned, call them back and ask if they switched up any of the bucket caps, or make sure that they used the same size lifters etc. Like i said if they put new bucket caps in, it will more than likely "tick" like he said, they need to get used to the clearance your old cams are giving them.

If all else fails, go buy some lifter cleaner from wal-mart or your local auto part store and try it out. It will clean all the goop off of them and hopefully straighten things out. Hope this helps your some. And good luck.

[shenanigans0]

Originally Posted by CallMeCelly

Hey, im new here as well but just finished rebuilding my 2nd 2001 Celica Gt and decided to try and help some people out. OK, so the 2000 - 2005 Gt are all the same, run off the 1zz-fe motors. Im assuming this cam key you speak of is what holds the gear on at the end of one of your cams. The chains on these cars seem to take more of a toll than other cars due to its skipping feature. Both of the celicas i've worked on shifted 1 full link after manual testing, but they still ran fine. You can look more into this feature if your interested. But i do all my mechanic work myself because i dont trust shops, they tend to be stinjy people.

Anyway back to your problem, in between the cams and the tops of your valves are precisely measured bucket caps. They are measured with a certain clearance between the two, but they have a tendency to warp after long term use. The last celly i bought, the guy had all the bucket caps in a pile so i had to manually measure each clearance, what a pain. But i found out that a newer cap that read the same size as the old one was much larger due to no wear. So if you are still concerned, call them back and ask if they switched up any of the bucket caps, or make sure that they used the same size lifters etc. Like i said if they put new bucket caps in, it will more than likely "tick" like he said, they need to get used to the clearance your old cams are giving them.

If all else fails, go buy some lifter cleaner from wal-mart or your local auto part store and try it out. It will clean all the goop off of them and hopefully straighten things out. Hope this helps your some. And good luck.

Yea I don't trust anyone with my car anymore. Well they did a valve job so they may have replaced the lifters. He said with the work the machinist did on the valves etc. it has to get use to the new parts. They told me if anything goes wrong with the work theyve done theyll fix it for free. Ill get that in writing.

[CallMeCelly]

Yeah definately get it in writing. Cant lose with that. And just give it time, im sure things will work out for the best.