Good News: No Balance Shafts

If you have been reading about the 3RZ, you will have seen a great deal about counterbalance shafts — the one common bottom end weakness on the 2.7, and the reason we recommend deleting them.

The 2RZ does not have them. There is nothing to delete, nothing to fail, and the timing job on this engine is correspondingly simpler. You also do not need to work out which of three chain kits you want, because there is one.

That is a real advantage of the 2.4 and it rarely gets mentioned.

The Chain Kit

The 2RZ Street Timing Chain Kit carries the timing chain, sprockets, guides and tensioners — what you need to do the job properly in one part number.

The heavy duty chain is available on its own, and we will give the same advice we give on the phone: replace the chain as part of a kit rather than alone. A new chain running on worn guides and a tired tensioner does not stay new for long, and the cover is already off. Worth noting that the chain on its own is not much cheaper than the complete kit.

Cover Gaskets

Side specific, both OEM replacements: driver side and passenger side.

The Crank Position Sensor Rotor

The OEM crank position sensor rotor is worth knowing about for a reason that has nothing to do with the 2RZ.

It is the part 3RZ owners fit as an optional upgrade when deleting their balance shafts — the 2RZ rotor is the one specified for that job. On your own engine it is a straightforward replacement if the original is damaged.

While the Front of the Engine Is Apart

A chain job opens up access that is expensive to buy twice:

  • Water pump — driven off the same front of the engine. See Cooling. Doing it separately later means paying for the teardown twice.
  • Front crank seal and balancer seal — see Rebuild Kits, Gaskets & Seals. If the balancer has a groove worn in it, the Seal Saver sleeve is what stops a new seal leaking immediately.
  • Harmonic balancer — the elastomer deteriorates with age. See Pistons, Rods & Crankshafts.

Tell us what you are looking at and we will work through what is worth doing while it is open.

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