Lexus97ES

What's proper tool to remove these bolts as pointed out in the red arrows in the pic attached. Please help, guys. Spent much time researching but unable to figure out. The FSM doesn't say how. Thanks much.

kakarot

Lexus97ES,
They are torx socket wrench, google torx socket wrench and you will see it.

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

You need a Torx E6.

Lexus97ES

Thanks a lot kararot and Mrbooby. Great help, exactly what I need.

DanES300

Be careful with those. I work on these cars for a living and ive rounded off one or two of those studs in the past. Use the exact tool that it needs. Dont substitute.

Lexus97ES

Thanks for the tip, Dan. I learned my lesson :-). Thanks to mrbooby I got the right size socket and was able to remove them.

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

No problem. I went through this last year, so I am more than happy to help. Let me know if you have more questions.

Lexus97ES

mrbooby,

I have actually followed your posts and others for info on how to do the gaskets. I did my shopping based on your recommendation. One thing remains unclear to me is how much to torque the valve cover bolts. I'm planning on just doing hand tight and then a quarter turn in a criss-cross pattern

kakarot

Here is the valve cover Torque spec: 8 N·m (80 kgf·cm, 69 in.·lbf)

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

That's very cool, I'm glad I could help. When I tightened my bolts, I did it by feel, without a torque wrench. I heard the bolts are very fragile, so I didn't want to overtorque them by accident.

marcoes300

can you put the link of DIY from mr booby, i'm doing my valve cover gasket too !

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

I never really made a DIY for this, but there is a lot of good threads on this board if you're willing to search around.

Here is one of my more useful posts.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/7421803-post4.html

p.s.: In terms of video games, there are three bosses you have to overcome. Each one is harder and harder.
1. EGR Valve
2. Power Steering Line
3. Engine Harness

Lexus97ES

I can almost remove the rear valve cover. The problem is the wiring harness is in the way. I have removed all nuts (that I can see) that attach the harness to the top of the cover, and sides. Whenever I raise the cover up to rotate and move it away the harness is stuck on top of. Any help you can offer is greatly appreciated.

BTW, the front cover is done. I can't believe that I've overcome with a number of hard-to-reach/remove nuts and bolts and I'm now stuck with this.

marcoes300
In addition, I also reference these posts
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/es3...-oil-leak.html
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/es3...er-gasket.html
youtube videos like this:

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

Citing all my most useful Valve Cover posts for future reference.

General overview of the process and parts needed
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/7421803-post4.html

Specific list of parts with part numbers
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/7085920-post8.html

Lexus97ES, I can't remember the specifics at this time, but what I do remember is spending a lot of time on that engine harness. I had my dad help me out, and yet it still took a while to figure out a way of holding the engine harness far enough away from the valve cover. As far as I can recall, I had to wiggle the intake manifold bracket out of its original place, and we also had to move the EGR pipe ever so slightly. Triple check that you got every single bolt that holds the engine harness. I remember finding a few on the transmission side, that I didn't even know existed.

After watching that video, it's all starting to come back to me. I didn't remove my throttle body all the way. I kept it attached to the cables and just laid it down in the corner. Another thing I wasn't able to do was remove the EGR pipe completely. There was just no clearance for me to reach the bottom nuts - I was afraid of not being able to reattach it later. If you can remove the EGR pipe, it will help you tremendously. You can also try to remove the Intake Bracket, if you know that you will be able to reattach it.

If I did it again, I would have also replaced my EGR gaskets and nuts - they were very rusty.

Lexus97ES

MrBooby,

Yes, I'll check the wiring harness again, although I did trace it a few times looking to loosen it up to get more room. As far as the EGR pipe, I agree, if I can remove it, it would be a tremendous help as it stands in the way for the wiring harness to raise up more. I tried to get the wiring harness behind the EGR pipe to get more clearance for the valve cover but unable to.

I use nylon cords to keep things in place or out of the way.

Hopefully, someone who had this problem before can help shed some light. Thanks.