dquach89

Ok. Im kind of pissed. I replaced both of my valve cover gaskets and put everything back together. I drive it around for a bit and then I notice that oil was leaking through on the far left side.

Question, Was I supposed to apply silicone along the valve cover? I talked to one of the guys at toyota when I got my gaskets and he said that I didnt need it.

If I dont need silicone, then it might have been that I didnt tighten the valve cover gasket bolts down tight enough. I tightened it too much at first and the bolt broke in half on me. So I just hand tightened it carefully after.


Any input?

deknick

chances are when you over tightened it it squished the gasket, causing it to be loose when you tighten it to the right spec, i'd take the cover off and have a look at it

USMCgs3

I have a Stupid question but Did you replace the bolt you broke?

Mr.Gs_GTE

you probably wanna get a new set gaskets to be sure this time around and tighten each bolt to the spec though it might not appear tight enough. I over tightened mine once when I had the GE motor in my car and I had the same problem. And you need all of those bolts so if you didnt replace the broken one its still gonna leak.

dquach89

Yea I replaced the broken bolt already. It was the first bolt I attempted to screw on and once it snapped, I replaced it with a new one.


Sure hope I dont have to replace the gasket again. =[


Does anyone know how tight I am supposed to tighten each bolt?

Mr.Gs_GTE

72 or 74 inch pounds if i remember right. I'm sorry I can't locate my specs file right now but double check that.

SliC300

iTrader: (4)

I dont mean to thread jack but im desperate... how did you remove the y-pipe?? I've tried a ton of things and nothing short of using a crowbar seems to work, but I'm afraid it'll damage the plenum. is there something I may be missing? I've removed all the bolts and brackets and sensors, it slides freely but just not enough. and on top of that, the egr pipe seems to be bending as it inches forward. any help you can give would be greatly appreciated.

heres a vid of how far I can get it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbVGb39r-nQ

Mr.Gs_GTE

To remove that pipe you will or at least have to crack the flame pipe, "that pipe that is holding it" bolts down by the back right side of the head. back those two bolts off as far as you need to it should give you just enough room for the tube to flex towards the firewall, that should be enough to move the y pipe. You can get to the bolts from the right side with a flex socket 12mm. It's more easier from the bottom but again I don't think u have it on a lift unless u can jack it up enough to get @ it.

Mr.Gs_GTE

I forgot, before you do that, theres a big nut on the egr tube you need to back that off all the way, its probably a 21mil if I remember right, but do that then the 2 12mm bolts. That back part of the tube should flex towards the firewall then u can work around the rest.

SliC300

iTrader: (4)

Thanks for the advice, I tried to reach the nuts with a flex socket, but it was a no-go, so I used the flex to detach the plenum from the lower runners and it slid out like butter (sort of). So all thats left is to change the gasket. Oh yea, half of the bolts were loose, like hand removal loose! Maybe thats why it was leaking so much... also it sounded like velcro when I pried the covers off lol

Mr.Gs_GTE

yeah i figured. I did mine on a lift it was alot easy to get to those bolts. But there you go... and remember to tighten those bolts!

mvb59

when I did mine, I removed the 2 nuts holding the EGR valve to the plenum, and then used a small socket that fit to the end of the studs and remove both studs off the Plenum, that way I can slide the plenum out. Goodluck!

attilio

Finished my valve cover gaskets today too. The job took me about 6-7 hours total between yesterday and today. I'm pretty good with the easy stuff but I've never attempted such a complicated repair. It was difficult, but I think anyone could do it if they just take their time. Take pics along the way too. That really helped me out with reassembly Definitely take the advice of mvb59 and remove the studs from the plenum where it attaches to the EGR valve. I think its much easier than ripping your hands apart trying to get to the bolts on the egr pipe. If you don't have the proper torx bit for the studs, a 7/32 socket works too, just go slow and use plenty of WD-40 so you dont strip it.

While I was in there I put in some new NGK iridium plugs and NGK wires to go with the cap and rotor I installed last year. The car started right up. Smooth as silk, quiet, and most importantly, no leaks.

Good luck to everyone who takes on this repair.

SliC300

iTrader: (4)

Very nice attilio, but whats up with your covers? they look diseased or womethin lol, but seriously, mine were covered in caked on oil somehow... and when I removed the y-pipe, a small amount of oil came out too, but now its off, and since I'm going to install a ffim some time in the near future im not gonna reassemble (thank god!),so i dont need any of my gasktes (which i bent durring removal lol) but I do need to change the plugs and wires. Also, there was an insane amount of oil in each spark plug, as well as all along the valley.

here's a pic just before removal

notice how ridiculously filthy it was... not cool

attilio

I thought about taking a wire brush to them with my grinder but its not like you see more than 4-5 inches of 'em anyway. Plus, by the time I finally got all of the stuff off the top of the engine and cleaned the important side of the covers (some of you may disagree with that statement), I was in no mood to do anything else but put it all back together. I love her, she looks pretty good, and she runs like a top, but she's no show car.