Valve cover gasket - fix or no?
#46
Intermediate
Driver side fuel pump is out and valve covers are off. My gaskets are not due in until tomorrow or Monday so I am sitting tight for a while on the driver side and will get the passenger off tomorrow. Everything looks super clean and pretty much wear free as far as I can tell. The camshafts, rocker arms, springs and timing chains pretty much look perfect.....quite a feat with 157K on the clock. Disassembly was pretty straight forward. The most difficult parts were getting some of the hoses off the nipples and getting to a few of the perimeter bolts. I did remove the spark plug seals with the front two coils in order to get the angle right to pull them out. The back two coils came out without having to remove the spark plug seals.
#47
Intermediate
Thread Starter
Driver side fuel pump is out and valve covers are off. My gaskets are not due in until tomorrow or Monday so I am sitting tight for a while on the driver side and will get the passenger off tomorrow. Everything looks super clean and pretty much wear free as far as I can tell. The camshafts, rocker arms, springs and timing chains pretty much look perfect.....quite a feat with 157K on the clock. Disassembly was pretty straight forward. The most difficult parts were getting some of the hoses off the nipples and getting to a few of the perimeter bolts. I did remove the spark plug seals with the front two coils in order to get the angle right to pull them out. The back two coils came out without having to remove the spark plug seals.
what did you use to remove the perimeter 10mm bolts around the bottom of the valve cover? I know they’re super hard to reach! Must be even harder to screw them back in?
#48
Instructor
Driver side fuel pump is out and valve covers are off. My gaskets are not due in until tomorrow or Monday so I am sitting tight for a while on the driver side and will get the passenger off tomorrow. Everything looks super clean and pretty much wear free as far as I can tell. The camshafts, rocker arms, springs and timing chains pretty much look perfect.....quite a feat with 157K on the clock. Disassembly was pretty straight forward. The most difficult parts were getting some of the hoses off the nipples and getting to a few of the perimeter bolts. I did remove the spark plug seals with the front two coils in order to get the angle right to pull them out. The back two coils came out without having to remove the spark plug seals.
#50
Intermediate
Thread Starter
Where is the cheapest place I can buy valve gasket covers and spark plug seals? eBay has driver and passenger side for $90+shipping. Toyota brand. I was able to find beck & arley for $65ish. Ok to use third party or should I stick with Toyota?
#51
Pole Position
I stick with OEM because it seems to last with some exceptions. There is nothing wrong with 3rd party, for instance, Beck and Arnley makes good aftermarket products for Toyota/Lexus vehicles.
#52
Racer
#53
Intermediate
For anybody contemplating this job in the future, I have a few tips based on my experience completing the work over this past weekend:
On my passenger side all the rings stayed in place
On my driver side one of the rings stuck to the underside of the valve cover
- My ventilation hoses on both the passenger and driver side have hardened and lost flexibility and both of them split when removing the hose from the valve cover nipple. You may want to pre-emptively order these parts with the valve cover gaskets because my guess is most cars will have this same condition. For my 2007 the PN#'s are 1226138030 and 1226238030 for the vent hoses.
- These same hoses were very difficult to remove because they had hardened and split anyway despite my best efforts. You may want to just cut them off to save time and frustration if they feel like they have hardened.
- Keep track of the order bolts are removed as the manual states they are supposed to go back in the same locations
- When removing the valve cover, be sure that you can account for all of the internal rings as they are pretty easy to slip out and/or stick to the underside of the valve cover
On my passenger side all the rings stayed in place
On my driver side one of the rings stuck to the underside of the valve cover
Last edited by AZGS4; 01-25-21 at 12:13 PM. Reason: Typos
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scutch (03-28-22)
#54
Intermediate
Thread Starter
For anybody contemplating this job in the future, I have a few tips based on my experience completing the work over this past weekend:
On my passenger side all the rings stayed in place
On my driver side one of the rings stuck to the underside of the valve cover
- My ventilation hoses on both the passenger and driver side have hardened and lost flexibility and both of them split when removing the hose from the valve cover nipple. You want to pre-emptively order these parts with the valve cover gaskets because my guess is most cars will have this same condition. For my 2007 the PN#'s are 1226138030 and 1226238030 for the vent hoses.
- These same hoses were very difficult to remove because they had hardened and spit anyway despite my best efforts. You may want to just cut them off to save time and frustration if they feel like they have hardened.
- Keep track of the order bolts are removed as the manual states they are supposed to go back in the same locations
- When removing the valve cover, be sure that you can account for all of the internal rings as they are pretty easy to slip out and/or stick to the underside of the valve cover
On my passenger side all the rings stayed in place
On my driver side one of the rings stuck to the underside of the valve cover
#56
Intermediate
Thread Starter
#57
Instructor
Delete this
Last edited by Protholl; 01-25-21 at 10:56 AM.
#59
Lexus Test Driver
iTrader: (1)
For anybody contemplating this job in the future, I have a few tips based on my experience completing the work over this past weekend:
On my passenger side all the rings stayed in place
On my driver side one of the rings stuck to the underside of the valve cover
- My ventilation hoses on both the passenger and driver side have hardened and lost flexibility and both of them split when removing the hose from the valve cover nipple. You want to pre-emptively order these parts with the valve cover gaskets because my guess is most cars will have this same condition. For my 2007 the PN#'s are 1226138030 and 1226238030 for the vent hoses.
- These same hoses were very difficult to remove because they had hardened and spit anyway despite my best efforts. You may want to just cut them off to save time and frustration if they feel like they have hardened.
- Keep track of the order bolts are removed as the manual states they are supposed to go back in the same locations
- When removing the valve cover, be sure that you can account for all of the internal rings as they are pretty easy to slip out and/or stick to the underside of the valve cover
On my passenger side all the rings stayed in place
On my driver side one of the rings stuck to the underside of the valve cover
#60
AZGS4 makes 2 very good points. The vent hoses on my 2007 were also too brittle to be reused. The round seals on the valve cover side should all be pulled off and placed on the cylinder head in their corresponding locations. If you leave the seals stuck to the cover there is a good possibility they will rub off while you install the valve covers and fall into never never land.
When I did my left side cover I didn't realize this. The seals were stuck on very tight. After doing my other cover i realized they do come off. I ended up pulling my first cover back off and inserting each seal into the head before putting the cover on. I was lucky to not drop any. Live and learn.
When I did my left side cover I didn't realize this. The seals were stuck on very tight. After doing my other cover i realized they do come off. I ended up pulling my first cover back off and inserting each seal into the head before putting the cover on. I was lucky to not drop any. Live and learn.