taking valve cover off

[albertgunit101]

ive been wanting to take the valve cover off to replace the gaskets on it. but as im looking at it, it seems to me that a lot of things has to be taken off first. (since the engine is slightly tilted to the intake manifold) i have never done this before and i wanna ask someone who have experience about this to give me an advice on which parts are really necessary for me to take off.(im not sure if i really need to take the entire intake manifold assembly) i recently check and inspect my spark plugs and the only valve gasket that is leaking is the one on the left. (if looking at the engine from the rear, basically the one on the air intake side) i found some oil on it. (i know that is really bad) while the rest doesnt have it. i only have limited tools, and i wanna make sure i can finish the job if i started it.

[CyFi]

No you dont have to remove the intake. Just remove the 4 nuts around the spark plug holes, remove the 2 little 8mm screws holding the throttle cable bracket onto the intake manifold, slip the throttle cable off the throttle body and move the whole thing aside. Then if you look at the engine hook looking thing towards the intake side and at the top corner, theres a little screw holding the oxygen sensor connector in place, i usually have to back that screw off just til its flush on the back or it tends to get in the way. After that you might have to tap the valve cover with a rubber mallet a little to break it loose, it seems to get "stuck". Then just pull it off and make sure you clean the mateing surface on the head.

[albertgunit101]

cool. im going to autostore to buy them seals. thanks

[albertgunit101]

is this what i will need?
http://www.autozone.com/R,APP22010/v...ductDetail.htm

[CyFi]

No those are for the valves themselves, you need one big gasket for the valve cover

[albertgunit101]

oh ok. but is this gasket going to resolve the leak going to the spark plugs themselves? and the big gasket is the one that is the same shape as the valve cover, the one that goes in between the head and valve cover. how about this.

http://www.autozone.com/R,APP1334160...ductDetail.htm

http://www.autozone.com/R,APP746704/...ductDetail.htm

[CyFi]

Those links dont work. And yes, the gasket should come with a rubber seal in the sape of the valve cover, the rim of it at least, and 4 rings that seal off around the spark plug tubes. It may or may not stop oil from going down in there. When you have the valve cover off, use a pipe wrench and turn the long tubes clockwise to twist them down, this should help seal off oil from going in.

[twos4yous]

whoa! before you tear into this thing, if you have oil in the spark plug tubes the tubes must be removed and properly resealed. cyfi did catch this, but the tubes need to be resealed with toyota f.i.p.g. black, or high quality pipethread sealer. these tubes can be quite difficult to remove. if you are not confident in your abilities i would highly recommend having a toyota dealer do this for you.

just don't want see you get overwhelmed as a new 2 owner.

[albertgunit101]

thanks. but i did not mess with the tube itself. i just replace the spark plug tube seal. and i will see if it is still leaking oil in there. i hope i made some good changes.

[toyo pr4mnce]

i had this same issue, mine was leaking in cylinder number 1. what i did was took off the valve cover and put 2 nuts on the tube/pipe that was leaking making a jam nut. then twist the bottom one tight with the top one and this will twist the tube/pipe. once i got the tube out, i just put high heat tephlon tape on the treads and put the pipe in the same way i got it out. this way you wont bend or egg shape the tube like you would with a pipe/ monkey wrench.

i did this about 6 months ago to all 4 pipes and havnt had a problem since then. they stay dry as hell.

give it a shot if you have oil still sitting in the tubes.
however, if you take the valve cover back off again. you may have to replace the outside gasket and the rubber shoes that go on the nuts/ tubes

[albertgunit101]

did you buy this high heat tephlon tape on a local auto store?

[Mr Deuce]

Originally Posted by toyo pr4mnce

i had this same issue, mine was leaking in cylinder number 1. what i did was took off the valve cover and put 2 nuts on the tube/pipe that was leaking making a jam nut. then twist the bottom one tight with the top one and this will twist the tube/pipe. once i got the tube out, i just put high heat tephlon tape on the treads and put the pipe in the same way i got it out. this way you wont bend or egg shape the tube like you would with a pipe/ monkey wrench.

i did this about 6 months ago to all 4 pipes and havnt had a problem since then. they stay dry as hell.

give it a shot if you have oil still sitting in the tubes.
however, if you take the valve cover back off again. you may have to replace the outside gasket and the rubber shoes that go on the nuts/ tubes

can you explain how you got it out better, im sorta confused by what you said. Thanks im thinking about trying this myself when i throw my new plugs in.

[toyo pr4mnce]

tephlon tape is made for high heat. i went to home depot (or local hardware store) and found some that said it went to 1100degrees celcius (or however you spell it lol) i like it better than all the liquid crap and that stuff its alot cleaner and easier to use.

anyways what i did was i took off the valve cover and using 2 of the same bolts that hold it on i made a jam nut. what you do is you put one on upside down and the second one on regular way and tighten them together. after theyre tightened together, put a wrench on the bottom one and spin counter clockwise which will loosen the pipe.

this is better than using a pipe wrench because a pipe wrench will bend or eggshape it.

i might be able to get pics if that would help. (if i can find my camera that i took pics with)

let me kno how it goes

[albertgunit101]

ill try it. just a question though, was the tube hard to come out when you loosen them? were they still tight or kinda lose already? after i fixed my strut today and maybe my wheel bearing too, ill try this. thanks again.

[toyo pr4mnce]

no problem

after you get them just loose they're just like a regular bolt and screw right out. after i got them loose i used my hang to un-thread them the rest of the way.

let me know how it goes...

[CyFi]

it shows the two nut method in the bgb too to clear it up

[albertgunit101]

toyo perfrmance, i found some teflon tape that is for gas. we dont have home depot from where i live, we only have lowes. anyways i asked the guy about some high heat teflon tape and he said it will work the only thing he told me is that since its going to be so hot, THERE IS A POSSIBILITY THAT IT CAN MELT AND FLOW DOWN ON THE ENGINE. i checked the heat tolerance index and it can only tolerate up to 400 degrees. i dont know if the engine goes up to more than that. so i went to autozone and found a THREAD SEALANT. i think the brand is permatrex or somethin.

did you ever checked the teflon tape you put on if it is still there? and hoping it never melted. ive been very busy around here and i just found sometime to look into it again this time.

and what do you think about the thread sealant? can that really work? and if it does how long can that thing hold? and are there any bad thing about it.
thank you for your information and help again.

[Jason.MZW20]

I'd use Permatex Ultra Copper RTV (FIPG material) for increased temperature resistance. The tubes come very near to the combustion chamber, and the metal itself is a conductor for heat. They are not water cooled, but do get some oil splash on a portion of the area.

Ultra Copper has three times more oil resistance than some other silicones, so the chance of it absorbing oil, hardening, and eventually leaking is lower than using other RTVs.

Ultra Copper site

[toyo pr4mnce]

Originally Posted by albertgunit101