valve cover change with pics

95 tacoma v6, keep in mind the truck is a 95 so things under the hood are brittle as hell, and being this was my 1st time, i marked a few sensors with a blue marker to indicate where they belonged..

1) I started on passenger side. seemed the easiest, so i went for it..
2) Remove the air box hose and now your free to dig in. Simply start unplugging sensors that are in the way of your top bolts of the valve cover. ***you will have to unbolt your throttle body***

3) once valve cover is off, i replaced the rubber plug seals.. ****see pic******

4) The underside of the valve cover has a small tab holding in the plug seal in place... you have to bend that tab out in order to pop your old seal out...once complete simply bend tab back into place***see pic****

5) clean clean clean... for me it was a matter of purple degreaser and a tire brush... i will say the old gasket was as hard as a freaking brick... new gasket simply pops into grooves of outer lip of valve cover and is made of rubber..

6)just re-install.. now one side complete

7) i have heard a few people call the gaskets you will need for the drivers side (upper intake gaskets) i believe the correct name for them is PLENUM gasket... they come in a set of 2. and thats what they are called at advanced auto.. price $22.

8) same process, simply start removing bolts holding your plenum top..

9) you will see that i chose the route of if i didnt have to remove it,,i didnt, which explains why you will see the wiring harness that runs along the top of the fuel injectors still in place... you can just simply move them out of your way to save time.. hurts nothing.

10) to me the drivers side was more of a pain... more stuff to remove and alot more smaller vaccum hoses under the plenum to unhook and keep up with.. mark hoses if you have to...

11) once off just clean and reverse order....run and check for leaks...

***note*** i didnt use a torque wrench..but i did use caution when tightening the bolts on the valve covers working in a cross pattern a small amount of pressure at the time till they were good and snug..... i ran truck and spotted no leaks...


Total time including cleaning and taking my time (b/c) i was kinda scared since i havent done this before was almost 6 hours..

 

nice write up...