1st gen Tacoma - 3rd gen 4runner - swapping out valve cover gaskets - **Pictures!**

Who needs an FSM with write ups like these?

 

@tcBob sticky?

 

Awesome write-up and entertaining. My daughter loved the cat

You did exactly what I'm going to do next time! FIPG the hell out of that area!! Changed mine about two years ago, and now I'm getting a small amount of seepage from the back drivers side

 

You da man! I will need to do this soon as well, its been seeping for a little while now.

 

The torque for the valve cover bolts, IIRC, is more like 53 inch-lbs. It's not much. You risk getting leaks and, worse, cracking the covers if you go higher.

Otherwise, fine write-up.

 

yup!

 

Wasn't to bad of a job. good write up finish in one day . Step by step can't go wrong .

 

Great write up, thanks

 

you welcome.

saw your first post, welcome to TW

 

Fantastic write-up, THANKS. I just bought a 2000 V6 5-speed with 173,000 on it and have leaking VC gaskets. Just curious though, as long as you're in there would you want to check the valve clearances given that these are NOT hydraulic lifters? Then if any are out of spec we have the fun job of removing the cam to replace the shims. :-(

 

I'm in the middle of his project right now. Doesn't seem too hard, a bit tedious getting everything disconnected and opened up, but pretty straight forward.

My buddy and I are taking our time, are done for the day and planning to wrap everything up tomorrow.

We have the valve covers off, all the gaskets removed, and are cleaning up the covers. The gunk is pretty caked on. the engine cleaner took some off, but it needs some work to look clean.



I'm not quite sure what to do to get the edges of the head cleaned. Granted I've been working w just a razor blade to scrap it. I may pick up a scraper in the morning and see if that takes care of it.

Can I put some engine cleaner on a rag to clean the surface of the head?

You can see here the passenger side is much dirtier than the drivers side. I'm due for an oil change, but there is a big difference in the color between the two sides. I hope nothing too nasty snuck in there and I'm glad I'm getting this project done.

Another question. Should my intake look this caked? I've never opened an engine before so I'm not sure.

 

for youe heavy duty scaping needs... they do make a difference.

https://www.jbtoolsales.com/titan-tools-11039-20-pack-extra-heavy-duty-20-razor-blades/

 

I got mine buttoned up today.

Went pretty painlessly. I missed one connector and one hose, but it ran fine before I found them.

Burnt off some excess oil residue left on the exhaust, but it looks too be running clean. I let the FIPG cure for a few hours before turning it on and then a few more before going on a test drive.

Thank you for the write up @ramonortiz55

 

glad it helped you out bud!

 

Good Work!

 

Great write up...loved the pics.

 

I left the throttle body on. I just removed the four bolts and flopped it in the valley

 

Great write up. Very detailed. I've gotta do mine soon. Been postponing because it's a lot of work so I tried to tighten the valve cover bolts and cracked it -_-

Now I've gotta change that too. Thanks for the write up tho!

 

Yeah I'm in the same boat as you, I replaced mine and accidentally tightened the drivers side valve cover down too much and cracked it. Now I have to go back in there and replace it, thankfully it's only one side, and I found a valve cover in awesome shape on ebay for around $60.

 

Op do you really HAVE to change the half moons? I see on a lot of other write ups that people just silicone and reuse them.

same with the intake manifold gaskets. Were they in bad shape (cracked/brittle) on your truck?