3.4 Liter V6 5VZ-FE Valve Cover Gaskets How-To Video

Thanks! are there cam plugs on the front and rear of each head? do they all need to be replaced?

 

Sub'd for future use

 

There are circular plugs on the rear and half circle plugs front and rear, and cam seals in front (not known to leak), AFAIK.
I've been reading around here and have not come across any consensus. Of course, if something is leaking, you fix it.

I'm curious to hear others' thoughts.

 

Thanks for posting, this will come in handy someday soon.

 

Nice work on the video

 

Thanks for the video! I did not see Spark Plug Tube Seals listed in your video parts list.

Do they come with the Valve Covers?

My quick online research at midnight says no. Do these look right?

Gasket Spark plug (6) Toyota 11193-70010

 

Great Job on the video. Very thorough.

 

I've watched the video and I have some questions. Thanks in advance for your help.

How did you clean the half moons, the seats for the half moons, and the cam plug seats?

Did you paint the valve covers?

The plastic wire covers that you duct taped - those are for the fuel rail? Did you leave the tape on after assembly? What if you break on of those things?

Is there a wait time for the FIPG?

Thanks. I'll be doing this job in the next few weeks.

 

@Timmah! would you mind taking a look at the questions I posed? I'm about to undertake this job and would feel more comfortable with your input. Also, what's the purpose of the half moons? Just adding a possible place to leak?

 

I cleaned the half moons, cam pug collar, head surface with a plastic putty knife. You can use a razor blade or other metal gasket scraper but you just have to be careful not to gouge the metal. You want to get all the old sealant off so you get a good seal with the sealant after you reassemble.

Sean decided to paint his valve covers. There's no benefit to this other than to make your engine look bitchen.

The high temperature duct tape is for the wiring harness on the driver side. All the things that harness powers and controls, I don't know. We left the tape on. Since it's a high temperature tape, it's fine to leave on the engine. The idea for pre-taping the wiring harness is so it doesn't break apart when you have to manipulate it to get the valve cover out and back in. If some of it breaks off, no big deal. You just don't want any of those broken pieces under you valve covers or dropping into the intake manifold.

There is no wait time for the Black FIPG we used in the video.

Good luck!

 

Yea my harness covers broke into about 4000 pieces...... luckily I got it all out of the way before I pulled the covers. I will be doing this again pretty soon. I rushed and didn't reseal a cam plug and still have a leak. I think this round will only take a couple hours being I know how to do it now.

 

@Timmah! Unfortunately my 01 Taco is seeping oil pretty bad but I was super happy to find you have a video for this repair. Replacing my rear wheel bearing was 10x easier with the help of your video and a few TW threads. Thanks so much for the high quality tutorials!

 

I think nobody sees new replies to the sticky thread, so I'll hijack this one. I'm preparing to do this job.

Any trick to scraping the old gasket off the engine side without dropping bits into the engine?

The old brittle plastic wiring looms sound like the biggest problem. I'm buying new wire looms, Tesa tape, and loom clamps. Will any other clamps besides these Napa ones that someone mentioned work, assuming they are needed? I prefer an Amazon or ebay order if not Toyota.
https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/NW_784665

Any more 26 year old parts that could break on me? I'd like to do it all in one shot. I did throttle body cleaning and replaced all hoses I could reach on the passenger side, so that area is good. I'm more concerned about the driver side stuff I'm not familiar with, aside from dropping something into the engine. Any hoses that will be newly accessible somewhere and worth replacing? (if you have the inside diameter that would be big bonus, hard to find that info)

 

I used one of those red shop rags to keep stuff from falling in, just moved it along with the scraper and shook it out occasionally.

 

I did spark plugs and wires and seals.

 

I just did this job a few months ago. I used wide blue painters tape to cover any holes to the engine. When scraping the gasket, I used a plastic trim tool so as to not scratch the surface and scraped away from the engine. Honestly, in my case, the gasket and sealant came off very easily. Your gasket may even come off in one piece, as mine almost did.

Wrapping the plastic wiring casing is also pretty easy, takes just a few minutes AND the best part is that you can leave it on at the end of the job (provided you use tape that is heat resistant).

As I did the work, I visually inspected all the hoses I moved or disconnected to see if I could find any cracks, but found none, so I left well enough alone. Everything went smoothly for the most part and it all worked perfectly when I reassembled everything, plus that nasty burnt oil smell is now gone Just take your time and be patient. And don't forget the sealant near the half moons!

 

I already did the spark plugs and wires but will change the tube seals. I'll also have the replacement 4 half moons and 2 camshaft seals.

It sounds like this solution replacing both entire plastic wiring casings and putting on new wire looms, wrapping it up, and putting them in clamps that bolt into several valve cover bolt holes (with longer bolts) is usually unnecessary, and I should be able to just wrap the plastic casings with hi temp tape and call it good?
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-4-v6-damaged-wiring-harness-solution.576633/

 

Definitely.

 

Timmy's video is a God-send.

This job is on my to-do short list. I have some of that hi-temp fabric tape from Amazon that I'm going to wrap the top harness with (earlier examination of the brittle original plastic guide showed it pretty much breaking apart...this truck is 20 years old after all). Gathering all the necessary gaskets and seals, hopefully I can get this done in an afternoon.

 

Perhaps you are much faster than I am, but it took me longer than that. Closer to a full day, but I was slow and methodical.