Any good valve cover/head gasket kit? 5vz

5VZ-FE 2002 Tacoma PreRunner (256K miles)

Looking to replace my valve cover gaskets, I have some leaking where the heads and valve cover meet. I'm not removing the heads or touching them, compression test was good so I'm not touching it.

Following Tim's 7 parts series I'll be replacing a lot of gaskets, definitely doing the timing belt (I'll post a photo of the kit I have for that), thinking about knock sensors+harness, cleaning the throttle body more than I have already, replacing air/fuel ratio sensor in bank 1 sensor 1 (P1135 code), probably some other things.

So in summary looking for a good kit (OEM or Like OEM) that will have a lot of the gaskets I am looking for. I don't mind getting a kit that has gaskets I wont use as long as I'm not spending a ton more. Mainly not wanting to buy each part individually because that sucks.

 

Lmk if ya think i should go OEM on any of these parts. I got this kit awhile back and I'm not sure if this is all OEM.

 

I don't know the expected shelf life, but I can tell you from experience that Seal Packing 1281/FIPG does have a shelf life. Since you've had it for "awhile", you should test it before you use it.

There should be instructions in the pack that include the expected cure times. If it doesn't set up, buy a new tube.

 

Thanks I'll look into that.

 

If it's time for a water pump and timing belt change. A T.W. member called aircabinman, has a great Aisin kit I believe he sells on Ebay that has good parts in it. You should always try to use either Aisin or Denso parts in these trucks. For the Valve cover gaskets job, I just bit the bullet and purchased Toyota parts.
Just my 2 cents worth.

 

I've had good luck with fel-pro gaskets so far, but I'd buy OEM water pump. Continental make great belts

 

I've used felpro for the valve cover once and it leaked in less than one year. Had to do it all over again.

 

I went with,

04111-62180 GASKET KIT, ENGINE O

Kit that toyota provides. You can go to Yota one for a diagram of what's in the kit. (Because otherwise you won't find anything.) I bought the kit on Toyota Parts deal for a bit over $500.

The kit includes some things that I don't need but this is the simplest and highest quality to get all the parts I need. Otherwise it was very complicated finding a kit that I knew was quality, at a good price and that had everything I needed.

 

That timing belt kit is fine. You already have it and it’s mostly OEM. That’s essentially what I just used when I did it recently. I also have used fel-pro valve cover gaskets and they’ve done well for me and they’re typically fairly priced.