First time valve cover gasket repair

We hit 0° overnight here over the weekend. 5w30 Castrol Semi Syn high mileage. The cranking diff was very noticeable (slower and longer to start) compared to my car last year with 5w30 full synthetic in similar temps. Next year heading into winter the Tacoma will def have full syn 5w30 in it of some reputable brand.

 

I've been running Valvoline full syn high mileage since I got it.And I'll be sticking with that for now at 0w-20w. Other than weak batteries, I never had any cranking problems even at -40F outside. Was it slower, probably, maybe? But not so much so that it was noticeable. Went down a rabbit hole the last couple days doing a bunch of oil research and the reviews I saw were pretty good. It's one of those things if you ask 15 people, you'll get 15 different answers.

 

There isn't a significant difference in cold temperature viscosity between 0w and 5w oils. Run either one in winter with confidence. Battery health and/or the battery's CCA play a bigger role in how quickly a vehicle starts in sub freezing temps than the oil.

 

Got everything in, Fel-Pro gasket did not have the grommets included at least with this kit # in the photo. A little disappointed in the packaging for the gasket as it was kind of all twisted. Doesn't appear to be any damage but usually gaskets I buy are laid out flat. Surprised the NGK coils were made in China, I was really hoping to get made in Japan. I trust the NGK brand but not the guy at 5:00 on a Friday putting them together if you know what I mean. We just got hit with an icestorm so have to wait for the install

 

Here's how it looked on the inside. Timing chain looks good and the sprockets still had some flat across the top of the teeth so that was comforting. No grooves on the cam lobes. A little grimey on the inside but not horrible. Most of this I'm assuming coming in the last few years of driving it while it was leaking. Center spark plug gasket was hard as a rock and crumbled to pieces when I tried to pull it out. It was easy to see where the gasket had flattened out in the back corner where I was getting most of my leak. Outer gasket was also brittle along the edges. Hopefully I'll have the new one in by this afternoon. In hindsight, I'd have had my engine by cleaned/detailed before this so there wasn't so much dust everywhere....

 

Also forgot to mention that there were no grommets that I could see as was mentioned before so I didn't pick any up.

 

Just wanted to say thank you for all the guidance. Everything got put back together, no leaks and no more burning oil smell when I start the truck. I really appreciate all the help.