Need to replace valve cover gasket

Well, just found out my valve cover is leaking. Mechanic wants to charge about $450 to do it. I thought I would try to do this myself. It's a 2000, 2WD, V6 Tacoma Prerunner. Having not worked on a Toyota nor a V6, I have a few questions for the experts here:

1. Where can I get a good workshop manual with torque specs, etc? Is there a WIS for these or are the manuals pretty reliable with clear steps to finishing the job?
2. I figured while I have things open, I'd replace the valve cover, spark plug seals, and assuming I can get to them... retorque the head bolts. What else should I do?
3. Where are some good parts places online? I'm not a mechanic nor an expert, and learning these things at that, so especially any place with good pricing and clear indication of fitment.... Unfortunately, some of the part store sites for an old project car I bought recently don't clearly present this and I have to bank on diagrams from other sites to figure it out. I did recently learn about Rock Auto... they seem pretty cool, but also don't seem to carry everything.
4. Has anyone done this before and posted steps and pics? With the project car I'm working on, there was someone who documented all kinds of work like this with pictures. It has been extremely helpful, so I thought I would ask here too.

 

Well at the top of the very forum you are in are threads that are 'stickied'. A quick peek there finds just what you are looking for.

For gaskets, I only use OE. We have Toyota vendors that support the forum and have good prices. Get some quotes. Also I find that my local dealer will usually price match the online things I find from other dealers.

 

Lucky you, my local dealer (in California) did not budge a cent of the list price.

 

Don't get me wrong. I'm not in love with them. But the parts manager has been fair. I take him a printout of an online Toyota dealer quote, and he'll match it. Plus I get free shipping that way, as they order it in and I pick it up, instead of paying the online guy to ship to my house.

Matters on heavy stuff like bed mats. Mine wound up running about $90.

 

When I did that, I heard "then go and buy from them". Actually shopping on line for my move (set of brake rotors, pads, oil and air filters) for both trucks (95 Tacoma and 2012 4Runner) saved me over 100 bucks - saving on sales tax paid for shipping. So I used my local dealer only for emergencies. Their lost, my suffering .

Now about the gasket, I would not by anything that is not OEM. Every China shop can match the size, but not material, and craftsmanship and this makes OEM parts last forever.

 

Good sticky, thanks for that! I'll check dealer site parts catalogs, but if there's other places I can get OEM gaskets, let me know. As for retorquing the head bolts, can they be reached during this time? I noticed fellow from the sticky didn't do that. Is it not recommended or possible? I just figure if my truck is 17 years old that maybe some precaution would be in order. It was recommended for the 4 cylinder project car I mentioned (gotta change it's valve cover gasket too... it's 22 years old).

Is there anything not shown in the sticky that would be good to do? It seemed pretty comprehensive though, but thought I'd double-check. Folks who've done this before know.

Finally, what about workshop manual? WIS? Or some good reference document with diagrams, torque ratings, etc?

 

Very good point. I honestly hadn't thought about that, but really should've.

 

Thanks for that! My gaskets are leaking and will be doing this before long

 

Just be sure to do the full and half moons also when in there. Good chance that is where most of the leaking is coming from as the oil pools in the back quite a bit.


edit: after looking at sticky he mentions those parts.
some addl. info....in post #2 he doesn't mention the little tabs that hold the spark plug tube seals in. They need a slight bend to make it easier to remove and certainly put back in the new ones w/o damage.

He also buys new half and full moons. Your choice but the halfs are alum and don't wear out, the fulls (cam plug offs in case the head is swapped to other side) seem to seal back up fine with just a new squeeze of sealer on them.

 

I have to disagree. Felpro makes very good gaskets that have been used for years with no issues.

 

YouTube has some great videos on this as well. Might check em out

 

Make sure you get an inch/lb torque wrench. You need something accurate at low torque, otherwise you will break the valve cover bolts. It might also be a good idea to replace the bolts in the process. I did this on my 2.7L and ended up breaking 3 of them, which involved removing the cover each time to pull the broken stud piece out.

 

I'm not sure which sentence or phrase you disagree with?

 

My word, was it that the bolts were stressed or you didn't feel the click on the torque wrench since they're torqued at such a low setting?

 

I was definitely keeping the torque below the recommended amount. I believe they were just fatigued from engine heat after 160k miles.

 

Just had both of mine done along with some new parts inside for $300...$450 seems steep.

 

450 does sound steep considering how easy this is. Good money for the shop I guess.
Don't worry about the head bolts. You'd have to take the cams out to move them and they are torque to yield.
The gasket will fail before they do.

 

Not buy anything other than oem