Oil pan removal tips 2tfre

Hey guys currently doing a headgasket on my Tacoma (alr made a post starting that) ,,, any tips on removing the timing cover? Removed all accessory’s I seen and the bolts chilton says to remove on the front and driver rear of it, is the paints in the front of the oil pan holding in the timing cover at all? I took out three I felt in the front of it and I am able to pry it a decent amount but not fully yet? Am I missing bolts or is it just the gasket holding it in

 

I believe there are different length bolts, I’d mark where the longer go (iirc two different lengths).

 

Just rtv holding on, a couple o-rings as well as a seal

 

Any tips on removing the rtv? Am I alright using an old flat head for prying or is that risky?

 

Feel embarrassed to write this but meant to name thread timing cover removal not oil pan!! I need advice removing the TIMING COVER

 

I'd apply even pressure, side-to-side.

 

Yeah I’m gonna do that after I take a razor to the gasket along the edges to hopefully disconnect the gasket

 

I removed my timing cover and ran into the same...Toyota RTVs the whole cover, Chilton will suggest the same, and a razor helped break that seal out so it pried up easier where I didnt feel like I was going to damage a sealing surface.

 

...reapplying that RTV in the specified 2mm - 4mm bead widths and sliding on the cover w/o screwing up the bead is a real bitch...took me 3 tries, removing and reapplying RTV, until I was happy...just to replace a failed timing chain tensioner...uggg....

 

There's a spot made for prying on it. So you dont mar up the sealing surface. Also I think there are a several bolts from the upper oil pan that go into the bottom of the timing cover.

 

Top pic is prying spots on head.
Bottom should show you all the bolts to remove timing cover except the ones that go through oil pan

 

Also they didnt use much rtv on mine. I thought it was stuck at first but it still had a bolt holding it in. I wouldn't go crazy prying on it, make sure you didnt forget any bolts.

 

What mileage a oil type are you using?

 

The reason you have to take off the oil pan is so that you can real the bottom portion of the pan to the timing cover.
You have to take off the lower oil pan to remove the upper pan.

Technically, you should not have to remove the pan to remove the timing cover.
But you'll need to once you go to reinstall the timing cover.



On installation. Be sure to apply RTV to the circled positions shown below (A, B, C, D, E)
If you don't, it WILL leak.



Next, install the cover.
Be sure to follow the steps here.

 

I think according to the manual, the oil pan needs to be removed. I took off and reinstalled my timing cover without it though. Just needs to remove the bolts holding it to the timing cover.

Also to op before you put rtv on the timing cover its best to do a few practice runs of getting the oil pump lined up and sliding the timing cover on without the o-rings falling out. It's not an easy task. If you have the motor out of the truck already its probably much easier to do though. I did all this with the engine in the truck and oil pan still on.

 

Thanks a lot for the comments and pics of prying spots… I didn’t have one of the last bolts removed that goes into the oil pan and the timing cover (because this truck had an oil leak and lived in dirt roads it was caked in gunk covering it).

I still am having a hard time trying to pry it off and I got all the bolts off in that photo, the 4 underneath it and the 2 nuts and 2 bolts going in on the back driver side…

I don’t have a garage so removing the motor to take the pan off isn’t really feasible for me (atleast at this point) . I’m gonna try using the prying locations u sent and update yall if I’ve pulled it off then.

 

Currently pried at the top spots and on passenger it comes off near 3/4 an inch and maybe a half or quarter on driver side,,, the bottom spots seem very hard to access in the truck.

 

I assume it must be the rtv holding on the driver and bottom more but it’s just way hard to access with a razor on driver side and to even slip it in on the bottom

 

Thank you for the infor, that helps a lot. Changed my dads head gasket for Tacoma pre-runner 2003. Successfull. Only problem when i was changing the ignition coils rubber seal, it broke so i ended up using the old one. Not sure how long that will breath in there.

 

Do yall know of if I have to disconnect all the water pump intirely? I’ve managed to get it to budge more on both sides using a razor that was thinner to cut the driver side but it still ain’t budge enough