PCV valve replacement

Sub'd. Need to do this when I do my next major tune-up, too.

 

Takes about 20 mins roughly.

 

No problem. Might as well do it while I'm in there swapping out plugs and have the tools out anyways.

 

Yea, if you have long arms it will be easier to screw the pcv valve back in. How many miles you got on your truck?

 

good job man,thanks

 

173k. Still haven't changed it, but it's getting done this weekend. Ordered one off Amazon for $3.50 with Prime shipping.

edit: I have a significant oil leak in the passenger side valve cover gasket. Had it for about 2 years, but in the past 6 months it has gotten more prolific. I'm changing the PCV valve and both valve cover gaskets, and I'm hoping having a very old PCV didn't cause other issues. I'll degrease the engine and watch for future leaks, hopefully nothing from a main seal. I'm running Mobil 1 synthetic.

 

I just took mine out and cleaned it really good. Mine's got 150,000mi. and I have no idea if its ever been looked at.

I wiped the excess gunk off with an old sock, then sprayed the inside real good with WD-40 and more gunk ran out. Then I blew it out with compressed air, sprayed with WD-40 again, and blew it out with compressed air one more time. The valve seemed to be quite a bit more free than when I started, and looked clean with a flashlight.

I also ran a piece of speaker wire through the hose it connects to and pulled a small cutout of the sock through it twice. It was really gunked up as well. It seems better built than the PCV valve on my old chevy which felt really cheap, I don't really see the benefit to buying a new one when you can just clean it up, restore the original functionality and put it back on.

 

I just took my PCV valve out last night. My truck has 54K miles and this was the first time that I have taken it out. It still rattled good after I first took it out. I cleaned it out from both sides with brake cleaner. It did sound like it rattled even better after the cleaning. I applied some never seize to the threads and put it back in and torqued it to 20 ft-lbs like the OP did. It was a ten minute job.

 

Yeah it was a piece of cake. I did it when I did my tune up a few weeks ago. Mine still rattled but it was crudded up pretty good and not worth the risk for a <$5 part.

 

Good info. I guess I should do mine once it warms up especially for a $5 part

 

It's good maintenance. If it gets stuck closed, you could force too much pressure out of the gaskets and possibly rupture a main seal and have a nice oil leak. I'm just going to do one every time I do spark plugs because it's right there by the driver's side plug closest to the firewall. If you're already in there moving stuff around to get to plugs, you're already clearing a path to the PCV.

 

recommend only-oem. They are cheap on ebay w/shipping included from lots of dealers. Non-oem may not open/close as speced.
If they clog, they will contribute to engine oil contamination although there's a second vent hose on the engines to keep from blowing out gasgets. I've also cleaned them so theoretically they can last indefinitely.

 

I was looking into this today, and the service manual refers to this as the ventilation valve (in my manual, page EC-14)

For installation, torque the PCV to 20 ft lbs.

 

Sub'd for later use, thanks!

 

I did this about a week ago when I was doing the spark plugs. Quick and easy as it was supposed to be.

 

Seal blow out is a very real problem;
Had a front main seal blow out on an old '99 Plymouth voyager; the hose routing for the pcv vent allowed for a low spot that leads to the valve cover. So when the pcv plugged up, moisture started building in the engine and was being expelled thru the vent hose, except the low spot collected moisture and one 25F night the water froze. next morning, blow-by pressure in the motor took out the front main seal. (traded it in - a POS and it had mucho other problems anyway).
So on the Tacoma, even if no low spots to freeze, it's possible for it to sludge up and cause the same problem...

 

Sub'd

 

Will be doing mine soon.

 

Subbeeddddd, this will be part of my next oil change

 

Check the hoses. My pcv valve was good but the hose ends were cracked. The breather hose on the passenger side was also cracked. The breather hose is molded with a sharp bend so I couldn't use a standard automotive vacuum hose. I had to pay like $30 at the dealer for it.