Zacharias

Hello all.

Last February I had my wrench do the rear (Bank 1) VC gasket on my '96. Sadly I did not listen to the advice on the forum and I bought an aftermarket gasket. Guess who now has worse leaks than last February. SIGH. I can barely drive the car due to the smoke coming in and the stink.

Here is my question: my wrench had an awful time trying to work around the wiring harness that runs across the back of the engine. I insisted that there must be a connector somewhere, or maybe a bracket holding the harness, that could be unplugged or loosened to give some slack. He couldn't see one and honestly neither could I, nor could a second wrench-savvy customer who was there at the time. My back was in bad shape at the time and I wasn't even able to bend over with a light to look properly, however. And my wrench is a BMW/VW/Mercedes guy so he wasn't exactly swimming in his usual pool.

I had previously watched a video, I believe by Speedkar, that covered this and as I recall he just lifted the harness out of the way so as to give some space to work. Now granted he was working on a Solara, not an ES. That particular day the car was in the shop, of course I couldn't get the video to load on my mobile.

Anyway, it got done but with huge effort trying to work around the harness. Now that we have to do this again, I am praying for someone to tell me there is a workaround for that harness.

I should note that I am in the northeast and the particular climate where I live -- extremely cold winters and equally extreme summer temps -- tends to make wiring harnesses hard as rock. This may not be as significant an issue in California.

Thanks

PFB

Search on YouTube. I remember watching some video tutorials on that subject that would be specifically applicable to you car

Where are you in Quebec? I'm in Montreal.

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

Not sure about Gen 2, but on Gen 3 there are bolts that hold the harness in place. They're a little tricky to find, but if you remove enough of them, the harness lifts up enough to remove the valve cover. To make re-installation easier, use a bungy cord to keep the harness propped up and out of the way.

speedkar9

In my video I briefly mentioned those two hidden connectors: the power steering pump and the rear oxygen sensor (which I ripped off lol). My Solara has the same 1MZ engine as your 96, so I'd assume it would be very similar.
As for the leaks, did you use two 5/16" washers on the old bolts as I suggested, or did you buy brand new bolts for the rear valve cover? They have crush washers on them that need to be built up in order for them to be properly torqued again.

Zacharias

Aha. I know we had the rear oxygen sensor unplugged as my mechanic remarked on the poor condition of it. Not sure about the PS pump connector. Probably not.

I didn't watch the entire video so sorry, I missed the crush washer thing and I only just found out about those bolts being one-time use in another YT video. DOH.

I should say that not only am I generally a Swedish/German car guy (as is my wrench) but I am also a dieselhead to boot. So a transverse gas V6 is about as far off my patch as you can imagine. This is the first Japanese car I have owned, apart from an Accord for six months in '86, and the first gasser in quite a while.

So now that I know this, is it really that necessary to use the factory gasket? I must admit that none of the other YT video guys, one of whom is pretty up with using OE stuff, use the factory VC gasket. (I know how it is on forums, people here will say using aftermarket is no good, etc.)

Thanks for the help.

WILLYumD

In speedkar's video and in my own car, a Fel-Pro gasket is used. I'm not sure what you mean by aftermarket, but I opted out of buying the OEM Toyota/Lexus gasket for the Fel-Pro one, and haven't had any problems.
You can find them here along with other choices. They range from $12 without the spark plug tube seals to $25 with them. (Fel-Pro set is $20.)

And about the wiring harness, my 194k ES had it so bad that the plastic was crumbling as I held it in my hand, I had to wrap it in some heatshielding.

Zacharias

I am embarrassed to admit that I purchased a "no name" kit off eBay. From an apparently reputable vendor, mind you.

I had only recently got the car and was in a temporary bind, $$$ wise. I happened to have some money in my PayPal account so it seemed like a good idea at the time.

My remarks were because I did some searches on the forum and IIRC there were posts predicting the end of human life on earth, were one to use a non OE gasket. LOL.

speedkar9

I wouldn't hesitate to use a Fel-Pro gasket again, they worked out great. So far no leaks, and its been 3 years since I shot that video.
I have a feeling though that its not just your no-name gasket that caused your leak, but the valve cover bolts that haven't been torqued down properly (or too tightly).

Regardless, take your time and label everything, and take it apart and do it right this time. It took me 2.5 days to do mine, including shooting the video. If you want to be really thorough, remove the intake manifold and change the coolant bypass hose and knock sensor harness.