dbui

Valve cover gasket leak oil on the garage floor and smelled oil burn dripping on the exhaust, it been couples week now I did not see anymore oil drips on the floor and the smelled of burn oil. Should I or shouldn't I need to replace the gaskets? if it not broken don't fix it? please advices if you had run into these kind of experience before!

Thanks

salimshah

I would say first check the oil level.

Then try to toque the valve cover (use torque wrench and estimate on the inaccessible ones). You may have to crawl under to reach some.

Use a engine degreaser (not on the electrical or bearings) and clean the old drip.

If leak persists first trace it to the source.

Once it is confirmed that the valve cover is the culprit then go ahead and replace with OEM or felpro.

Salim

dbui

Thanks Salimshah

fastnoypi

what is the milage on your RX and are you on your original plugs?

IMO, re-torquing a valve cover with an original high milage gasket that has lost its elasticity due to the elements and heat is a waste of time. You will be revisiting the oil leak again shortly.

Having the access to get your wrench on the valve cover bolts is already half the battle, so you might as well loosen the ignition harness to make space and replace your rear valve cover gasket and rear plugs while you're back there.

salimshah

I truly respect your opinion, but I have 3 Lexus crossing 100K miles and on all 3, retorquing fixed the leak. So in my universe it can happen. If the gaskets were made of cork, I certainly would not recommend retorquing.

The nice thing is, one has very little to loose. If the cover leaks after the attempt, by all means go ahead and replace the gasket.

As things age, there is a larger concern about accidental damage. So do the necessary, but minimum has been my motto.

Salim

fastnoypi

No doubt its a great thing that retorquing worked in your case. But you are on borrowed time for the gamble. If you inspect and compare the suspect valve cover gasket to a new one, you will know it has shrunk considerably. You will also notice alot of small cracks in the rubber formed from the heat. That is why the clamping power of the original torque spec applied no longer holds.

Since the leak is in an area that you have to remove the intake manifold to access all the valve cover bolts, I view the task similar to that of replacing your water pump at the time of a timing belt service. It is already a considerable effort in an awkward space you hope you don't see in another 100k miles, so why not freshen up the surrounding wear items and avoid double labor? After all, its just 9 valve cover bolts to remove/replace after removing the coil packs.

There is always the concern about accidental damage, thats why they are accidents Thats why understanding how the fasteners, clips and hoses are secured and unsecured is very important.

For the most part, most of the fasteners are pretty simple around the RX300 engine in the form of push clips and wire looms secured by nuts. Unsecuring vacuum hoses from plastic barbs is possibly the most delicate procedure as you can break a barb off a pricey solenoid. Some heat from a heat gun to warm the hose helps tremendously so you can twist and slide the vacuum hose off easily.

gazi001

If he could extra torqued the screws (9) of valve cover why not replace the gasket which cost about $16.00 dollar? I have one rear valve cover gasket extra for free.

salimshah

No! Never overtorque.

$16 for gasket is a very good price. What material and make did you get?

Salim

gazi001

Oem Toyota brand with discount.

dbui

Thank you all for your great advices. My baby is 250k change timming bets and cam 2x already, I think time to change the valve cover gaskets and spark plugs seal, plenum gasket and grommet the whole set since I pay the mechanic for this job!

thanks

salimshah

Sounds good specially if you are getting in there.

Just make sure your mechanic uses quality products.

Salim

dbui

Thanks Salim,

I will take your advices OEM part or Felpro for my baby.