maniax

iTrader: (3)

Today i replaced both my front and rear valve cover gasket since it was heavy engine repair day in drivability class.

My front VCG was barely leaking......just seeping through very little. while my rear valve cover gasket was actually leaking oil......like 4 drops/2 hours.

So me and two other friends proceeded with this job(rear valve cover gasket). We first had to disconnect mad sensors and vacuum hoses and what not. After all the sensors, vacuum lines, clamps, hidden bolts, we were finally able to take off the intake manifold. it was a real pain in the butt. took us like 1 1/2 hour to do this. Then we took off the valve cover and realized that the old valve cover gasket had a very tiny rip along the rear of the gasket. So we decided that it was the culprit of the leak. Then we just poped out the old gasket and the spark plug rings or whatever u call them. Then we put some Black RTV along the groove, set the new gasket in and then we left it upside down for about two hours since we had a break for 2 hours. After we came back, we just carefully set the valve cover on w/o damaging the gasket. Then the fun part comes......plugging in all the sensors, wires, bolts and after two hours we finally had it back together. YAY!
Then my friend sed lets do the front valve cover gasket since its so easy to access. The front was definitely very easy compared to the back. It took us about half an hour to do the front. a walk in the park.

So it took us a total of mayb 4 1/2 hours to do the front and back gaskets not including the time we left it for two hours. It was our first time working on a toyota v6. so it wasnt bad. I'm just so glad its done and DONE RIGHT! we were very careful with the gaskets and we torqued the valve cover to 5ft-lbs.

I saved myself alot of money by doing this myself. The gaskets for front and back were $31 from napa. Black RTV was free cuz the teacher lend it to me. This job woulda prolly cost me 500$ in a shop. I just hope it will last for another 100,000 miles because i definitely dont wanna pull the intake manifold off again. my car is at 70k miles btw

well here's two pics i snapped with my cell phone while the manifold was off:

Leets

congrats on the work

... now it's only a matter of time before you get to the point that I'm at where you pull the manifold off just because you're bored and figure it could always benefit from a good, thorough cleaning.

3rdelement

iTrader: (1)

congrats!

im sure at home on my 24" lcd monitor those pictures wont look so huge but gotta makem a little smaller.

ServerTech

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Pheonix

Awwww don't worry about that 4 1/2 hours. You'll get to where you can get all of it off in 4 1/2 min like me.
You'll definately want to take that thing apart and clean it out, along with the IAC/EGR/Throttle valves! If nothing else just for general maint. & to get back to stock power.

Damn those pictures dude LoL! You need to photoshop them things down! 512*384 through 960*720 are the "unwritten" rules to forum image posting. In all honesty. Most people try not to go past 720*540 unless there is an outstanding reason. Like details, or just because you can .

papachino

yep, much fun working on V6-FWD engines, PITA, unless you are married to it and know everything front to back like Pheonix I need to find some time for TLC on my car.

bumfighter

i just did mine it cost me 350.00 runs sweet .....

mcelligott

Come on guys, tear it all down!!!

papachino

woah, I am not ready for that yet,I need my car for transportation and definetly don't have the time or tools. I would like to get a cell phone like that, my pics only come up 1/4 of the size

Pheonix

We have a club LoL!







papachino It's not the resolution(size). It's the quality. CPs just don't have the focus range, or detail to pick up a lot of stuff (yet). Give them 5 years tho.

3rdelement

iTrader: (1)

you dont even have to wait that long. Currently there are a few on the market that include 2mp optics.

papachino

yeah, I am looking at those, but I don't know what service they are under

maniax

iTrader: (3)

sorry about the size.....ii didnt know it was that big on my laptop cuz im running high resolution

today my car was making a funny noise like something was loose in the intake manifold.

I take it back to lab and have the teacher look at it......it turns out that the egr pipe right in the back of the intake manifold was missing two bolts.......

I asked my friend who worked on it with me......and he sed he was sure he put in the bolt.....

so my guess is that we forgot to tighten it so it fell out when iwas driving....

but after some trial and error.....fortunately for me i found two replacement bolts that fit the egr pipe perfectly in the lab

so now my car is all good again! =]

papachino

nothing like the school of hard knocks

Trexus

I have a question. Is $515 to change the valve cover gaskets on a 1996 ES 300 reasonable? Longo Lexus has quoted me that amount. I've never changed them before but I'm sure it takes time. If I had the time and if someone were to show me how to do it, I'm sure I would do it myself...