Hey that's great that your PS system is all good! I can't offer too much help on the valve covers as I haven't done mine, but yes speedkar9 truly is a genius. I'm sure his video with help with that process.

 

the valve covers/cam covers have a nut which has a shank. the length of the thread is not enough to properly compress the cover's seal. This is because if you apply oil to the seal (all of it), it will expand. Tighten the bolts until they stop, then a 1/8 of a turn, any more you can (and likely will), break it off in the head. It happened to me on one bolt.

The upper manifold has some awkward bolts which are out of view, between the firewall and the engine. On the (US model), drivers side there is one, it attaches to a bracket, on the passengers side (US model), there are two. One attaches to a bracket, the other is grounding wire. To get them to be easy to release, first undo the hex bolts on the engine which hold the top manifold in place, then once you have released everything else, tighten those bolts back up 'slightly' until they are taking 'some' weight (hand tight?), you will fine the passenger side bolts awkward, and one nut is slightly obstructed, it is do-able with a 10mm and 14mm (or was it 12mm), spanner (shorty).

Oh,
Do the cam cover spark plug seals.


the PVC valve,



some people suggest adding some high temp oil seal from a tube near the cam 'hump' on each bank just to 'be sure'. .. totally your call.

 

Cool, thanks for the info ES300NZ on the bolts' locations and tightening info.

Spark plug seals come with the valve cover gasket set, so I'll be doing those, and the PCV valve and rubber grommet have also been ordered.

I went and bought some metric sockets, a torque wrench, the cleaning supplies, and some coolant in preparation for Saturday. Question about the coolant though, the stuff the shop had wasn't Toyota branded, but it is RED, so I'm not sure if it's okay to use.

 

If you got the NAPA red ...might be okay, but I'm a believer in the Toyota OEM coolant. My son's 1999 ES300 looked factory new after 200K. Just did a timing belt/water pump job. Was amazed by how pristine the cooling system was.

 

It's Beck/Arnley Red Concentrate - from their Coolant Guide it looks like it's specifically for '95-'03 Lexuses and Toyotas. I'm going to give the local Lexus dealership a call and see if they can give me mor einfo, or sell me the OEM stuff.

 

+1, Toyota coolant is fantastic! I'm generally not one to pay that much for coolant, but I make an exception. This stuff is amazing.

 

Toyota brand it is then, especially since I got charged out the nose for the off-brand stuff. I'll get that Saturday morning from the local Toyota dealership.

Got the plenum and throttle body gaskets and PCV valve and grommet, now I just need a few hours of free time!

I'm excited, this is the first major work I've done on a car I drive daily! All the other work has been on a 50 year old Mustang, heh.

 

you are going to need a allen key socket set. (hex)

these things ...


because the upper intake manifold is held on with two 8mm ? or 6mm? hex sockets, and they are proper tight too, so a hand one wouldn't cut it.

 

Ah shoot, I had forgotten about those, but I think my dad might have a set. I'll be sure to check tomorrow. Thanks NZ!

 

There are two more seals that leak oil onto the power steering pump - they're called camshaft seals. You can replace them when doing the timing belt.

 

Well, it took all day, but we got it back together about two hours ago, with just a few problems.

It still runs, which is pretty cool, and the front valve cover looks perfect and should no longer leak.

On the downside, the rear is leaking more than ever, noticeably so. We think the gasket on the lower half got un-seated in the channel when we went to put it back on. So, to the shop it goes, unfortunately. We could do it, since we now know what we're doing, there's just not enough time, especially with a midterm coming up this week.

Oh, and we also snapped two valve cover bolts - one stayed in and seems to be applying pressure somehow, but the other spun and came right out. That's what we get for buying a cheap torque wrench, I suppose.

 

... that sucks dude. if it happened on the back one it might explain the leak.

.. I've got an expensive torque wrench and it still happened :P