smm3

Well i finally had a chance to tear into my PS valve cover. My LS has 130K miles on it. The gasket was leaking enough to drip oil on the exhaust manifold and cause the burning oil smell. All of my bolts were finger loose. I decided it was still time to change the gasket instead of just tightening and hoping that stopped the leak.

Here are a couple of pics of my valve cover and the top end of my engine. I was alarmed at the gunk on the top of the cover. I took the cover to my Lexus guy. he said he wouldn't worry too much about it. said he had seen much cleaner and also much worse.....Thought I would post them up for others to see.

Will tear into the DS once I get this cover cleaned and reinstalled.

spike_um

iTrader: (3)

Thanks for taking the pictures. I replaced the valve and sparkplug gaskets in my civic the other weekend and there was about the same amount of buildup / sludge.

smm3

Does anyone have any suggestions for cleaning out some of the sludge build up in my engine? BY that I mean something run through the crankcase or similar. I don't plan on touching the internals all that much. Don't want to make the situation any worse.....

I have used Carb cleaner to clean up most of the sludge off of the valve cover. It looks much better.

Jabberwock

What oil type and what change intervals had you been running on the car? Have you owned it since new?

I'd run some high detergent synthetic oil in it for a few cycles. Maybe some M1 High Mileage or Penzoil Platinum for a few oil change cycles, changing every 3k for 4-5 OCIs to take advantage of the detergent properties of the oil.

smm3

I bought the car with 123K miles on it. It was purchased from a Lexus dealer that performed an oil change when I bought it. Now has 130K and I have had 1 oil change done. it has conventional oil in a 5W30 weight. The car had good service history from carfax showing regular oil changes.

Once you switch over to synthetic, you can't switch back correct? I had planned to keep the car for 100K or so. I looked for this car for 3 months and thought I had found a good one. My indy Lexus mechanic told me not to worry "too" much about the sludge buildup. Said it should run another 100-200K with no problems as long as I maintained it the way it should be...

Jabberwock

Yea it might be fine like that but I would change to a good high detergent synthetic - high mile formula Syn oil is way better at gradually dissolving varnish and potential sludge in a high mile motor. And its much better to do it gradually.

There is no reason not to run a good syn oil in the car. And you can always go back to dino oil if you want but why would you? We are talking about a few bucks for Syn - very little price difference - btw - buy and bring in your own oil and toyota filter. Than you are just paying labor charge for oil change.

There is lots of stuff on the web about avoiding things like special motor oil treatments and special engine "flush" treatments - as being too drastic and potentially harming more than hurting - but I personally have no direct experience - just pays to be careful.

tcr101

iTrader: (2)

wow your valve covers are DUUURRTTTTY... i swapped out my valve cover gaskets around 205k and they werent as dark :O

just a heads up for anyone planning to tackle the DIY valve cover gaskets.. you will need a 12mm? (or 10mm i forget but its the standard size) swivel head socket and a 8 inch extension.

When your re-installing the valve cover and the new gasket, take extra care when you are re-seating it. When i was doing mine, it was almost fitting so I jerked on it and got it to fit.. Turns out my gasket was hung up on another piece and ripped the gasket into two.

After removing the VC 3 times I got pretty good at it. 1 side of the VC Gasket could be done in 2 hours

smm3

Here is a pic of the cleaned valve cover and one with the new gasket. I haven't driven it yet since the Ultra Grey directions said to let it cure for 24 hours. Guess I will find out tonight if everything went as planned.

smm3

Its a 10mm and yes it is very tight when trying to get the cover back on. I put it back on without the gasket the first time just to see how the best way to get it back on without messing up the gasket or the sealant I had just put on the corners.

smm3

Thanks for the advice. I am seriously considering switching to a synthetic at the next oil change.

Swagga82

just wondering i have a stupid question can not changing your seals cause you car to burn oil or smoke that blue smoke out the tail pipes ,,,my es 300 when i used to start it up in the morning used to blow out blue smoke and was always low on oil every week i will hate to know i got rid out the car when i just could of changed the seals and been up and runing perfectly fine

smm3

I really don't know the answer to your question. Maybe one of the other members can answer that. If your valve cover gaskets are leaking, it will cause a burning smell though. In the LS 430 case, the oil drips on the exhaust manifold heat shield and burns. Sorry i can't be of more help.

tcr101

iTrader: (2)

if im not mistaken, if your blowing blue smoke out the tailpipes means your leaking oil somewhere... if its the valve cover gaskets, I believe (as posted above) oil drips onto your headers.

Its possible it was as simple as VC Gaskets, but you wont really know until you take a look at it.

Swagga82

i hope not it will be sad to know i so;d my es 300 so cheap for somethin that simple

cyclehead

Smoke won't come out of the tailpipe as a result of leaking valve cover gaskets. Valve cover gaskets just leak on the exterior surface of the engine. Blue smoke at startup sounds more like leaking valve stem seals - which are much harder to fix than a valve cover gasket.

I just found my RH valve cover gasket slobbering oil onto the plastic belly pan while doing my first oil change since I bought the car. I just LOVE surprises!