Hi,
I have been trying to look for a DIY for replacing the Valve Gasket Cover on my RX330 2004. in my last maintenance check, the dealer said it was leaking some oil and the gasket cover needs to be replaced, however they want 600 only for labor! so i wondered how difficult it was.

Thank you

 

I just did the front (left) valve cover gasket, it is straight forward.

Basically:

Disconnect battery (always a good idea, I did not )

Remove the silver cover over the engine and the black cover over the power steering reservoir.

Drain enough coolant to empty the upper radiator hose (about 24 oz)
Remove upper radiator hose

Remove front spark plug coils

Disconnect the front fuel injector connectors and a couple of sensors and unbolt (requires an external torx socket size E-6, although vise grips should work) the wiring harness and move out of the way.

Disconnect hose going into the top of the valve cover.

Unbolt and remove valve cover. It will probably be stuck and require a couple of knocks from a piece of wood and a hammer.

Clean surfaces. There will be some RTV to be cleaned off, remember where this is as you will have to put fresh RTV there. It's pretty obvious where and why. (4 spots on the drivers side, 2 spots on the passenger side)

RTV the above mentioned spots on the cylinder head with hi temp RTV. A thin layer is sufficient.

Reinstall cover and tighten up bolts in steps. According to Haynes 71 in-lbs (8 NM) is final torque.

Reinstall everything else.

I let the car sit for 24 hours to let the RTV fully cure, that was probably over-kill, but I would wait a few hours anyways

I have not done the rear. Haynes says you have to remove the upper intake manifold, even doing that, access looks tough.

Hope this helps, Joe

 

Was the head pretty clean under there?

 

I'm surprised you need a valve cover gasket so early in it's life. How many miles does it have?

 

It was very clean as I expected for an engine with 62,000 miles whose oil has been changed every 5,000 miles. I meant to take pictures but.....
62K. It started seeping oil about 10,000 miles ago and slowly got worse. Once the smell of warm oil started driving me crazy I finally fixed it. Oil loss was still barely noticeable over the 5K oil change interval. I was starting to see oil in the plastic pan under the engine.

 

So what oil are you using? Just curious. ^^

 

Oil changes 1K thru 45K were done by the dealer, so presumably Toyota 5W-30

50/55 K Mobil One
60K Pennzoil Platinum (got it cheap)

 

Sounds like they were using a decent oil then if everything was clean under there.

 

thank you Joe, I will buy both cover from the dealer and a friend of mine will try to do it for me , I'll print your instructions for him, in case he needs it.
I'll let you know how it goes with the rear one

 

anyone else done this yet?

 

anyone else for the rear cover?

 

I did the rear valve cover a couple of years after I did the front. Alchemist's guide for changing the rear spark plugs will get you most of the way.

I removed the cowl. It is not that hard and gives a lot more room to work.

Getting the valve cover back on is a little tricky since there is a major wiring harness above it that you have to slide the cover under. I used a small amount of RTV to attach the gasket to the cover so the gasket stays in place while you are sliding it under the wiring harness. Also I had a helper pull up on the harness while i was installing the cover.

 

Hey Joe - after you changed the front cover, did you still continue to have a leak? Was that the impetus to do the rear?

 

My front valve cover started leaking first so I fixed it and hoped I would not have to deal with the rear cover. About 10,000 miles later the rear started leaking so I fixed it once I started seeing oil on the plastic cover under the engine.

 

Not a DIY'er when it comes to something like this, what can I expect a reasonable charge to be for the valve cover replacement? The covers have just started seeping oil. Also a possible tune-up, doing due to age, as mileage is 70k. Thanks in advance.