Valve cover gasket tips (1 Viewer)

[a31gun]

No dremel needed.


Tear out center rotten rubber.
Pry up tabs a bit.
Bend up tabs with needle nose (curved work well)
Pry out seals.
Clean (Emery cloth and a little brake cleaner)

Insert new seal.
Seat with thumbs or correct socket.
Bend tabs back down.

 

[Qtonic]

@a31gun Is the orientation correct on your installed photos? Looks upside down.

The Fel-Pro kit seemed alright for the gaskets and washer seals, but I think their tube seals are sub-par. I ordered those OEM.

 

[a31gun]

@Qtonic , yes the tube seal look wrong, but no this is correct installation orientation for the aftermarket felpro kit. Made this way to slide over the plug tubes. I did me research and also stated this way from felpro.

 

[a31gun]

Question for anyone... so my PCV hose was stiff as a board. My new PCV valve did not come with the factory 90°. Tried to cut and maneuver original hose with no luck.

Can this hose be any hose that fits correctly and doesn't collapse or shrink? Or is this hose specific material for its location and purpose ?

 

[ItGoesTo11]

@a31gun Is the orientation correct on your installed photos? Looks upside down.

The Fel-Pro kit seemed alright for the gaskets and washer seals, but I think their tube seals are sub-par. I ordered those OEM.

You are correct. I also had trouble with the FelPro seals, they are slightly too large to fit properly. I threw them away and bought OEM from the dealer. They fit perfectly.

 

[ItGoesTo11]

@Qtonic , yes the tube seal look wrong, but no this is correct installation orientation for the aftermarket felpro kit. Made this way to slide over the plug tubes. I did me research and also stated this way from felpro.

Are you sure? usually the spring on the lip of any seal goes TOWARDS the oil side...not away.

 

[a31gun]

Hell guys I thought I did a thorough search. I may have just screwed myself on this one. Other posts showed this was correct. And felpro stated this was correct.

I hope I'm not wrong.......

 

[ItGoesTo11]

Ok....I'm finishing up my passenger side. Everything went smooth. Now for the silicon.....
Do I dab the corners on the motor itself or under my gasket on the valve covers too. Quick reply needed.

Well, I guess the job is complete now...but to clarify, you dab sealant only at specific areas on the mating surfaces. Specifically at the 90 degree bend at the front of the engine where the head turns upward towards the cam belt. You do not use it all the way around according to the FSM.

 

[ItGoesTo11]

Hell guys I thought I did a thorough search. I may have just screwed myself on this one. Other posts showed this was correct. And felpro stated this was correct.

I hope I'm not wrong.......

I just did some further research, and you did the install correctly. Fel-Pro appears to have a unique installation method where the orientation is "backwards" to most all other seals. They claim this method makes installation easier. Interestingly, they also claim they won't leak in either orientation, but they are easier to install "backwards".

They likely did this to ease the shadetree mechanic's installation process. Here is the link and info directly from Fel-Pro. 2003 Avalon Spark Plug Tube Gaskets

 

[tjb]

Scraping some of the old seal packing off, I lost a chunk of it somewhere. Don’t see it in the exposed area of the head (just what I can see with the valve cover off).

It was yellowish - not like FIPG. Do I need to find it?

 

[ItGoesTo11]

Scraping some of the old seal packing off, I lost a chunk of it somewhere. Don’t see it in the exposed area of the head (just what I can see with the valve cover off).

It was yellowish - not like FIPG. Do I need to find it?

I'd recommend searching for it. Depending on the size of the material, it could get lodged in an oil passage someplace and cause slowdown or interruption of oil through that passage. Use a bright light and look for all the usual internal engine pathways it could have fallen into.

Also keep in mind it could have fallen outside of the engine, so if you don't find it in the head area, look underneath the vehicle and in areas outside the engine it could have fallen into.

But, if you are unable to locate it at all, depending on the size, if it's small enough it'll wind up in the oil pan by natural oil flow and gravity.

 

[tjb]

I'd recommend searching for it. Depending on the size of the material, it could get lodged in an oil passage someplace and cause slowdown or interruption of oil through that passage. Use a bright light and look for all the usual internal engine pathways it could have fallen into.

Also keep in mind it could have fallen outside of the engine, so if you don't find it in the head area, look underneath the vehicle and in areas outside the engine it could have fallen into.

But, if you are unable to locate it at all, depending on the size, if it's small enough it'll wind up in the oil pan by natural oil flow and gravity.

Thanks, I searched pretty hard. There was some oil gathered near the bottom of the top of the head, but it wasn't in there (I slurped it out). The stuff also floats in oil (field test!), so if it was there it probably would have been easy to spot.

Unfortunately, if it fell in deep right next to cylinder 2, I can't see it. Most likely spot for it, can't find it anywhere else. About the size of half a pinkie toenail, to use the NIST terminology.

 

[Rauhwelt]

The blue sparkplug tube gaskets are Felpro aren't they? (I couldn't use them) I went with OEM.

 

[AlpineAccess]

Just finished this with the felpro kit. No difference between OEM as I see it, and no issues with install.

We bent tabs up on spark plug seals. Flipping valve cover over and knocking them out with a screw driver and rubber mallet. Piece of cake. Installed with a big socket and tap tabs back down with small hammer.

Cover install was easy enough.

Who here is removing the half moon cab lobes and re-sealing them?

 

[LateOnTheBrakes]

I did this job yesterday and thought it was straightforward until I went to drive the truck today and spewed oil all over the ground. I must have knocked the gasket out of its groove on the drivers side or did not tighten the bottom bolt by the firewall tight enough. Any tips on how to torque that back bolt without removing the steering shaft or a combination of u-joints?

 

[084runnerltd]

I did this job yesterday and thought it was straightforward until I went to drive the truck today and spewed oil all over the ground. I must have knocked the gasket out of its groove on the drivers side or did not tighten the bottom bolt by the firewall tight enough. Any tips on how to torque that back bolt without removing the steering shaft or a combination of u-joints?

Ouch, that sucks. Nothing worse than thinking everything was done then have to re-do your work.

On the bright side, you were probably a lot quicker the second time around.

 

[ItGoesTo11]

I did this job yesterday and thought it was straightforward until I went to drive the truck today and spewed oil all over the ground. I must have knocked the gasket out of its groove on the drivers side or did not tighten the bottom bolt by the firewall tight enough. Any tips on how to torque that back bolt without removing the steering shaft or a combination of u-joints?

This is usually a straightforward job, just time and patience is required. So if it's spewing oil, something is way out of alignment. That might be a good thing as it'll be easy to spot.

First, locate where the leak is coming from, that should be easy with a bright flashlight. Check the bolt grommets (you did use new ones right?) Next, trace all the way around the valve cover, the gasket is easy to knock out of alignment when replacing the valve covers, especially towards the firewall. Then, check the spark plug tube seals. And lastly, make sure you plugged the breather tubes back into the valve covers.

My guess is the valve cover gasket itself is out of alignment for that much oil to be hitting the ground.

As far as "torqueing" that back bolt, it only takes a very small torque parameter, (7 ft lbs I think?) so even a decent snug hand tightening would be good enough. A 1/4" drive with a long extension and u-joint will allow you to easily get to it.

 

[Travis Bickle]

Who here is removing the half moon cab lobes and re-sealing them?

Pretty much no reason to.

 

[LateOnTheBrakes]

I am sure I knocked the gasket out of the track. It's spewing right on the first cat in the exhaust. I need to remove the main wiring harness and either remove the dipstick or spin it out of the way. Hopefully not difficult, just time consuming.

 

[LateOnTheBrakes]

Well, I demonstrated what you don't want to do with a new valve cover gasket. My apologies to anyone behind me that I smoke-screened. Not taking any chances this time. I moved everything out of the way.