An expensive and disappointing day...sigh (4 Viewers)

[Rusty Marlin]

Changing my valve cover gasket and plug tube gaskets today, and cracked the front right corner of the valve cover. Took it nice and easy working it down all round a little at a time and PaTink!
I'm hoping I can reuse the tube seals at least.

And found oil in the dizzy, so need a new of those now too...

And I forgot how much of a PITA changing the belts is...damn what a PITA.
Oh well I'm just whining... it was a long day of ... not succeeding.

 

[COS80]

I sympathize.

 

[LongDuck]

In hindsight - what do you think went wrong with the valve cover? I'd prefer not to ever do that, and like to know about the pitfalls. Sorry that happened,

 

[Fj80oregon]

Good thing those parts are still new available from Toyota! I have never heard of a valve cover cracking, nice work!

 

[Marvelicious]

Changing my valve cover gasket and plug tube gaskets today, and cracked the front right corner of the valve cover. Took it nice and easy working it down all round a little at a time and PaTink!
I'm hoping I can reuse the tube seals at least.

And found oil in the dizzy, so need a new of those now too...

And I forgot how much of a PITA changing the belts is...damn what a PITA.
Oh well I'm just whining... it was a long day of ... not succeeding.

I hate those kinds of days. You get to the end of it and think, "If i'd just rolled over and slept through the whole day, I'd be ahead of where I am now."

 

[Rusty Marlin]

In hindsight - what do you think went wrong with the valve cover? I'd prefer not to ever do that, and like to know about the pitfalls. Sorry that happened,

I didn't follow my gut.
I've been wrenching on stuff my whole life and the torque on the cover bolts felt "right" it was evenly tightened all the way 'round and all the bolts were good and snug. Then I looked at the FSM, just because it was there, and set a torque wrench. Should have went with my gut, they were tight enough.

 

[sgmartz]

I didn't follow my gut.
I've been wrenching on stuff my whole life and the torque on the cover bolts felt "right" it was evenly tightened all the way 'round and all the bolts were good and snug. Then I looked at the FSM, just because it was there, and set a torque wrench. Should have went with my gut, they were tight enough.

It’s a great point. Sometimes you have to differentiate a FSM suggestion and apply your own logic. In the case of a valve cover where it’s 1) not structural 2) doesn’t hold any dynamic loading 3) redundant (10+ bolts) 4) etc. Not judging, I prob would have done the same as you. I bet the torque speed was low too, like 15 ft-lbs.

 

[Kernal]

Sorry that happened, so it cracked as you were tightening down the bolts for the valve cover to the head?

Might be able to have it repaired (welded).

Can you post up a photo of the damaged pieces?

 

[baldilocks]

The area above the baffle plate of the valve cover can become clogged over time so installing a fresh valve cover isn’t a bad idea anyway. I replaced mine when I rebuilt the engine last year.
iIRC, the new valve cover comes pre-loaded with tube seals so you might want to wait on ordering those. Partsouq has the best price despite the distance.

 

[Comet]

That sucks. I feel your pain. The 100 series needs an alternator. I followed the you tube instructions and broke the plug on the back. I also bent some hard lines that once bent may just snap if I bend them back.

I keep forgetting my torque wrench starts at 10 foot pounds on the first click. Started using the inch pounds torque wrench I bought at the same time more often now for the lower torque items.

The “shoulda just slept through the day” is strong at the moment. Watch out for the while you are in there parts that always increase my parts bill.