My Fj just hit 265k miles, I found a leak the other day of oil in the spark plug holes from the head cover gasket on the drivers side. Are there going to be any technical steps to take before removing any parts around the head covers? I've tried to DIY things in this fj and ended up with a check engine light coming on. Before I open all of this up is there anything that I should look out for that I can break or sensitive enough to turn on the check engine light? Are there gaskets, vacuum lines, or anything else that can cause issues. My Fj is my only vehicle at the moment so if you've changed head cover gaskets on the 1GR-FE engine I'd like to hear about it. There's very little information about it online. Its a 2011 FJ, 1GR-FE engine w/ 265k miles. Any information that you can share before I go and open it up would be appreciated! Thanks.
Replacing head cover gaskets on a 1GR-FE engine. (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter 92RedToy
- Start date
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I've done this and it's not terribly difficult but there are a lot of steps including removing all of the air intake system, detaching the wiring harness that runs to each coil pack and little vacuum hoses and wiring harness clips. You just need to be careful and pay attention to things as you remove them - take lots of pictures that you can reference later as you put it back together. I would recommend cleaning the engine compartment as best you can before you get started. Then after you remove the air intake manifold clean some more before the valve covers come off. My wiring harnesses were caked in dust that was hard to keep out of the top end and you have to maneuver these wiring looms a lot to get the covers off. And the wiring loom material is now brittle and breaks easily - so be careful not to let pieces of plastic drop into the engine. Be sure to block off the intake ports on the top of the engine so that debris doesn't drop into them.
You'll want to grab some small coolant hose clamps to pinch off the lines that connect to the throttle body assembly. Picture #1 below. While you have the air intake off, you might as well replace the "6-pack" gasket too.
You'll want to grab some small coolant hose clamps to pinch off the lines that connect to the throttle body assembly. Picture #1 below. While you have the air intake off, you might as well replace the "6-pack" gasket too.
The most difficult part for me was the valve cover attachment at the fire wall on the driver side. I was able to prop it high enough to change the valve cover gasket without removing the cover.
