Batsoff

Hello All... I'm almost ready to to replace the VGCs, but I just need a little more room to slide the valve covers back in place.

Any pointers from looking at these pictures? The wire harness at the top of the valve covers is a pain in the arse. Is there any way to get that out of the way?

Passenger Side:


Driver Side:


I'm in a pretty good spot, just hoping I can make a little more room before I pick it up again tomorrow.

Many Thanks...
- batsoff

2000 SR5 Sport with 5spd
144,000 miles

Mtn Mike

iTrader: (1)

Looks like you're on the right track. The wiring harness on the drivers side is the real pain. I followed someone's advice here and wrapped the harness in electrical tape. That kept the brittle plastic from crumbling and falling into the valve train as I pried it out of the way. Another thing that makes it a pain is that it's hard to retorque that side because three of the valve cover bolts are covered by the intake plenum. I have no idea how you're supposed to retorque them. But anyway, you're almost there. good luck.

terminator

iTrader: (1)

Let me know how it goes, those harness are a true PITA for sure. I pulled some VCs from the JY and painted them black, to clean up the engine bay if I ever attempted the VC replacement but after thinking it over I'm not going to do it. Too much trouble and my luck I'd develop some kind of leak afterwards. You wouldn't be interested in them would you? I painted them to look like a black wrinkle finish, looks good.

Red3.slow

Looks like a PITA, but if it makes you feel any better your valve train looks sparkling clean.

250000_yota

When my master tech and I did them at the dealership, we always pulled them lightly away from the valve train with a bungie chord. Just put enough tension on it to get it away from the valve train. The wrapping it in electrical tape sounds like a good idea too, just for keeping the plastic guides from shattering...

Batsoff

Thanks for the words of encouragement... getting ready to dive back in shortly.

I like the bungee idea of holding back the wire harness, just need to get it out of the way.

J2F42C

+1 on the bungee. I never thought of that. When I helped a friend do his, we used 24" zip ties. Good electrical tape is mandatory for the plastic pieces as well as wire loom.

Your valve train is quite clean. How many miles? What type of oil/weight do you use....

250000_yota

I always keep bungee chords around when I'm workin. They work great for holding up a brake caliper, or holding something out of the way. They don't like getting oily too much though. Tends to make them break prematurly...

Marley2984

I know this is an old thread but I'm resurrecting it anyway. Last night I was changing plugs and saw that the plugs on the passenger side head smelled of gas and had some oil on them mostly on the front and middle. I did just recently change an overdue PCV valve though so I wonder if that was causing the oil I saw.... but the gas smell confused me. This head I discovered a month or two ago was leaking small amounts of oil down the back side and flashing on the manifold smelling of oil... after discovering the bolts just worked loose I tightened and the issue went away.

I had changing the valve cover gaskets as a DIY project I was researching to do myself since I will be spending alot of money having a shop very soon do the timing belt/water pump/thermostat/radiator replacement/coolant flush etc......but after reading this post I don't think my amateur skills are meant to tackle it. Ideally I would like to tackle replacing the VCG's mostly because I want to see inside the head to know what it looks like and also to clean the valve cover really well to see if there is ever another leak. I was using the below as references that I saved to use but am very intimidated my removing the plenum and the issues identified in this thread above. I want the gaskets changed and possibly the spark plug tubes? if they were what was causing the gas smell on the plugs.

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f2/5...beware-149594/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IThNiZcs4bI