Okay heres my problem.

About a month ago, i let my truck sit for about two days without running it. Then upon start up and a little driving, (few minutes). When i return home i noticed there is smoke coming off the exhaust manifold on the passenger side. Ended up replacing a valve cover bolt and the problem stopped. No more oil leak.

Okay this weekend, i let my truck sit for two days and nights, and i start it up tonight and drive to my friends house and back(about 5minutes) and when i return home, i pop the hood(really don't know why) and notice smoke coming from the same spot(exhaust manifold on the passenger side), i think the oil lead is coming from the valve cover gasket.

Now this truck is a 3.0 L with 246,xxx miles on it. The screw in the fuel pressure regulator went out and caused a fire. We ended up locktighting it back in(still holding, this will give me a chance to inspect it!, THink locktight will hold???) Long story short my family and i ended replacing the wireing harness, and just about everything in the passenger side corner near the back of the engine compartment. I think the fire must have weakened the gasket. Therefore if you guys think of anything else i should take a look at while they are off Please let me know!

So this weekend i plan on replacing the gaskets for the valve covers , any other suggestions on what to do while the plenum and valve covers are off??


sorry for the novel, just thought id give as much info to possibly help you know the history.

Thanks a bunch!!!!!!!!

 

Is there any parts back there that should be replaced or at least inspected?

 

I wish I could tell you but I'm not real super familiar with these 3.0's or any Toyotas yet for that matter. I would do a hands on check of all the rubber & plastic, if it crumbles replace it. The cam cover (valve cover) gaskets are rubber & harden over time even without an engine fire. I took the one off my drivers side a couple weeks ago & it was so brittle it just shattered like hard plastic; no elasticity left at all! I have about 180K miles on mine btw. I also noticed the fuel injector plugs were the same way, brittle; so if you look I'm sure you'll find plenty that needs done all on your own....I don't envy you having to take the plenum off for a stupid valve cover gasket....I need to do the same thing & I've been putting it off

 

If you already have the valve covers off do yourself a favor and check/adjust your valves. I'm convinced that the 3.0 burned valve problem could be resolved with more frequent valve clearance check and adjustment intervals.

 

 

Yes!!! <<<Adjust the valves!!>>>> Very good idea. You'll need shims for that. Inspect and/replace any old coolant lines....there are a few smallish ones. And, I'd inspect, clean, or replace any of the temp sensors at the back of the manifold.

 

my truck does the same exact thing its an oil trickle that gets on the exhaust manifold and burns off. Its not going to hurt anything just going to be annoying if anything.

 

Yea but ive already had one fire, i don't want another.

How hard is it to do a valve adjustment? I have a manual but just would like to hear from anyone who has done one.

 

also what about changing the pcv valve? ive heard about that but still am not sure

 

Well it is always a good idear to change the PVC Valve. This is cheap, and can have some good benifits as well.

 

follow the procedure in the manual to check the valve clearances.

Actually setting them is a bit of a PITA though. You must depress the follower and hold it down by the edge while you extract the valve shim,(Or you could take the timing belt loose and remove the camshaft to do this) then measure the thickness of the shim, and replace it with the correct thickness to bring the clearance into spec.

example:
Valve clearance is .006" (spec is .008"-.010")
Valve shim thickness is .195"
Replace the valve shim with one that is .192" to bring the clearance to .009"

All of the above numbers are for reference only and do not reflect the actual values you will probably find

Vic's tip.... if you have several valves that are out of spec, you can often move shims from one to the other to set some then you reduce the number of new ones that you have to buy. Just make sure you flip them over so the side that is not worn goes against the cam.

replace the PCV valve and the little u-shaped hose that goes to the sensor housing on the back of the intake manifold.