Yota_Stomper

thanks for the clarification on turning the engine over... and yeah I know that if the bearing caps are to tight then it will act like a vice grip on the camshafts and they don't move properly / freely.

quick follow up...
I don't know why my torque wrench was acting up last night, but it's working much better now and BOY! am I glad I checked them again! (for at least the 3rd, maybe 4th time).

The wrench was clicking very clear and I know damn well several of those bolts were less at 12 ft. lbs... at this point I'm confident those bolts are tightened down where they need to be.

Yota_Stomper

Well, after spending lots of time cleaning my valve cover, then the bolts I installed the valve cover... or tried too at least until this happened.



I told you my stupid torque wrench was tweaky! It was set to 15 ft. lbs.!!

ARRG

You can see from the pic there was oil on the bolt... but the bolts were all dry and crusty looking... even after I cleaned them I put a little oil on the bolts.

Also I remember that when I found the valve cover 1/2 the bolts were only finger tight and the others weren't much tighter... it's possible the bolts were already stretched and weak which was partly why they had gotten so loose.

So, I think it could be that:
a. torque wrench crapped on me.
b. oil slicked it too much reducing friction so that 15 ft. lbs could not be reached before bolt failure.
c. the bolts were already stretched and weak and failed before 15 ft. lbs.
d. b and c
e. all of the above.

anyways I think the bolts were already weak... cuz I was super careful and light with the torque wrench.. I kept thinking, "Where the heck is the click" I was only turning the torque wrench with 1 finger... but I had to keep turning it because there was no increase in resistance. I know there was a lot of play because the rubber washers and gasket... I kept switching back to a regular wrench to make sure it wasn't crazy tight... but I kept turning and the resistance would not increase..

I kept going slow, then BAM! broken bolt.

moreover I was able to back the broken bolt out with a set of plyers and I didn't even have to use my kung fu grip.

Well... I guess at this point I'll wipe off the bolts and put them in dry and get a replacement for the broken bolt

EDIT: interesting... the toyota service bolt the same size and thread as the valve cover bolt... Woo hoo!!!

.
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Texas_Ace

I would look into another torque wrench. I would get a 0-100ft/lb personally if you only have one. Not much need for more then that for most car needs. And if you need more it is usually just a matter of cranking it as hard as you can lol.

Lucky for you that is a simple fix but if you get a new wrench, get it now and recheck the cam caps.

Yota_Stomper

This is killing me... I'm scared spitless I'm gonna shear off another bolt.

I went and bought a new torque wrench... I even set it to 12 then to 10lbs... but those damn bolts won't get tight enough... I keep going slowly.. been doing this for over and hour... every turn feel's like it gonna break...

the washers with the rubber under them are all bent and deformed... just to get to 10 lbs.

The Toyota FSM doesn't even mention torque specs for these... the haynes said 15... I'm not even to 10 and I feel like they are going to sheer off...

I quick google search found this.

http://www.customtacos.com/forum/sho...d.php?t=152462

I actually got 1 of them to 10lbs.. almost had a heart attack... screw it they are tight engouh

Texas_Ace

On the valve cover bolts there is no need for an exact torque. I just do them by feel personally.

If you get an oil leak go back and tighten them down a little more.

Also as the gasket crushes they will keep going and going which is what you are feeling.

Dirt Driver

The valve cover bolts/nuts/grommets/whatever don't need anywhere near 10lbs. 3-5lbs is more like it, but you would really need an inch-pound wrench to hit a low value like that. Really, precision is not important here anyway.

You could probably get them about right by just twisting the wrench extension with your hand.

Yota_Stomper

OK Guys... well I put it back together this morning and she's running great! Better than ever

actually.. I fininshed last night at close to 1am. Put it all back together, put in oil and filled up the radiator and it wouldn't start... it just turned over and all of sudden a ton of fuel was pouring out of the engine under the truck.

I thought it was the 3rd injector cuz it was loose... and I was like DAMN! I'm gonna have to take the whole air intake plenium off to get to that and see how on earth I can fix it... but I needed someone else to key the ignition in the truck for me so I could watch under the hood and see where the feul leek was coming from....

So I waited until this morning to do it and great news!!

It was only the connector bolt to the fuel rail that was loose, and I could reach it easily... 3 half turns with my rachet and it was nice and tight.

Fixed!

started right up and it's been running great! ( so far. LOL)
I didn't think I'd notice a boost in power.... but guess what? It's got more power! and it's running smooth as silk... it idles so quiet I can hardly even tell it's running. I can't wait to see the improvement in gas milage

hopefully you guys won't hear back from me on this.

I spent the day cleaning up the drive way and the garage... and spent time with my family (finally) b4 going back to work tomorrow...

Nice to know that my truck is fixed and that I got to spend at least one day with my wife and kids instead of being covered with grease. LOL

So, everything is good for today, but I put her back together with the cracked manifold... and it was smoking like hell but, hehe.. I know that's normal right after it's put back together.
So anyways, I'll be ordering new pacekeeper headers tomorrow.. and I'll install those bad boys in a couple weeks and I'll be looking to change out the stablizer bar bushings soon too.

Can't thank you guys enough for all the help and encouragement you gave me. Especially you TA. There's no way I could have pulled this off myself. I really appreciate all the great advice and instruction from everyone.

rworegon

Well done, Yota!

Texas_Ace

Good job!

Be sure to change the oil and coolant after ~500miles and oil again after ~another 1000-1500miles. While not as important as a bottom end rebuild always better off safe then sorry. You can use cheap walmart oil for these first oil changes before going to synthetic.

Might also run a light water/seafoam treatment before the 500 mile oil change to help clean out any left over oil/coolant in the cylinders.

Yota_Stomper

OK... 500 miles and no leaks, no problems... getting ready to do an oil change. thx again for the help everyone it's great to have a working truck again

TA: disregard the PM... I'll use the cheap stuff for this oil change... after another 1000-1500 miles I change to the good stuff....

but what type of synthetic should I use? any suggestions?

p.s. My 2004 toyota oem mini header / manifold just arrived (doing the conversion from this sticky https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f2/o...l-pics-157752/)... I"m prepping that now.. I think I'll probably make a new thread for that.

Texas_Ace

I had a PM? lol

I prefer AMSoil personally, I run the 0w-30 myself and it works great.