Wyatt R.

Question for any who might know. I just bought a 98' 4runner SR5 as a toy/ primary vehicle to keep miles off my boss 302. Vehicle has 176k miles and has a small leak at the rear of both valve covers. No visible smoke is emitting, only the smell of oil on the manifold. Oil level has remained constant since I bought it. Question is should I just leave it until the leak worsens? I know its not really going to damage anything just more of a nuisance. Eventual I will have them changed out, probably first of the year if I can hold out. Advise?

Jomoka

Mine's been doing that lately too. It doesn't use enough to need to add any between oil changes (every 5K miles), but it's *just* barely enough now to get onto the exhaust manifold and make a little burning oil smell occasionally.

I'm about 1K miles from the next oil change, I might try some of that 'high mileage' oil. it has additives that swell seals and gaskets to help minimize leaks. I'm pretty sure the real fix is new gaskets though.

To the extent it's not losing oil very quickly, there's no huge hurry in fixing it.

My wife's '96 has a bunch more miles (258K) and doesn't leak at all!

Wyatt R.

Thanks! I might try that when I change the oil. I expect some leaking since it is 15 years old but considering that its in great shape and lots of service records im happy with the purchase. About to take a road trip with it this weeken, not far only about 300 miles and I'm hoping for no issues. Would be awesome if it made it to 265k miles!

the1998sr5

I bought a 98 sr5 with 160K on it. The valve cover gaskets were leaking just like yours, not enough to be a problem, but annoying to anyone who keeps an eye on it.

Long story short, I put new gaskets on both sides (genuine Toyota parts),
and guess what- it still leaks.

I wouldn't worry about it.

Jomoka

Might also be worth taking a look at the PCV system - if that gets stuck shut/plugged up the crankcase pressure will find some other way out. Usually this involves the crank or cam seals, but it's possible it could lead to some VC leakage as well.

Wyatt R.

Thanks for the help. Other than the leak the vehicle runs great for 176k. Looking forward to toying around with it.

2Whlin

I did mine a few years ago and they started to leak shortly after. Now it's to the point I'm about to do them again. There are two spots you have to seal with high temp sealant, where the cam shaft rest on the front and back. It's in the back where most of these leak. It's a crap design and leads to leaks if you don't seal it properly. This time I'm going over board with sealant. Come to think of it, it's probably those o-rings that are leaking, but you have to remove the cam shaft in order to replace those seals and probably should do that this time!!

islander

I would first check to see if your valve cover bolts are loose. I have a 1997 with 183,000 miles. I just had the very expensive 180k maintenance work done on it and my mechanic pointed out the leak(s). He said that it would cost $500 to replace the gaskets because of labor involved in the tear down. I asked if he could just tighten the bolts but he said that you could warp the valve covers if you tightened them too much.

For my own comfort, I went out and checked the valve cover bolts where the leaks were coming from and low and behold they were loose. Very loose. I just tightened them yesterday to the correct torque settings and we will see if it fixes the problem. I figure its worth a try before I shell out a bunch of cash. Plus the leaks aren't that bad anyway. BTW - the torque setting 53 inch-lbs not 53 ft-lbs like the Chilton manual incorrectly states.

I also looked into replacing the gaskets myself. Seems like its just a PIA and a lot of time but not technically difficult. You just have to remove a the top and bottom intake plenums, throttle body, and a lot of hoses. As long as you label everything you should be g2g.

2Whlin

Just did mine over the weekend. Weather was cold and rainy all weekend so pulled it in the garage and took my time. All the bolts were loose, but the rubber crush washer gromets were hard so tightening them would probably not have solved the leak problem? I probably need to check them again in 6 months, but you have to pull every thing off again to get to driver side bolts!! I did notice lots more oil in the plenum than last time. This motor has over 250K miles on it. I repalced the spark plugs and wire too while I had it all apart. Runs great now!! Sad to say I neglected to change out the spark plugs and wires for too long!! Truck was running like crap and now it's got tons of pep and no more misfire !@@!

UKrunner

I just completely rebuilt my engine and the drivers side valve cover was the only issue. Leaking out of the back side onto the exhaust. It was quite bad so I tore it down, and put a ton of RTV on it and now its fine. Taking the manifolds off, removing the valve cover, cleaning away the oil, sealing, reseating, reassembly took about 90 minutes. Its an easy job.

Jomoka

/\ /\ /\ *ding ding ding*

I finally got around to checking this on mine. It had very slight leakage, both sides damp, the passenger side occasionally leaked enough to get some on the exhaust manifold and make that olde time hoopty burning oil smell.

Got out the socket set and... some of the bolts were *barely* finger tight. As in just holding the extension on the socket I could tighten them some. I snugged down all 4 lower bolts on both sides, they are all pretty loose, some a bit less so than others. I didn't bother with the top bolts because they're behind various things and not as easy to get to, plus there didn't seem to be any leaking going on there. Sprayed some brake cleaner about to clean and dry it up, and after a week, it's still 99% bone dry. Certainly dry enough to no have the slightest worry about it any more.

I guess those crush washers got dry and shrank? Or the gasket shrank? Either way, that's a nice 5 minute fix.

JBurt

I just did the same as Jomoka. Worked great. But like islander said they're don't have a high torque spec. 53 inch pounds is only about 4 and a half foot pounds. You don't want to snap a bolt head, or strip something, or ruin a gasket.

siarl

I have a 95 4Runner that is emitting smoke from the back and directly below the valve cover on the driver's side. I noticed that there it is dark and oily around the bolt corresponding to the outer corner of the valve cover. I don't know if that is the cause but it's what I'm going with right now. Since reading the forum and elsewhere I have noticed that it seems to be a common problem.

Is there a manual or site that I could visit that would walk me through the process of replacing the valve cover gaskets? I have replaced some parts on my 89 22re 4x4 pickup so I am familiar with working on some things that are not too involved such as the head gasket replacement my mechanic did for me on the 89. But I'm no pro. Just from reading the forum I know I can peel back the plenum (is this the fuel injector covering the center?). I can purchase the gaskets and the FIPG (sealant) but are there other items I need to purchase such as hoses etc for this adventure?

I live in a very very remote part of Texas so this would be great if this is something I can do on my own.

Thanks for any advice ya'll can give.