Well, I've had a slow mysterious oil leak which I thought was burning at first. When I'm stopped after driving and idling I get a wiff of burnt oil like if you were to spill a bit while topping up then drive for a bit. So, it's looking oily where the valve cover meets the head so I'm wondering if the gasket is pooched. I haven't had it off since I've owned the truck (3yrs) and was also thinking about replacing the pcv. So, if I had a friend help out (back injury limits what I can do) how long would this process take. An afternoon? I am mech. inclined so is this a matter of detaching/unplugging whatever in the way, prying (carefully) the cover, scraping old gasket off, new one on and reverse the order? Do you guys use rtv in combination with gasket? What gasket do you recommend...would napa etc be alright? I can't wait too long for anything mailorder but if you highly think it'll make a diff then I will. Any input, tips, advice welcome. Thanks in advance.

 

It would take about 1/2 hour at the most. A vavle cover gasket is super easy to replace. Might as well get some new grommets for the acorn nuts on top, and the half moon plugs that go in front and behind the head where the valve cover meets it. Don't forget to silicone those half moons or use a gasket maker so they don't end up leaking.

You can get all of that relatively cheap at rockauto.com

 

..to add...no need to scrape the gasket. It's not one that needs scraping. It's a silicone or rubber gasket (depending on which one you get) that fits right into a slot all around the bottom of the vavle cover. The only need for RTV is on those half moons.

If you can't wait for one to ship, then go to Toyota locally. The gasket is around $15 from them, the grommets are $5/each, and the half moons are about the same.

 

Valve cover gasket on a 22re is a pretty easy job. It should take less than an hour to do, depending on how your back feels.

The gasket is rubber and fits into a groove on the valve cover. Only use sealant at the half moon shaped plugs, you do not need to smear it all over the entire gasket.

 

Great, thanks guys! Actually just found out I won't need the truck for a few days so I could order online if I had to. I suppose I'd have to wait a little anyways if I went through the dealer. So rockauto...and any other spots? Thanks again...glad to hear it's not too time consuming.

 

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...-cover-139664/

i paid about 50 for all the grommets, gasket, half moons from the dealer

 

All righty...took off my valve cover to check valves and replace pcv valve. What part of the half moon m'bobs do I put the sealant on? Just on the inside portion where it's ribbed or only where it's going to contact the head? Thanks in advance.

 

Okay, so I've looked at the FSM, some other sites and I'm a little baffled at one point in describing where to put the RTV sealant or "seal packing". It states,
"Apply seal packing to the cylinder head installation surface of the plug"(dia.EG1-35 bottom of page) and then "Apply seal packing to the four locations shown" (diaEG1-36 top of page) at the link below.

http://personal.utulsa.edu/~nathan-b.../7cylinder.pdf

On the first diagram do I just smear the inside surface of the plug or just the middle inside?
On the second diagram do I put it exactly where the arrows are on the two corners of each; or does it mean put a bead across both sides, the width of the plug/cyl head?
I've also seen something on one thread about putting it on the "corners"...if so, the inside corners? The top of the plug where it mates with the valve cover? How much?

This seems very simple but it's these simple things that will kick ya in the arse later for not doing it right the first time. Thanks for any help.

 

I always put some around the ribbed side of the plug and then a small dot on each side of each plug where the rubber meets the head and valve cover.

 

Thanks...like small dots on the corner of the top edge of the plug eh?...whew, a little oddly worded. I just noticed that the old plug in the front had sealant on the ribbed part and the inside edge where it meets the head...it was hard to scrap it off trying not to let little bits fall in. The plug at the back had the sealant on the ribbed and then the outside edge only...I wonder if there was any reason for that.