Went to change my leaking VC gasket....turns out it was cracked. Passenger side towards the firewall.

I'm out of town at my brother's....so I need to get this part ASAP.

I can have a dorman Replacement by Tuesday.... Small town and no parts stores have Toyota. Any experience?

I have to ask, was it a slow leak? and what year?

I think I may have this issue, or a main seal. But I am thinking valve cover gasket.

You can order them with quick shipping from Rockauto.com

It was on passenger side closest to firewall above exhuast manifold. Pretty slow Id say. Could not see a change in oil level.

Cant say specifically about valve cover's but i can vouch for most dorman products. I use them on Police cars and they hold up very well. I can say that cops and emergency personnel are not easy on there cars.

If you decide to do the valve cover gasket replacement yourself, here's a video that @infamousRNR and I did together that will help you out.

I'm thinking your valve cover gaskets were replaced at some point and the person doing it didn't tighten down the bolts evenly causing a flexing of the metal and cracking it. I have a co-worker with a 3rd Gen that had the valve cover gaskets recently replaced and noticed he still had a leak later on. When he took a look inside the engine, he noticed a crack on the front corner of his driver's side valve cover. I told him they should be buying him a new valve cover but they didn't. However, they did waive the labor to replace it. I think what happens is these mechanics with air ratchets and in a hurry to get the job done tighten down one side of the valve cover too much. Then, when they tighten down the other side, the cast metal valve cover is forced to flex which causes it to crack.

I'm learning more and more it's better to do your own work and make sure it's done right. If you're leak isn't that bad, I'd be inclined to just put everything back together and buy an OEM valve cover from Camelback Toyota and do the repair another day.

If there isn't a junkyard nearby, get some JB Weld if the crack isn't too big and use this as a temp fix until you can find a used OEM one. The bolts need to be only a little more than finger tight.

I can't speak for the Dorman 3rd gen 4runner VC but other Dorman VC aftermarket replacements I have used or helped replace have been pure junk. I would have been better off to have just burned the money spent on them.

I agree with @LittleCaesar , Dorman is complete garbage in my experience as well.

Thanks for the video, @mtbtim ! I've actually done the job before, but I did watch and it's a great video. It isn't too hard of a job though.

Apparently whoever did this before did a terrible job. No RTV was used. And there were some scratches on the metal where they tried to remove the spark plug seals. Several of the seals weren't seated properly and the tabs were bent the wrong way, and of course it was leaking due to a cracked cover. Some cheap shop butchered it.


We have an old school torque wrench and are able to take our time and have a beer or two....or three. @nissanh is hooking me up with a used OEM cover. Speaks to just how helpful this board can be. Thanks for the input everyone!

Yes, this forum is awesome, but addicting too. My girlfriend calls it "Truck Porn". I spend way too much time on the forum, but I'm having fun, so what the hell.

yea, I find Dorman to be junk. Get fancy, you can get powder coated valve covers from LCE for only like $125. Or clean & paint your (new) used one.

It was on passenger side closest to firewall above exhuast manifold

So, there's also an entire bolt missing from passenger side. Ordered two replacements from Toyota for $4. My brother, who is a mechanical machinery engineer for Exxon Mobile (says he knows his stuff) says I should have gone to ACE and paid .30 each instead of $2. I said this bolt is going into my engine block and I'd rather not chance it for $3.40.

Big deal?

I didn't know the valve cover went over the engine block.

I would go OEM too. If you're worried about $3.40 then cars are not a hobby you should be into.

You know, since the torque specs are so low for these valve cover bolts (53 inch pounds or 4.4 foot pounds), I think you're brother is right that a bolt from ACE Hardware would have worked just fine. But, like you, I'd rather have the OEM bolts since we're not talking a ton of money.