What parts (other than the 2 obvious ones) and what special tools might I need for replacing both of these on my 97 5spd? I'd like to make a list of what I'll need in advance (barring surprises).

Do I need any special skills, or can even a monkey do it?

Basically 2 different jobs. Is yours a 4 cylinder or v6? It's slightly different between the 2.

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Oh yeah, my bad. Mine is the 3.4

If you have the 3.4, you have a timing BELT.

What you need is my two videos as a reference and you'll have everything you need. In the video description there's parts and tools links.

For the Timing Belt Job, I'd watch both of our videos. I'd also read the comment we pinned (1st comment you see) for some very helpful additional information.

Good luck!

Yes, just a slip of the lip. I know its a belt and have opened it up far enough to see the belt.

Thanks for the videos, will check them out!

Do the cam plugs frequently leak? Wondering how important it is to replace those, assuming they aren't leaking now.

They can with age. When I do these I just change all the seals. It's not to hard to pull the camshafts pulled off then the upper metal shroud to change those seals out. As that's a lot better than having a leak develop there 6 months later.

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any of the required parts where I can safely get non-OEM and not regret it later? I figure the PCV is one I could get anywhere. i definitely plan to use Toyota VC gaskets and plug tube seals, at the very least.

Here's the list I made, some have local dealer pricing next to them. Priced are for one item only, so this gets pretty spendy. I know I can get some of these like plug wires for less online, just pricing them for reference

plug seals (6) 11193-70010 4.54

PCV valve, 12204-62010

grommet 90480-18001 7.33

plugs (6) Denso K16TR11

Plug wire set 19037-62010 121.64

Throttle Body gasket PTR29-60030 48.59

Plenum Gasket (2) 17176-62040 18.19

VC gaskets (2) 11213-62020 47.10

washers (16) 90210-05007 2.04

half moon plug (4) 11183-62010 (I don't plan to replace mine without good reason)

cam plugs (4) 11188-62010 18.10

I know people, including me, harp on OEM, but they're worth it, IMHO. Including the little parts, like PCV valves, grommets, etc.

Those half-moons get hard fairly quickly, and don't seal well. It's a good idea to replace them when you replace the VC gaskets.

Just my opinion, of course...
Pat☺

Aren't the half moons aluminum?


I'm seeing a ton of suspiciously low-priced "OEM" parts for this job on ebay, complete with authentic looking labels. Anyone have a reliable site for true OEM parts at a better price than my dealer, or know if any of the low priced ebay sellers are reliable?

Rockauto is good but for Oem...shop around online at the diff dealers. They have diff prices online... One of the best i've found is norm reeves in san diego....

Very interesting. I saw someone mention the need to remove the camshafts in order to replace the cam plugs at the backs of the heads. I'm sort of hoping the OP doesn't do this, unless they are doing it as part of a valve adjustment because they found a lot of intake and exhaust valves out of spec.

On that subject, it is the opportune time to check your valve lash. I've got a video for that as well.

In my video, there was a mistake regarding the needed parts. You only need 2 cam plugs, not 4. We let people know about this mistake in the video description but lots of people don't read the video descriptions.

If you plan on using our videos, we put helpful information in the video descriptions and sometimes pinned comments (1st comment you see). Be sure to look at both before starting a job because we include video updates in both areas.