Hey all, working on a water pump and timing belt replacement on my 97 4Runner. It’s been going pretty well, and has given me a good opportunity and easy access to clean up a lot of the gunk that’s been on it since I bought it last November. Looking at what I’m guessing are metal seals/plugs below the cams I can’t tell if they themselves are leaking at all or if it’s from the valve seals above.

It looks like the previous owner had that job done or had someone else do it as evident by the blue gasket coming out on the passenger side. Also right above the water pump there seems to be like a foam material that is saturated with oil, is that normal? The truck leaks a drip or two of oil every so often but it has never been a big issue (yes it has been leaking evident by the gunk, working on cleaning that up and stoping the leaks entirely).

Any insights on moving forward would be appreciated, I bought one of the OEM kits for the job on eBay so I have new seals for both cams and the crankshaft. Thanks!

97 4Runner 5VZ-FE - YouTube

The valve covers were replaced with aftermarket gaskets, most likely Felpro and the person doing the job screwed it up evidenced by the gasket spewing out on that passenger side.

The foam above the water pump just helps keep debris out the valley between the heads. It's not a seal.

Cool! I’ll just buy the parts and lump the valve cover gaskets, cam plugs, and half moons into the job then. Just finished watching your VCG video just now actually!

As for the 4 brass looking seals below the cams behind the third timing cover, does it look like they are leaking at all? Or is it more likely that the leak from the VC is collecting in them?

Those seals you're referring to are cylinder head freeze plugs. Those aren't leaking. If they were, they'd be leaking coolant, not oil.

Perfect, thanks for the help!

So moving forward from last week I went ahead and ordered the parts to replace my valve cover gaskets, half moons, cam plugs, spark plugs, spark plug wires, spark plug tube seals, PCV grommet and valve, throttle body gasket and the intake gaskets. Tear down has gone well enough and I’m not surprised by the amount of oil I am seeing. At this point I have one new concern and I will attach relevant pictures. First, thoughts on the health of the engine haha. Second, On the middle spark plug tube it seems to be quite full of oil, I am guessing it’s bc the spark plug tube seals aren’t doing their job, good thing they’re getting replaced. What has me slightly concerned is that the spark plug seems to be in there very tight, so much so I am afraid to try and remove it. When I pulled my spark plug socket out of the tube it was also quite wet with oil. So my question is do I just guess it’s gummy from the oil above and keep ratcheting despite the resistance? My other plugs needed to be broken free but then I could simply use my had on the extension. I want to get it out and not only replace it but more importantly to check to make sure the pin isn’t saturated facing the engine. Any suggestions or help would be awesome, thanks!

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Got it out! All seems well, no thread chunks or anything I can see. Plug looks clean too. Used a bit of pb blast and worked it back and forth 1/2 turns and finally it just came out like normal. Hoping the rings are fine and not the source of the oil. When I removed the old plugs from the VC I could pull them out with just my fingers very easily so. Any other issues I’ll do a compression test but hoping that doesn’t need to happen