Carbon buildup on my plenum?

[atalarico]

I was poking around my engine yesterday and noticed this...

I replaced my valve cover seals back in July and cleaned every part I took off, so this happened after that. I tend to take a look in the engine bay once a week, so it might be pretty new.

Any ideas what is going on, if anything?

Thanks!

 

[gamefreakgc]

Could be a leaking gasket at the point where the plenum comes together? The pcv valve is upstream of that which add oil and carbon to the air and it could then leak through the failing gasket.

Or your engine bay is just dirty! I'd clean it off as much as you can with a degreaser and watch it. If the grease comes back that gasket is toastamundo.

 

[nc-grayson]

Pretty much what I was going to say

 

[repo]

Did you re-use that gasket when you did the valve cover?

 

[atalarico]

Thanks for the advice! Yeah, I reused that gasket. It seemed like metal coated in plastic and the plastic was coming off in spots. That's not a bad fix then. I probably don't need to disconnect everything like I had to for the valve covers, right?

 

[atalarico]

Anyone know the part number or what that gasket is called? Plenum gasket?! Intake manifold gasket?

Wait, is this? http://www.amazon.com/Genuine-Toyota-17176-62040-Surge-Gasket/dp/B00GKGXYOM

PN 7176-62040.

How urgent is it that I get this done?

 

[gamefreakgc]

Anyone know the part number or what that gasket is called? Plenum gasket?! Intake manifold gasket?

Wait, is this? http://www.amazon.com/Genuine-Toyota-17176-62040-Surge-Gasket/dp/B00GKGXYOM

PN 7176-62040.

How urgent is it that I get this done?

That's the one. They usually come in packs of 2 since there's the upper plenum gasket and lower plenum gasket. It will be a simple fix, just disconnect the air hose, a couple of other hoses and the cables attached to the throttle body. No fluids to drain or nothing. Then just take off the top half of the plenum off to replace the gasket. Shouldn't take more than an hour.

 

[atalarico]

That's the one. They usually come in packs of 2 since there's the upper plenum gasket and lower plenum gasket. It will be a simple fix, just disconnect the air hose, a couple of other hoses and the cables attached to the throttle body. No fluids to drain or nothing. Then just take off the top half of the plenum off to replace the gasket. Shouldn't take more than an hour.

Sweet! Thanks for the help!

Important question: how urgent is this and what sort of effect does this have on my car? I'm hoping to do it this weekend since the weather will be 60 and sunny, but just curious if there's any damage I've done for the last month or so that this has been leaking enough to see the black carbon kind of stuff on the plenum.

For reference, my valve cover job took me a day and a half (the first time), so I tack on a few hours for the struggle bus approach. To my credit, these things usually take me longer because I try to clean and replace things connected or nearby along the way. Then I forget to do important parts of the project at hand and have to go back and do it a second, or now third, time. Adventures in home mechanics!

 

[amalik]

I don't think it's a big deal. If it makes you feel better, mine are so black it almost looks like they are powder coated. They definitely need to come off and be cleaned.

The only issue I've had in numerous miles is a check engine light for an oxygen sensor.

Fair warning... the coolant hoses to my throttle body were a huge pain in the ass to get off. I may have been under tooled, but not sure at this point, can't differentiate between tools and being a bad home mechanic sometimes, I'm sure you know the feeling.

Google hose clamp plier to get an idea of what I mean. My hose clamps for the coolant lines to throttle body were insanely hard to get to. It ended up taking me 45 min per line, along with a sailor mouth full of curses and laying in my engine bay in positions I'd rather not experience ever again. Lol.

And then I bought some pliers that are hopefully going to be much better when I put the throttle body back on.

Mine is off cleaning the iac and tb at the moment. But like the other user said, your tb doesn't have to come off for the plenum gasket job but the lines do.

 

[D Farms]

Im confused, whats wrong with your burrito warmer?

 

[gamefreakgc]

Sweet! Thanks for the help!

Important question: how urgent is this and what sort of effect does this have on my car? I'm hoping to do it this weekend since the weather will be 60 and sunny, but just curious if there's any damage I've done for the last month or so that this has been leaking enough to see the black carbon kind of stuff on the plenum.

For reference, my valve cover job took me a day and a half (the first time), so I tack on a few hours for the struggle bus approach. To my credit, these things usually take me longer because I try to clean and replace things connected or nearby along the way. Then I forget to do important parts of the project at hand and have to go back and do it a second, or now third, time. Adventures in home mechanics!

Not urgent. Not unless your MPG's drop or it throws a P0171 code. It can do nothing more than get messier.

I don't think it's a big deal. If it makes you feel better, mine are so black it almost looks like they are powder coated. They definitely need to come off and be cleaned.

The only issue I've had in numerous miles is a check engine light for an oxygen sensor.

Fair warning... the coolant hoses to my throttle body were a huge pain in the ass to get off. I may have been under tooled, but not sure at this point, can't differentiate between tools and being a bad home mechanic sometimes, I'm sure you know the feeling.

Google hose clamp plier to get an idea of what I mean. My hose clamps for the coolant lines to throttle body were insanely hard to get to. It ended up taking me 45 min per line, along with a sailor mouth full of curses and laying in my engine bay in positions I'd rather not experience ever again. Lol.

And then I bought some pliers that are hopefully going to be much better when I put the throttle body back on.

Mine is off cleaning the iac and tb at the moment. But like the other user said, your tb doesn't have to come off for the plenum gasket job but the lines do.

Next time take off the whole plenum and tilt it on its side (don't worry the coolant lines won't explode or nothing) and then you can get those hoses off in 60 seconds each. Those lines are the last thing I disconnect and the first ones that go back on when I have to take the top of the engine apart.

 

[amalik]

Not urgent. Not unless your MPG's drop or it throws a P0171 code. It can do nothing more than get messier.



Next time take off the whole plenum and tilt it on its side (don't worry the coolant lines won't explode or nothing) and then you can get those hoses off in 60 seconds each. Those lines are the last thing I disconnect and the first ones that go back on when I have to take the top of the engine apart.

Holy crap, that makes a lot more sense. Lol.

So in my situation where the plenums are on... I can put the coolant lines on sideways or whatever, and then the TB?

Thanks.

 

[atalarico]

Not urgent. Not unless your MPG's drop or it throws a P0171 code. It can do nothing more than get messier.

Soooo about that MPG drop...nahh, j/k...sort of. My MPGs have dropped a bit but I thought it was because of the new Duratracs having more rolling resistance. I'd be excited to see that get back up to the 20ish avg I was getting before!

Alright, sounds like I'm heading to the dealership parts dept tomorrow to get the gaskets for a Sunday job. Yup, she's my real valentine anyway. Haha, no no, my partner is working during the day anyway, so I have an excuse, I swear.

I guess I'll do the right thing and do the lower plenum gasket too. I was going to try and skip it because I'm wrongly associating that with the more complicated parts of doing the valve cover gaskets a while back. Just do it right the first time, right?!

Thanks for the input, guys!

 

[gamefreakgc]

Holy crap, that makes a lot more sense. Lol.

So in my situation where the plenums are on... I can put the coolant lines on sideways or whatever, and then the TB?

Thanks.

I wouldn't even remove the throttle body from the plenum unless you have to. I normally leave it on unless I'm working specifically on the TB or IAC.

It's easier to remove the top plenum and then remove the coolant lines then to try and remove throttle body in my opinion. But that's just how I do it.

 

[atalarico]

I wouldn't even remove the throttle body from the plenum unless you have to. I normally leave it on unless I'm working specifically on the TB or IAC.

It's easier to remove the top plenum and then remove the coolant lines then to try and remove throttle body in my opinion. But that's just how I do it.

I agree with that. I just remembered that the first time I did the valve cover job, it said to remove the throttle body. I couldn't get one of the bolts out so I said screw it and just removed the hoses instead. It definitely works!

 

[atalarico]

Finally got around to this today. Question; the gasket looks like two stuck together by some copper rivets. It's supposed to be like that, right? That is technically one gasket?

Here's a pic of old and new gaskets. Old one has oil on it. Is that a sign of something else bad or normal?

 

[Chuckles89]

Finally got around to this today. Question; the gasket looks like two stuck together by some copper rivets. It's supposed to be like that, right? That is technically one gasket?

Here's a pic of old and new gaskets. Old one has oil on it. Is that a sign of something else bad or normal?

That is what the gaskets look like. The oil is probably from a bad PCV valve.

 

[atalarico]

That is what the gaskets look like. The oil is probably from a bad PCV valve.

Thanks! I had to look up PCV valve in the ol' Haynes manual. It said valve cover, and my heart sank...until I read that you don't even need to do much to replace the PCV valve, right? Just reach in and pluck it off the valve cover and pop the new one in?

Hoping so, because damn if I want to do the valve cover gasket job over again for the third time.

Also, what kind of performance issue will the PCV valve issue result in?

 

[Chuckles89]

Thanks! I had to look up PCV valve in the ol' Haynes manual. It said valve cover, and my heart sank...until I read that you don't even need to do much to replace the PCV valve, right? Just reach in and pluck it off the valve cover and pop the new one in?

Hoping so, because damn if I want to do the valve cover gasket job over again for the third time.

Also, what kind of performance issue will the PCV valve issue result in?

It's really easy. Just make sure you don't break the grommet off in the valve cover. I guess the only bad thing is oil getting into the intake.

 

[amalik]

It's really easy. Just make sure you don't break the grommet off in the valve cover. I guess the only bad thing is oil getting into the intake.

Yup, what he said.

It's good to have a clean pcv... oil in the intake is no good.

If you can buy a hose plier for the pcv.... the grommet will come off easy, and you can use that tool for future jobs. I have a set of 3 I got from harbor freight.

I struggled with getting my grommet out with normal pliers after many years of not changing it (hell I think mine was original as I changed it only after finding t4r).... grommet dropped in cover but in that specific area there's really no depth if that hole so you can get the grommet out pretty easy if you drop it in on accident.