Valve Cover Gasket Issue?

[nwebb01]

Disclamer: I checked other articles before making this post. They helped some, but I'm novice mecanic, so I don't know all the technical terms, etc.

So I took my skid plates off to replace my radiator about a month ago. When I took the skid plates off, I had noticed that there was a lot of oil that had leaked down around the steering rack, transfer case and frame. After reading some other articles on here, I decided to take a look at the valve cover bolts. I put a 10mm socket on a extension and put the socket on the bolt. The rear passenger side bolt was basically hand tight. The rest of them also were hand tight or worse. I don't have a torque wrench, so I just snugged them up. Each one oozed some oil as they were tightened up. Has anyone else ever ran into this issue where the bolts had become lose over time?

I'll note that while the skid plates were off, I never saw any oil drops under the 4Runner. It sits on the same side of the garage ever night.

From the pics below, it appears that the only place it appears to be leaking oil from was the valve cover? Should I be worrying about a changing the VCG or look for a leak in other places? They were leaking worse on the back side where the bolts were more loose than the front.

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[NWFL4Runner]

Generally it's a VCG leak. Careful on the torque specs as you need an in-lb torque wrench to do it right (52in-lb).

I'd watch the video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5fAXAuGozI) and knock it out

 

[tarsun]

its not hard to do at all.

just take your time and its pretty simple.

 

[JohnMc]

The gaskets shrink over time, as do the rubber seal/washers under the bolts. Mine had developed a fairly good leak on both sides at 180K, I found the same thing, All the reachable bolts were barely finger tight. I very gently snugged them up and that cured about 95% of the oil leakage, and that was good enough for a few more years. Eventually it started leaking again, and at around 215K miles I just went ahead and replaced them. It's 100% bone dry now.

In your case I'd be on the lookout for other possible leaks. On mine, before it ever leaked enough to oil up the bottom end of the engine, or the skids, it leaked down onto the exhaust manifold and just made a stinky hot oil smell. Try gently tightening up the accessible bolts, then clean the engine off pretty well, and if you see oil again try to figure out where it's coming from.

 

[mtbtim]

Generally it's a VCG leak. Careful on the torque specs as you need an in-lb torque wrench to do it right (52in-lb).

I'd watch the video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5fAXAuGozI) and knock it out

The video referenced is the video [MENTION=102606]infamousRNR[/MENTION] and I made to launch our YouTube channel. Tightening the bolts you can get to without removing anything off the engine will certainly help the issue but not cure it. There's also a couple different areas you could be leaking from in addition to the valve cover gaskets job, the half moons on the heads and the cam plugs.

You're best bet is to do the Valve Cover Gasket Replacement job. It's not a really hard job, just time consuming. Maybe you have a friend or family member with some wrenching experience that could help you out. If you absolutely don't want to deal with tackling this job, do a Yelp search for a good shop in your area with fair prices. Or, just deal with oil leaking down on everything under the valve covers. Most times oil leaks are just messy and not imperative to fix. If it's not losing a significant amount between oil changes and you don't mind the oil mess on your rig, you can just drive it and forget it. It could be getting on exhaust which will cause a burning oil smell which is a little harder to ignore.

 

[campben]

Redoing someone elsess work

I paid a shadetree mechanic to do the VCG job last week, and now the leak is even worse. He has gone AWOL on me, so now I am looking to tackle it myself when I get the time. Quick question, can I reuse the "new" gaskets and cam plugs since they haven't been on more than about 10 days? Or will the FIPG and clamping have comprimised the seal?