Valve Cover leak gone wrong... of course PHOTO INCLUDED

[awpsome]

After reading through the forums about valve cover gaskets leaking and all you gotta do is tighten the bolts...

i went out to the truck today, got my 10mm ratchet and find all of my bolts FUUCKKING loose.. so thinking yup all i gotta do is tighten and no more oil leaks...

passenger side goes great tighten them down not to bad..

DRIVER SIDE... ALSKJDLAKSNCIAS
first bolt not barely a quarter turn and SNAP. :redbrick:

I did this...

SO LESSON LEARNED... OBVIOUSLY THESE THINGS ARE FRAGILE AS ****.
DO NOT overtighten or even get close to overtighening these bad boys..

im not blaming the truck at all, this was completely my fault and the fault of TIME.
should have left it..

called toyota parts to get a OEM quote and ONE side is 300$. HAHA **** that
junkyards are empty...
and well any one got a driver side spare??

ill be on the hunt for now..

 

[Diagram14]

Those bolts stick out of the bottom so you should be able to grab it and twist it out. I snapped one of mine off once and spun the piece out by hand from below.

 

[KHoffRunner]

The PO did the exact same and i just put a little pb weld on it and its held although i plan to have mine resealed before the winter,

 

[Dous]

Those bolts stick out of the bottom so you should be able to grab it and twist it out. I snapped one of mine off once and spun the piece out by hand from below.

The bolt itself didn't break, but rather the Valve cover cracked

 

[spectre6000]

If I remember correctly, the torque spec on the valve cover bolts is 4.41 foot pounds! More specifically, 53 inch pounds (again, if memory serves). Yes, they always seem loose. 4.41 ft. lbs. is not a lot of torque. Get a torque wrench and do it right or suffer the consequences. No pity.

EDIT: Corrected errantly recalled figure to avoid any future confusion.

 

[96743runner]

Dude that sucks! I just tightened mine too not long ago. If we had junkyards like the mainland full of Toyota's then situations like this wouldn't be too big of a deal.

 

[jmildoc]

7 ft lbs!!!!! That's sad.

 

[Drcoffee]

If I remember correctly, the torque spec on the valve cover bolts is 7 foot pounds! More specifically, 51 inch pounds (again, if memory serves). Yes, they always seem loose. 7 ft. lbs. is not a lot of torque. Get a torque wrench and do it right or suffer the consequences. No pity.

51 inch#s would be 4.25 Ft#s
51 x 12" = 4.25

its palming the wratchet tight. It doesnt take much to crack these valve covers.

 

[spectre6000]

Memory is fallible, hence the disclaimers to that effect. It's just about nothing, and people should know the torque specs they're dealing with and have the appropriate tools before they go messing around with things like that. It's unfortunate, but that's the cost of ignorance.

What's more, since this seems to be such a common "suggestion" (with the same credentials as deck plate mods and ISR mods) there are a lot of people out there with over torqued valve covers that need new gaskets. The cost of running over-torqued valve cover gaskets is that thermal expansion could potentially crack your valve covers while driving around one day. You'd have no idea until you popped the hood the next time and took a gander.

KNOW YOUR TORQUE SPECS!

 

[Dous]

Memory is fallible, hence the disclaimers to that effect. It's just about nothing, and people should know the torque specs they're dealing with and have the appropriate tools before they go messing around with things like that. It's unfortunate, but that's the cost of ignorance.

Are you one of the people that puts a torque wrench on their wheel studs?

:biggrin2:

 

[A.Wilson013]

Are you one of the people that puts a torque wrench on their wheel studs?

:biggrin2:

I do :biggrin2:

 

[spectre6000]

Are you one of the people that puts a torque wrench on their wheel studs?

:biggrin2:

Mayhap... Coming from the world of German cars, I can be a bit Prussian. I'm very particular about my vehicles.

 

[Dous]

Always better safe than sorry.

 

[opie74]

If I remember correctly, the torque spec on the valve cover bolts is 7 foot pounds! More specifically, 51 inch pounds (again, if memory serves). Yes, they always seem loose. 7 ft. lbs. is not a lot of torque. Get a torque wrench and do it right or suffer the consequences. No pity.

7 foot pounds is 84 inch pounds. Seems a little high.

FSM states 53 inch pounds which is 4.41 foot pounds.

 

[TheDurk]

Are you one of the people that puts a torque wrench on their wheel studs?

:biggrin2:

I do and I recommend that people do. The main reason is to ensure EQUAL tightness on all lugs so that the brake rotors are exactly in place. (Drums are less critical.) I give partial credit to torquing my lugs for the fact I have never had any brake pulsation in 13 years of ownership (on stock brakes!). How many can say that?

It's not just about keeping the wheels on; non-uniform lug torque affects the whole wheel/brake system. And yeah, I used an inch-pound wrench on my valve covers, too.

 

[BFEATHER2008]

ok me being a toyota mechanic and i work on these trucks everyday is all we do at work is use a 1/4" air ratchet and go until the ratchet stops and thats usually enough. now we dont just tighten them done though we replace if they are leaking that bad. i know if mine were leaking that bad i would be replacing them and not just tightening the bolts down. i can see tightening them down if you had just replaced the gaskets and they became loose again. and by my toyota repair manual on these trucks it is 7 ft. lbs. on these cover bolts. sorry to see you broke the valve cover and hopefully you can find a replacement at a junk yard or something cheap. ive never broken one yet but hopefully i didnt just jinx myself lol.

 

[spectre6000]

ok me being a toyota mechanic and i work on these trucks everyday is all we do at work is use a 1/4" air ratchet and go until the ratchet stops and thats usually enough.

One of the many reasons I don't trust shops.

 

[opie74]

ok me being a toyota mechanic and i work on these trucks everyday is all we do at work is use a 1/4" air ratchet and go until the ratchet stops and thats usually enough. now we dont just tighten them done though we replace if they are leaking that bad. i know if mine were leaking that bad i would be replacing them and not just tightening the bolts down. i can see tightening them down if you had just replaced the gaskets and they became loose again. and by my toyota repair manual on these trucks it is 7 ft. lbs. on these cover bolts. sorry to see you broke the valve cover and hopefully you can find a replacement at a junk yard or something cheap. ive never broken one yet but hopefully i didnt just jinx myself lol.

7 foot pounds is to much. The FSM states 53 inch pounds.

 

[TheDurk]

o i know if mine were leaking that bad i would be replacing them and not just tightening the bolts down. .

One of the many reasons I don't trust shops.

One tighten up in 13 years on something spec'd at 53 inch-lbs. (not 7 ft.-lbs.) is NO reason to replace anything.

And yeah, page EM-30 of my 1999 FSM calls for 53 inch-pounds. That's only 4.4 ft-lbs.

 

[BFEATHER2008]

One of the many reasons I don't trust shops.

yea you do realize 1/4" air ratchet has barely any torque right? i know mine is only rated for 10 ft lbs goin forward and 50 going in reverse. i have about 3 different 1/4' air ratchets. the shops you need to worry about are none toyota ones cause thats where all the fu** ups are and dont know what they are doing. We have had 4 runners come in with locked engines due to stupid no name shops that dont do something right. And not saying every shop is like that but most are. if you dont trust them you dont have i was just saying how i did it but i also have different air tools for different jobs. I have more money in my tool box at work then i have in my entire 4 runner. suchs as different torque amount ratchets. i have more money in air tools then most people in my shop. because i buy different ones for different purposes. where those jiffy lubes and other type shop like them dont they buy one ratchet and use it for everything. ive been doing it this way for years and so has my dad whos been in the business for over 32 years and he has never cracked any valve cover.