Valve cover loose, now she won't crank.

wslytoy · 2016-11-07T03:25:31+00:00

Guys I'm at a total loss here. I'll start from the top & try to be as descriptive as possible. 6+ months ago, I replaced my valve cover gaskets on my 3rd gen since they were leaking (shocker). In the past couple of weeks, I've noticed that upon initial cranking for the there was oil that was burning. I located the source, the drivers side valve cover was leaking on the crossover pipe & causing some significant smoke bellowing out from under the hood. So I checked a few of the easily accessible bolts & most weren't very snug. I pulled the top 2 pieces of the intake manifold so that I could access all of the bolts. Got everything taken off & sure enough the back 2 bolts were not even finger tight. I presume they just backed out through expansion/contraction due to not getting them tight enough when I replaced the seal. Here's where the trouble starts, I button everything back together & somehow I forgot both of the lines to the rear of the throttle body. Somehow I'd gotten the coolant line connected to the vacuum line & left the vacuum line undone. Just coincidentally, I removed the radiator cap to ck my coolant level before I realized what I'd done. When I removed the cap, coolant started pouring out of the coolant line on the rear of the TB that wasn't connected. I immediately connected the vacuum line to it & it felt a little loose, so I started switching the 2 lines to correct the mistake. I'd gotten some coolant in my vacuum line, but not enough for me to really be that concerned over it. I topped the radiator off & had everything back together, both sensors on the TB were connected, intake ground wires were connected, intake plumbing in place. I attempt to start the 4Runner & I get a "dead battery-esque" type click. No starter engagement on multiple turns of the key. I'm thinking ok, this cheap battery from Autozone bit the dust a yr after I bought it. Had the battery tested & it was fine. I tried battery from my 4th Gen & I get the click. Then suddenly it sounded like the starter gear was barely engaging. I bumped the key a few more times, & I get a really unnerving binding sound. It almost sounded like the starter gear was engaging & having the teeth ground off. The truck won't crank. The starter was replaced earlier this year, & it cranked fine before I pulled the intake. I'm fairly mechanically inclined, but short of tearing it back down, I don't know what else to look at. I'm pretty sure I'll be tearing into it tomorrow night to see what I can find. If anyone has any insight, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thread starter wslytoy
Start date Nov 7, 2016

thegipper

New member

Nov 11, 2016

wslytoy said:
Way ahead of you. I changed plugs & oil. I may change it again in a few hundred miles again... B/c better safe than sorry.

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Definitely change the oil again, like asap. Then after a 30 miles, change it again.

Even the smallest amount of coolant in the oil can and will destroy the bearings in the engine.

It happened to me and I had hardly any coolant in the oil, trust me on this.

Oil is cheap, engines are not.

Glad you got it all fixed up though!