valve gasket help. too thick of gasket possibly?

[bak3rme]

So i got the valve cover gaskets and i'm trying to put them on but they are not sitting right. I got them at advance auto parts and they were the fel pro brand. blue in color. They line up with the grooves perfectly but when i put them in the groove and put the cover on ....they don't compress and leave a small gap between the cover and the lower piece on the engine. i think the gasket is a little too thick? i'm tightening them down but i don't want to tighten too much and crack the aluminum head.

any thoughts ?

 

[Drcoffee]

So i got the valve cover gaskets and i'm trying to put them on but they are not sitting right. I got them at advance auto parts and they were the fel pro brand. blue in color. They line up with the grooves perfectly but when i put them in the groove and put the cover on ....they don't compress and leave a small gap between the cover and the lower piece on the engine. i think the gasket is a little too thick? i'm tightening them down but i don't want to tighten too much and crack the aluminum head.

any thoughts ?

That's they way they work. You do not compress the valve covers down to the head. The rubber flexes and stays compressed under tension from the bolts. There is a torque spec for the vavle cover bolts and I think its 53 in lbs. After the first one its easy to tell how tight to make it. Compress the washer down until the rubber washer is the same size as the steel washer. Anymore than that and you could crack your aluminum valve covers.

 

[bak3rme]

don't have a torque wrench on me. lets say i got it hand tightened..how much of a turn after that?

Just finished one side (other side next week when I can park it longer) and i turned on the car and noticed its smoking alot near the firewall. its getting onto the manifold and i just shut it off.. placed my hand around the area and no wet oil. i'm hoping its just old oil burning off?

 

[Jon]

Sounds like you skipped out on replacing the cam plugs. Little half-moon pieces that go in the back. Only available from Toyota. Hope it's just residual oil that your getting. Don't forget to re-torque after the engine has reached op-temp.

I'm goin to tackle mine this weekend. :hungry:

 

[Diagram14]

When I accidentally over torqued a VC bolt the actual bolt snapped. If youre not tightened relatively evenly around the VC oil will get pushed out. Run your finger around the bottom edge to see where its actually coming out. The cam plugs are a possibility but probably were leaking before and not as a result of removing the VC. When my cam plugs were leaking the oil did not make it to the exhaust manifold to burn off but rather ran down the back side of the motor.

Jon is right though, those plugs will go and if youre already in its worth the time and RTV.

 

[bak3rme]

i don't see how replacing those half moons would help even thought i should..i mean they look perfectly fine. just a half moon. metal is in good shape..just scraped off the old FIPG and it looked like new.

 

[Drcoffee]

don't have a torque wrench on me. lets say i got it hand tightened..how much of a turn after that?

Just finished one side (other side next week when I can park it longer) and i turned on the car and noticed its smoking alot near the firewall. its getting onto the manifold and i just shut it off.. placed my hand around the area and no wet oil. i'm hoping its just old oil burning off?

Just tighten it until the rubber washer matches the steel washer diameter. It's very easy. Now someone else mentioned the half moon prices. Those don't need to be new because you can clean them and reseal with FIPG. Which also needs to be applied at the half moon seams. Hopefully you've done both otherwise you'll be leaking again. FIPG is a toyota glue and it's about $20 but it's good stuff.

 

[bak3rme]

Just tighten it until the rubber washer matches the steel washer diameter. It's very easy. Now someone else mentioned the half moon prices. Those don't need to be new because you can clean them and reseal with FIPG. Which also needs to be applied at the half moon seams. Hopefully you've done both otherwise you'll be leaking again. FIPG is a toyota glue and it's about $20 but it's good stuff.

yup i got it on there. just hope its enough i used a bit on each