Valve Cover Tubes?

[masteryota1]

Hi, i finally got took my 1995 Camry v-6 to toyota dealership for transmission fluid drain and fill. Well since buying the car in may/june its the first time i have had them look at it.

Ok Now i have had 2 oil changes at the "mechanic" (not toyota dealership) who I usually take cars to. Each time i try to have him find where the small leak is coming from, and never got a clear answer. ATLEAST THE TOYOTA dealership people gave me an answer, not sure if its the only source of leak, but they said it was a leak at the valve cover tubes. The price for repair wasnt too pretty, but it wasnt something major I had to do right away. I just need to make sure i watch fluid levels on weekly basis, and i do that already.


Wanted to know if this is a common leak in camrys and if there are leak treatments that might work, or what is average price to have something like this repaired.

[digmycelica]

Originally Posted by masteryota1

Hi, i finally got took my 1995 Camry v-6 to toyota dealership for transmission fluid drain and fill. Well since buying the car in may/june its the first time i have had them look at it.

Ok Now i have had 2 oil changes at the "mechanic" (not toyota dealership) who I usually take cars to. Each time i try to have him find where the small leak is coming from, and never got a clear answer. ATLEAST THE TOYOTA dealership people gave me an answer, not sure if its the only source of leak, but they said it was a leak at the valve cover tubes. The price for repair wasnt too pretty, but it wasnt something major I had to do right away. I just need to make sure i watch fluid levels on weekly basis, and i do that already.


Wanted to know if this is a common leak in camrys and if there are leak treatments that might work, or what is average price to have something like this repaired.

I think the average joe should not even attempt to replace the valve cover gaskets himself. You have a heck of a lot to remove to get to the back cover. It will take a good 6 hours to do both covers and that's if you are skilled maybe more if you figure in a lot of clean up time. you could expect to pay close to $400 pretty easy. yes this is pretty common. valve cover gaskets and plug seals get pretty hard over time.

[xtremeskier97]

Originally Posted by digmycelica

I think the average joe should not even attempt to replace the valve cover gaskets himself. You have a heck of a lot to remove to get to the back cover. It will take a good 6 hours to do both covers and that's if you are skilled maybe more if you figure in a lot of clean up time. you could expect to pay close to $400 pretty easy. yes this is pretty common. valve cover gaskets and plug seals get pretty hard over time.

uuhh....what are YOU smokin!?! Valve cover gasket replacement is like the EASIEST thing to do on a car!

Please...please tell me you're mistaken the head gasket for the valve cover gasket!

[masteryota1]

only because i dont know, is valve cover tube, and valve cover gasket the same thing? the dealership wanted too freakin much, for me to pay right now. like $749 over $800 after tax i think. That is something that is going to have to wait, especially since the people who had car before i got it, some reason there was no date on the timing belt. so i will probably go on and have that changed in january or feb that price is about $425

[Dave's]

They are not exactly the same thing but (if I understand this right) the tubes are screwed into the head through the valve cover and hold it (and it's gasket) down. These tubes are where the spark plugs are located and have their own seals/gaskets. Thus you probably would be wise to replace all at the same time. The head gasket is something all together different. It's between the head and the engine block. (If I'm a complete moron on this I'm SURE someone will be glad to set the record straight post-haste).

[bronzemaxell]

Originally Posted by xtremeskier97

uuhh....what are YOU smokin!?! Valve cover gasket replacement is like the EASIEST thing to do on a car!

Please...please tell me you're mistaken the head gasket for the valve cover gasket!

valve cover gasket on 4cyl 2.2L is easiest
but i believe he has a V6, there are two valve cover gasket, front one is easier, the rear valve covergasket is a b!tch, took me a good 4 or 5 hours at my slow pace to do it right.

[Black95Cam]

^ yup the one on the back is a pain. so if your gonna get that far mind as well change the plugs (just my opinion though).

[digmycelica]

Originally Posted by xtremeskier97

uuhh....what are YOU smokin!?! Valve cover gasket replacement is like the EASIEST thing to do on a car!

Please...please tell me you're mistaken the head gasket for the valve cover gasket!

Easiest on a v6 camry? What are you smokin? You have to pull the top half of the intake with egr pipes, wire connectors, they even run a large electrical wiring harness on top of all that. . We're etalking a v6 not a simple 4 cyl.

[digmycelica]

Originally Posted by Dave's

They are not exactly the same thing but (if I understand this right) the tubes are screwed into the head through the valve cover and hold it (and it's gasket) down. These tubes are where the spark plugs are located and have their own seals/gaskets. Thus you probably would be wise to replace all at the same time. The head gasket is something all together different. It's between the head and the engine block. (If I'm a complete moron on this I'm SURE someone will be glad to set the record straight post-haste).

You really don't mess with the tubes themselves, when you pull the valve cover, you will see 3 seals on the bottom side of each cover. all you do is pry these seals out & clean everything & put 3 new seals in place of the ones you removed then put the valve cover gasket in and apply permatex to the corners then install the cover back.

[cloudsearch]

I probably have the same leaking problem here with a 97 I4. Just wanna ask if this is easy or hard...as there has been different arguments in this post.

[95PimpingCamry]

Originally Posted by cloudsearch

I probably have the same leaking problem here with a 97 I4. Just wanna ask if this is easy or hard...as there has been different arguments in this post.

It is easy for the I4, but hard for the V6.

[Venom_5]

a valve cover gasket replacement is quick & easy on the 5S-FE (engine code for the 4 cyl)

the front cover is easy on the 1MZ-FE (V6), the rear is harder ... but still not difficult, just takes a while

[Dave's]

Well, I've been told one of my I4's has a leaking tube so to fix it do I remove the valve cover or can I just remove the tube?
(Sorry to jack the thread but I'm sure this could help others here.)

[digmycelica]

Originally Posted by Dave's

Well, I've been told one of my I4's has a leaking tube so to fix it do I remove the valve cover or can I just remove the tube?
(Sorry to jack the thread but I'm sure this could help others here.)

Just remove the valve cover and replace the 4 seals that are mounted to the under side of the cover. It the tube itself has a hole in it or something I don't know for sure if they can be removed. either way though, the cover has to come off.

[xtremeskier97]

My point is..is that it's not HARD...it's just time consuming. There is NO need to pay that kind of money for someone to change a valve cover gasket. And yes..I know he is talking about a V6. Still...not hard..just time consuming.