Replaced my 3VZ's valve cover gaskets today...

[BMR]

...and thought I'd post a pic of what the front bank looked like at 16 years old and 273k miles. Not bad! A little wiping down, and a fella could eat out of there! The rear bank had just a little bit more varnish in it. Getting that rear cover out is a first rate PITA!!!

GADS, the old gaskets were hard as rock, especially the plug well seals. They came out in pieces. Now I don't smell the reek of burning oil dripping on the rear exhaust manifold when I stop at a red light... YAAAYYYYY!!!!

[islandboy57]

Very impressive! Obviously you've taken very good care of her

[BMR]

Thx!... I try. She gets oil changes every 3k miles, although there have been a few times when it went to 6 or 8k. And I'm not fussy about oil or filter brands either. Although I do stay away from Fram for filters. There are better and cheaper alternatives.

[xtremeskier97]

Man...I hope mine look that good when I go to replace them. Any pics of how you removed the rear cover?

[n3rdifed]

Originally Posted by xtremeskier97

Man...I hope mine look that good when I go to replace them. Any pics of how you removed the rear cover?

post more pics please
my gasket is totally shot and im about to replace mine too.

any difficulty replacing them?

[BMR]

Originally Posted by xtremeskier97

Any pics of how you removed the rear cover?

No, sorry, I didn't take any. I just followed the instructions in my Haynes manual. There are a few plenum bolts on the firewall side to remove that are difficult to get to, but not extremely so. The PITA part is getting the cover lifted enough to clear the valvetrain. There's a large, stiff wiring harness sitting above it. I removed the bolts holding the "diagnostics" plug bracket to the fender wall to get enough slack in the harness to get 'er out, but it still wasn't easy. The rear took me about 5-6 hours to do.

The front bank is a piece of cake. I had that done in an hour, and I spent about half an hour cleaning off 16 years worth of baked-on crud; off the outside, that is. The inside was cleaner! I highly recommend you do the front first, just so you'll know where the bolts are in the rear cover. If they're not identical hole patterns, they're very close. You can't see the rearmost bolts (near the firewall) on the rear cover, so you've gotta go by feel. You'll need a U-joint on your 3/8" drive socket wrench to make it easier to get some of them out.

I did take a few pics of the way I got the plug well seals out. Mine were in so tight I had to destroy them to get them out. These pics are all looking at the inside of the cover. There's a steel hoop embedded inside the rubber seals. Put a bunch of old towels or rags down to keep from scuffing up the cover. Use a screwdriver and a hammer to bend the upper part of the hoop. The sealing portion of the seal is already broken off in this pic. Like I said they were very brittle!...


Then jamb your screwdriver down into the pocket you just made. It's best to have a screwdriver with rounded-off corners so you do minimal damage to the sidewalls of the seal pockets.


Then twist the screwdriver to bend the hoop inwards. You're trying to create a hole big enough to get the screwdriver through so you can pry upward.


Then... well... pry upward to pop the seal out. You might have to work your way around to get it out.


To press the new ones in, I used a big socket (1 1/4", I think) as a pressing tool. I rapped on the socket with a hammer to seat them. You want the socket to be sized so the insertion force is applied to the steel hoop inside, NOT the rubber!!! That would destroy them.

Hope that helps.

BR

[C110GTR]

can you please post a quick step on to removing the rear cover
as I dont have a manual yet

[BMR]

Originally Posted by C110GTR

can you please post a quick step on to removing the rear cover
as I dont have a manual yet

OK, but some of these instructions really need pics to be clear, and it's impossible to be brief. I'll flag my comments/additions by putting them in italics. And I'll abbreviate their instructions a bit to save on typing, but I won't leave anything out that's important.

************************

1. Disconnect the battery cable. There's a bunch of warnings here about airbags, anti-theft radio codes (make sure you have 'em before you disconnect the battery). I didn't do this step. Never do.
2. Remove the cosmetic cover with a 5 mm hex wrench. Remove the air cleaner assembly (They mean the airbox lid and the rubber intake hose all the way up to the throttle body.), throttle body, and the plenum. That's a mouthful, as it's a huge chunk of the work!
3. They don't give details on how to remove the air cleaner assembly, so here's my instructions: Pull the PCV hose connected to the front valve cover. Unsnap the clamp-thingys holding the lid on the air cleaner box. There's another hose running to the throttle body; disconnect it too. Loosen the hose clamp holding the rubber intake hose to the mouth of the throttle body. There's a plastic clip on the airbox lid that holds the ignition wire going from the coil to the center tap on the distributor; free the wire from that clip. There's another wire fastened in that area (I forget what); undo that also to free the airbox lid. I think that's all; you should be able to pull the hose off the throttle body and set it aside. I may have forgotten something, so look before you start reefing on it.
4. Now for the throttle body: Disconnect the electrical connectors from the IAC valve, throttle position sensor, MAF sensor, and EGR/EVAP canister control solenoid.
5. Detach the accelerator cable and transmission linkage. The trans linkage is another cable hooked up to the throttle body. Look for a second pivoting link near the throttle cable's.
6. Remove the accelerator cable from the intake manifold. I never did figure out what they're talking about here. So I didn't do anything.
7. Clearly label, then detach, the vacuum lines from the air intake plenum, the EGR valve, the ACIS valve and the fuel pressure regulator. I'm not sure which is which, but I detached the three small (1/8" diameter) rubber hoses attached in a group to 3 metal tubes coming off the throttle body. I also detached two hoses going to the left side of the plenum, one to a solenoid valve, the other to a metal tube sticking out. I also removed the cold start injector by removing two nuts on either side of it and, leaving it connected to its fuel line, set it carefully aside. The manual neglected to mention this. The EGR valve connects to the plenum via a steel tube with a flange with two bolts in it. It's on the firewall side. There's a gasket in between them, don't lose it; it'll fall out when you pull the tube away and go where lone socks go in the wash.
8. Detach the PCV system by disconnecting the hose from the fitting on the air intake plenum.
9. Remove the plenum bracket and bolt. This bolt is on the firewall side of the plenum. Difficult to see. It's right behind the throttle body. I didn't remove the bracket, just the bolt. There is a second bolt in that area about 4 inches towards the passenger side that holds a steel tube to the plenum. Remove that bolt also. The manual neglected to mention this too.
10. Remove the plenum bolts. There actually are two socket head bolts in the middle, and two nuts, one on either end. These are all easily seen on the front side, down where the plenum attaches to the intake manifold.
11. If equipped, detach the coolant hoses from the throttle body. Note: it will be necessary to drain the coolant. I didn't bother to drain the coolant, I just let it puke on the floor. It wasn't much, maybe a cup. Far less hassle to clean up than draining the coolant!
12. Remove the plenum and throttle body as an assembly from the lower intake manifold. Yeah, right, easy as pie when you say it like that. I sorta remember they missed a couple of hoses or whatnot, so when you start lifting it, look out for them. When you get it off, immediately cover the intake manifold ports with a towel to keep stuff from falling in. YOU DO NOT WANT THAT TO HAPPEN!!! Also, inspect the gasket there for damage; replace it if you find any. You don't want any air leaks here!
13. Now that you're done with step 2!!!!... Pull the spark plug boots and set the wires/boots aside.
14. Detach the rear engine wiring harness and the following electrical connectors: 3 injectors, water temperature sender gauge, oxygen sensor, power steering pump. This is mounted in two places. On the valve cover, and on the intake manifold. There are two nuts at both places. I didn't undo the last three connectors they mentioned, which is probably why I couldn't move the wiring harness very much. My bad. I removed two bolts holding the "diagnostic" connection port to the fender instead. It gave me enough slack in the harness to get the valve cover out. Pick your poison, I guess.
15. Remove the retaining nuts and sealing washers, then detach the cover. Nuts, what nuts??? Mine has bolts with washers on them. Eight of 'em.

Reassembly is the reverse. Be careful when you're wrestling the cover into place that you don't knock the gasket out of its groove. It stays in place fairly well, but watch out! The manual says to use RTV on the gasket. I didn't. It says to torque the valve cover nuts(???) to 52 in-lbs, which seems awfully darn high to me, so I just torqued them to what felt right. They compress the rubber gasket a lot, so you want to tighten them in about three steps to avoid warping the cover. Start at the middle bolts and work towards the ends. The valve cover should make contact with the head when you're done, IMHO. I hope I didn't leave out anything, but as you can see there are a lot of steps. I find it helpful to lay out the fasteners on my bench in the order I take 'em out, so as I'm putting it back together I don't miss any.

Now go wash your grimy paws, crack open one of your favorite beverages, and go start 'er up and look for leaks. If oil starts pouring out, grab your tantō and commit hari-kari.

[C110GTR]

Thanks for that! that will sure help make my life easier

did you have to seal the half moon thingy that normally cause the leak as well? what did you use?

[BMR]

Mine's half-moons weren't leaking. The worst leak was the rear cover seal. It was broken in one spot, although I can't be sure I didn't break it when I was wrestling the cover out.

[xtremeskier97]

Ok..dumb question, but which part is the plenum, the intake manifold? Ive seen that word thrown around here like crazy but never seen it pointed out in a picture, and the manual mentions nothing of it that I can find.

[IBMDude]

The innards look awesome. Thank you for posting. My rear bank valve cover gasket is leaking as well (how come the front never leaks - I hate Murphy!) I have been dreading getting to it since replacing even the spark plugs was such a PITA and my back was sore for 2 days. I guess the hinge on the 3/8" drive helps!
Did you take the chance to measure your valve clearances and adjust shims while you had the covers off?

[BMR]

Originally Posted by xtremeskier97

Ok..dumb question, but which part is the plenum, the intake manifold? Ive seen that word thrown around here like crazy but never seen it pointed out in a picture, and the manual mentions nothing of it that I can find.

I dunno where I got the term from, but to me it's the big ol' cast aluminum thing sitting in plain sight on top of the engine. It divys the air coming thru the intake into 6 separate streams. The intake manifold sits below it.

[BMR]

Originally Posted by IBMDude

Did you take the chance to measure your valve clearances and adjust shims while you had the covers off?

No, I didn't think to do that, darn it! Oh well. I ain't goin' in there again!