Where's my Easy Button?
Spent an interesting couple of hours playing mechanic this morning. Took my time and did almost everything right, lol. Leaned a few things. Saved a few busks too.
First of all, this place rocks, thanks to everyone here I had instructions, got a great deal on parts (yay ToyotaPartsMan!), and knew what tools I needed to get the job done right.
The good news is I am as sure as I've ever been about a car repair (wow, I know, valve cover gasket, I'm waaaaaaaaaay hard core, right? lol) and it WAS definitely leaking - this shot shows the rear of the cylinder head after I removed the gasket itself:
The bad news is I think there are more oil leaks and the VC was the least serious of all of them.
Waiting a few days to see for sure. I degreased the engine (and underside) so any fresh leaks will be easy to spot.
Biggest shock of the day was the valve cover spark plug hole nut things were practically HAND TIGHT. I went to remove them with my 30mm socket and it was like whooops! No torque needed for removal! Some were tighter than others but there's NO WAY they were tightened to spec. Hence the leaking. Wow...
Speaking of torque, I was ultra-meticulous with the wrench working slowly from the inside out repeatedly until I got to 17 ft.-lbs. I was also really careful with cleaning the surfaces and I doubt any garage I would have taken it to would have been so carekul, lol.
Overall the install was a snap (other than for little snafu's here and there). Again, thanks to everyone here for your help!
-kj-
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