Introducing myself and my first question - valve cover gasket

[hooRAH]

First off, I'll introduce myself.
My name is Dan, and while I don't own a Camry, I find myself under the hood of one....constantly.
My girlfriend, who lives with me, has a 98 Camry LE. Its a 4cyl with an auto, nice color, alloy wheels. Nice car.

I'm a regular member at Bimmer.info and Bimmerforums.com as well as the Jeepforums.com, but this is my first time posting here. Up until now, the Cam has been relatively easy to work on, but this problem has me stumped.
Its been leaking oil on the back end (or the front end, depending how you want to look at it), intake side. No big deal, just a valve cover gasket replacement. Done em a dozen times on my BMW, my volvo, a v6 eclipse, a previa, motorcycles, etc etc. Replaced the gasket, put the thing back together, and I cannot for the life of me get this thing to stop leaking!

I RTV'd the whole gasket, put it in as well and as evenly as I could, cleaned the top of the head (air compressors are the SHIZNIT for cleaning) put it back, and torqued to 25 ftlbs (even though the book says 32). Still leaks, so I tightened to 32 ftlbs, and its still leaking. I've never been so frustrated by such a simple job. I've taken off the gasket and reseated it twice.

I've read through the archives, and I've noticed that few people report oil leaks after getting the gasket replaced, so it doesn't seem like this is unusual. If anyone's ran into this problem on their own, I would love to get a tip or two on sealing it up.

I'm sending my girlfriend out today to the Toyota dealer to pick up a toyota gasket (this last one came from my parts supplier out in California - BMA auto parts. Good place, but I'm starting to think I either got a crappy brand gasket or a bad fitting one.

Anyway, I'll be posting around to help you guys out when I can. I've done quite a bit on this car, so hopefully I can add something to the community. Later all.

Dan

[Digger1]

Dan,

On my car (see my signature), I needed to replace a circular rubber plug that is located directly below the valve cover (it contacts it) at the rear of the engine, more to the right (or intake) side of the rear. I believe this is near the oil leak you describe. Some folks on this forum say that is where the distributor drive was located on earlier Camry's.

I put a little Permatex Ultra-Copper on the new plug. End of problem.

Good luck!

[hooRAH]

Digger,

Thanks for the reponse. I dug through the factory manual looking for the part you describe. Are you talking about the half moon seals on page EG1-72 of the engine manual? http://www.**********s.com/camry/eg1.pdf
I don't remember seeing anything like that, it looked like the surface of the head was flat the whole way around, but I suppose I could have been on autopilot when I was doing the job and not noticed.
One more quick question for you - that seal packing material, the FIPG. Is that basically the same as black RTV? Cus I've got plenty of that stuff.
Alright, thanks for the help. I'm taking the VC off again when I get home from work, hopefully I can seal it up with RTV a little better this time and be done with this thing.

[Digger1]

Dan,

The plug I replaced was circular.

Plz refer to this thread:

http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/t117167.html

The plug I replaced is the one highlighted in yellow on the diagram....scroll down a bit to see it.

Good luck!

[JetspeedCamry]

Try scuffing the mating surface on the head back with some emery clothe/dishwashing scrubber. Just enough to remove surface contaminants and leftoer silicones. Then, the RTV (I used the same black RTV) sticks much better to the surface and seals better. Don't scrub too much however, or the head will become uneven.

[hooRAH]

Ok, here's an update and somewhat of a conclusion.
I've replaced the gasket 5 times now. Each time we do a little better, but its still leaking.
Last night I pulled the cover and pulled the distributor plug cover, sealed it up with RTV, and put it back in. Then I put the cover back on. I'm down to leaking the least amount of oil it has yet, but its still pooling in the transmission area and leaking onto the exhaust (which in turn smokes). Tonight I'm going to hose the backside of the engine, run the car up on ramps, and find out exactly which corner/area its leaking from. I think I'm also going to try some different RTV.
Thanks for the tip on the distributor plug.

[hooRAH]

Alright, I wish I could let this thread stop, but when my girlfriend got home today, there was oil EVERYWHERE on the inside of the motor, including on the hood. I thought to myself "great, now its leaking UP". Turns out the valve cover was cracked. There was a hairline crack in the fillet on the backside. Taking the cover on and off so much must have fatigued the crack and propogated it until the point where it started spraying oil and not just leaking it.

So I'm off to the junkyard for a new cover, and hopefully I can be done with this thing. Does anyone know off the top of their head how much the VC of the 5SFE has changed over the years? If I pull a cover off of, say, a 93 camry, will it fit?

[mspringer]

HooRAH,
Sorry about the crack, but glad you are figuring it out (albeit the hard way...).

I have not changed the vc gasket on the Toyota, but (like you) have changed many on other vehicles.

I was going to mention that you (or others), should check to see that the valve cover perimeter itself is flat -- they can warp with heat, or bend if you pry on the edge to get it off. (Very common problem on a small block Chevy...)

Use something flat (wood, or better yet a piece of aluminum or steel square tubing, or even a level or other reasonably flat surface) and lay it on the flat areas of the valve cover perimeter to check - tweak the VC as necessary.

Another way to check is to put the valve cover on the head with no gasket, hold it down, then press around the perimeter of the valve cover to see if it is touching the head all the way around. You may need a screwdriver or other suitable device to push on the valve cover edge.