okay to tighten spark plug tubes (valve cover is off)?

[97&02camryleI4]

Hi 97 5sfe i4 here. I had planned on removing the spark plug tubes to reseal the threads with a high temperature sealant to stop/prevent possible oil leaking into the spark plug tubes. Note that I do not have oil pooling inside the spark plug tubes but only what appears to be dried up oil residue on the lower ceramic portion down to the hex and o-ring of the spark plugs. This could have been the result of previous leaking valve cover grommets or improperly torqued valve cover nuts.

I already searched about this and saw Ken4's thread regarding his procedure and pictures on how to remove the tubes. I do not have the SST to remove the tubes and was also not able to do so with adjustable pliers, so I think I will stop attempting to remove them before I mess up the tubes. The valve cover is off at the moment. The question I have is if it is okay to tighten up the spark plug tubes with the 30mm nuts even though I wasn't able to remove them to reseal the threads. I'm not sure if the tubes came with any existing thread sealants when they were screwed into the head at the factory and if I tighten them up, the sealant will probably lose its sealing ability, if it had any in the first place. I hope you guys got what I meant.

Put in another way (a different scenario to help you understand what I mean), it's kind of like saying I want to retorque the 30mm valve cover nuts to their specified torque to stop/prevent oil leaking out from the valve cover, but I was not able to take off the valve cover to change the gasket.

Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks this forum rocks!

[Digger1]

97,

I wouldn't try to tighten up the nuts unless the valve cover was in place, if that's what you were asking.

[renmike]

I've not looked into this too much, are the tubes just screwed into the head (makes sense)? If anything, you could find a couple of nuts that are of the same size and thread pitch of the tubes, put them both on the tube and tighten them to the point where you can turn the bottom nut to loosen it but the top nut with catch it, letting the tube unthread. After you seal it however you will, you can thread it back on and tightening it by turning the top nut. When it's tight enough, just loosen the nuts and voila, you're done.

[Ken4]

If you tighten the spark plug tubes more, it will likely break the existing sealant and you might get a bigger leak. Is there oil on the spark plug threads when you remove the spark plugs? If not, that stain you see above the hex on the insulator is called corona stain and is normal.

[toyomoho]

If the tubes are not leaking, it might be best to leave them alone. You could end up doing more harm them good as Ken4 says. Wait a few thousand miles then pull out your worst spark plug. Check the condition for signs of getting worse. If worse you will then have some time to obtain the 30mm nuts as Renmike states. Then remove, clean and reseal the tubes. I think the torque is 36 ft-lbs.