Valve Cover Estimate

[ArmyofOne]

i just had an estimate from the City garage around the corner frm my house (they do AWESOME work, have been taking cars there for a while, as have my parents, and their friends) and i was quoted $311 labor only for front and rear Valve Cover Gaskets and PCV valve.

he said (and this is all true) that if the PCV valve is bad (or clogged) then it will push all the prssurized oil out through the seals. great (i knew that), but what does that do if i want to put synth in after i get the leaks fixed? how are the internal seals (valve seals etc) going to be if the PCV valve has been bad all this time? i can almost garuntee you that it is, the last owner drove 2 miles total every day, and never took the car over 3,000 RPMS.

he also said that i would need an UIM (Upper Intake Manifold)gasket, because the UIM, and TB have to be removed to get to the rear valve cover.

for only the rear valve cover and PCV valve, i was quoted $267 labor. i think this is the route i am going to go. while i could do both of them myself, it would take alot of something i dont have...time. i can do the front one in a few hours, but the rear bank is gonna be a B****.

so where can i get cheap gaskets??? i would thin autozone would be as good a place as any.

so that sounds about right for labor charges im thinking, what do you guys think?

[Toysrme]

1) PCV cost's less tha $10 from anywhere.
2) The valve cover gaskets are easy to change in an afternoon (but you'll need to do an oil change b/c of the oil you might loose...

Some of the seals are oing to be horrible, and some are going to be near original quality. I'm tearing down my 3vz-fe and most of the seals are fine.

I can't speak for a 2-vz-fe(same stuff tho) but there are several gaskets up top that I remember taking off.
TB gasket, two EGR hookup gaskets, Air Intake Chamber gasket to Intake Manifold gasket and a few other small ones. There are others, but that was because I dissasembled everything.

IMHO all of the actual gaskets will be fine except the TB and the two EGR hookups. Those get rather "paperish" from the heat and take extreme care to remove so that you can reuse them.

The Intake Air Chamber to intake manifold gasket will be fine. Mine was in good shape. Let's face a fact about it, even if you brake it what is it sealing? No fluids, just air... And you can fix that fine with a can of copper coat.



I don't think you're getting screwed, but IMHO to me this is a Saturday project that doesn't require a mechanic. btw if youe ver need a total rebuild, you can buy ever gasket on the engine for $140 shipped on ebay.


You can buy a valve cover gasket or a 2vz-fe AND 3vz-fe online for like $10-$15 bucks.

$20 2 gallons of a good synthetic
$2.50 Gallon of AntiFreeze - you'll loose some disconnecting A/F hose from the intake Air Chamber
$3 Toyota oil filter
$30 2 valve cover gaskets
$4 Can of "Copper Kote" to fix any damaged gaskets on the intake manifold.
$5 Fuel filter to put on PCV breather line (to keep shit out of the intake)
$1 Masking tape - keep vacuum and AF lines in order
$1 Sharpie marker - write on tape

This should be a $75 project that you can wrench on all day Sat. or a weekend project.

[Toysrme]

btw the rear *cover* isn't a bitch to get off at all. It's actually extremely easy because everything in the way of it is going to be taken off!

If you need help hit me up on AIM or PM. I have mine apart right now so I can help you get your's off.

[ArmyofOne]

you have a pM

[ArmyofOne]

man i got to wonder...how do people change ths spark plugs without pulling the intake manifold off????

[Toysrme]

You get one of the flexy sockets so you can put them in without striping them and an extention. It's a huge pain, but while you have your IAC out, I would check the rear plugs for wear. You'll beat yourself in the head if you have to change them anytime within the next year if you don't do it now and they're bad.

NGK or Denso are reccomended by everyone here if you ask