I just replaced my VCG's in November last year. The 5/16 spacers are a good idea.
99 Avalon valve cover bolt question
I got my valve cover kit and I got these spacers that are the same thickness as the ones that are on the bolts. Has anyone replaced the ones on the bolts for the new ones? I can only assume that I should replace them. I've watched many videos and no one talks about these spacers. The Toyota dealer says you should buy new bolts. One guy suggest putting two 5/16 washers so you can get the proper torque on the bolts. Oh, my bolts were not on very tight which surprised me.
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That's what did. How much sealant did you place around the half moons? I put some on my finder and spread it where the plastic meets the metal. I was at the salvage yard getting a lost VC bolt and noticed that car had a bit squishing out at that area. I havent put the intake back on so I could take the time to pull it off and redo it. Ugh.
I yanked off all four of the half moon plugs, and then gently scraped off all the burned old gasket material in the valley and on the bottom of the plug. I used an old style flexible razor blade, so that it would reduce the chance of scratching the surface. Re-sealed with Ultra-black. Used a thin finger coat of it on the gasket contact surface of the whole perimeter on the head, particularly on the half-moon side.
I didnt remove those half moons and wont. I'm going to leave it. I feel I put enough and if I didnt I'll live with a small leak. This has to be better than what it was doing. Fingers crossed.
Yeah, a lot of people just put RTV on the uneven surface that the half moons create when properly seated on the VCG. This is one of those "while you are in there, it's a good idea to..." repairs. To me, it was worth the extra effort and I also wanted the peace of mind, since those things are not secured by anything other than the RTV sealant that will eventually deteriorate.
Well that's good to know. Thanks for your response. I appreciate it.
I even kicked the idea around of using a feeler gauge to measure the thickness of the differential created by the half moon plugs against the surface of the head, and then get the half moons grinded down by machine shop, but that would have been too much trouble. I really don't get why ToMoCo's engineers didn't revise that one. You'd think that they'd have next to miniscule gap tolerances for powertrain joint surfaces... oh well.... 
I got it all back together and now I idle around 1500 RPMs. I did clean the TB extremely well and can assume that has something to do with it. I did place new plugs and wires while I was at it. The throttle is very snappy.
did you make sure to use a new manifold gasket?
yep. The only thing I didnt replace was the TB gasket.
I never replaced that either, it doesn't seem like there's a teflon or similar type of coating
on it that would wear off. I did, however, once put it in backwards, which caused a vacuum leak and subsequent CEL.
on it that would wear off. I did, however, once put it in backwards, which caused a vacuum leak and subsequent CEL.
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