[1jow]

Re-torque the valve cover, oil and trans pans before they leak if you are DIY. OR! Have it done at the mileage indicated in your Service Schedule. Even observe and snug w/o hard pressure (vs over torquing) w/o a Torque Wrench is better than letting that small maintenance go w/o checking. The socket needed on the valve cover will be the challenge for the average DIY (an off brand should be reasonable). A big sign of the need is when you see the oily look before the real leak starts and usually the bolt are hand tight or just above to all the seep or leak to start.

A lack of can become a mess before you get indications (low or drips) due to oil or fluid blowing back under the body of the vehicle. I was told of one related fire vs ever experiencing one.

 

[Daijoubu]

I would use a torque wrench, over torquing the valve cover will result into leaking as well lol
My trans pan is leaking, I will try to re-torque it

5SFE torque:
Valve cover: 17 ft/lb (in 2-3 passes: 6/12/17 ft/lb, in the following cylinder order: 2, 3, 1, 4)
Trans pan: 43 in/lb in criss-cross pattern or every 2-3 bolt
Oil pan: 48 in/lb, idem.

 

[1jow]

Good info, even though my Haynes shows 33ft lbs on the 2001 Camry valve cover. I felt that was excessive and stopped at 30 which seem high also but I feel I verified with another source. It felt it could take more but I was satisfied vs the approx 5 ft lbs I found. I checked the back passenger side where I spotted the leak and it is still leak free (after cleaning the upper and lower mess).

My ref to torquing w/o a torque wrench is Old School Mild Snugging vs leaking.

What torque source did you use and on what year model?? Thanks

 

[fenixus]

Haynes instructions were based on initial FSM recommendation of 33ft-lbs for valve cover nuts on gen4 5s-fe. Toyota later lowered the torque recommendation to 17ft-lbs, there was a problem with gasket getting over-compressed (leaks) or even something as drastic as warping the valve cover.

 

[1jow]

My Old School Snugging would have been my best option. LOL. I’ll keep a close eye on it vs adjusting or should I back off some after I torqued 2 wks ago?. Approx how long do the gaskets last? Are they Neoprene or cork? Thanks

 

[Daijoubu]

I retorqued my trans pan, seems to have stopped the small ATF leak, there's still another leak somewhere. Will have to keep looking

Half the bolts were loose lol!

 

[1jow]

1. It’s good you checked and got control of the leaks. Time can get away on needs.
2. I just verified all is still good and cln after re-torquing valve cover, oil pan and trans pan.
3. My thought on the 30 ft lb 17 ft lbs on the valve cover is it is not leaking, it w/n bottomed. I feel it is probably as well off vs backing off to 17 ft lbs. It might start leaking at this point. What is your opinion?
4.Are the valve cover large bolts in sleeve or enforced area vs pressure on a thin valve cover’s top? I will try to find a section view or interior view of cover. Have a link?

Thanks!

 

[engineer20]

Is retorquing the valve cover gasket an easy DIY job? I just had the gakest replaced about 2years or 30k miles ago and i was told by the dealer ,it was leaking oil again. a quick lube place told me, maybe i just need it retorqued, rather than another gasket replacement. is this right? i called the place where i got it fixed/replaced at 2 years ago and they said they could retorque it for me for free and it'd take only abotu 20 minutes for them to do, but is it easy to DIY? thanks. and will retorquing it solve the minor valve cover leak, or is it possible i need it replaced again? first replacement was at 130k, and the car's now at 160k.

 

[Daijoubu]

Easy job, just unplug spark plugs cables and torque away, you'll need a large 30mm socket though
If it still leaks, it's still possible that the gasket is fine but that it needs some gasket filler in certain spots (eg half moons)

 

[TigerHeli]

17 foot-lbs is pretty high to me (204 inch-lbs). Torque on my Focus is 60 inch-lbs, not that it matters.

If it was torqued beyond 17 foot-lbs, I wouldn't back it off and re-tongue unless you are replacing the gasket. The gasket could have been over compressed and likely will not "pop" back out.

Not a bad DIY, but you need a torque wrench - http://www.harborfreight.com/14-in-drive-click-type-torque-wrench-61277.html - and you need to alternately tighten in three steps as above - i.e. alternately tighten until each bolt is at 72 inch-lbs, then alternately tighten until each bolt is at 144 inch-lbs, then alternately tighten to 200 inch-lbs.

If the shop will do it for free, I would probably let them.

It can't hurt and might fix the leak, but it might be that the gasket still needs to be replaced.

Actually, the gasket replacement isn't a bad DIY either - you just remove the bolts, remove the cover, clean the mating surfaces with brake cleaner, install the new gasket and re-torque the bolts as above.

 

[engineer20]

17 foot-lbs is pretty high to me (204 inch-lbs). Torque on my Focus is 60 inch-lbs, not that it matters.

If it was torqued beyond 17 foot-lbs, I wouldn't back it off and re-tongue unless you are replacing the gasket. The gasket could have been over compressed and likely will not "pop" back out.

Not a bad DIY, but you need a torque wrench - http://www.harborfreight.com/14-in-drive-click-type-torque-wrench-61277.html - and you need to alternately tighten in three steps as above - i.e. alternately tighten until each bolt is at 72 inch-lbs, then alternately tighten until each bolt is at 144 inch-lbs, then alternately tighten to 200 inch-lbs.

If the shop will do it for free, I would probably let them.

It can't hurt and might fix the leak, but it might be that the gasket still needs to be replaced.

Actually, the gasket replacement isn't a bad DIY either - you just remove the bolts, remove the cover, clean the mating surfaces with brake cleaner, install the new gasket and re-torque the bolts as above.

Thanks. Spekaing of spark plugs, I saw this guy teach you on youtube how to test the compression on your car, it's not car specifric and very general, but how do you test for compression? You plug that thing in where the spark plug goes? it's sort of confusing. thanks

 

[Daijoubu]

The i4 5SFE is an odd design, the cover is only held by the large nuts on the 4 spark plug tubes as opposed to bolts.
As for the torque wrench, I was told you'll to avoid the extremes of the torque range for better accuracy, in that case it may be better to get a 3/8 one with a range of 10-80 ft/lb vs maxing out a 200in/ft 1/4 drive torque wrench

Locations of FIPG

I'll update it if I have the new one with the 17 ft/lb torque specs

 

[TigerHeli]

it's not car specifric and very general, but how do you test for compression? You plug that thing in where the spark plug goes?https://youtu.be/nABx4GwhV68

Correct - although you really only need to do that if the engine is running badly.

 

[TigerHeli]

The i4 5SFE is an odd design, the cover is only held by the large nuts on the 4 spark plug tubes as opposed to bolts.

That is an odd design.

As for the torque wrench, I was told you'll to avoid the extremes of the torque range for better accuracy, in that case it may be better to get a 3/8 one with a range of 10-80 ft/lb vs maxing out a 200in/ft 1/4 drive torque wrench

That is correct, except 10 ft-lbs is above the 6 ft-lb's initial torque and very close to the 12 ft-lbs intermediate torque.

Ideally, you would want to do the first two torques with a 1/4-inch wrench and the final torque with a 3/8-inch.

But that means having two torque wrenches. Fortunately H/F sells those for $10 each every few weeks, so I just bought one of each.

Then again, it would be hard to find a 30-mm socket in anything other than 1/2-inch drive, but there are always reducer and expansion adapters.

 

[Daijoubu]

Tell me about it lol, I ended up with 5 torque wrenches

 

[borwish]

Then again, it would be hard to find a 30-mm socket in anything other than 1/2-inch drive, but there are always reducer and expansion adapters.

I use a 1/2 30mm socket, a 1/2 socket adapter that lets you use the socket in a drill/impact (they have 1/2 on one side and 1/4 on the other, and then a 1/4 size socket on a 3/8 torque wrench.

 

[TigerHeli]

I use a 1/2 30mm socket, a 1/2 socket adapter that lets you use the socket in a drill/impact (they have 1/2 on one side and 1/4 on the other, and then a 1/4 size socket on a 3/8 torque wrench.

Okay, that works, but wouldn't the adapter on the left be easier: http://www.harborfreight.com/4-pc-high-visibility-socket-adapter-set-67925.html

(And for initial torque, the 1/4-inch wrench with the 3rd from left adapter plugged into the leftmost adapter plugged into the socket).

 

[1jow]

Check your torque wrenches against each other for accuracy. I will usually check my ½ Pointer against my ½ snapping. My 3/8 is a pointer and I trust it above all that are brand names. I have returned two 3/8 that I saw and read no quality or accuracy in.

If you do enough wrenching you develop a feel for what is too loose or too tight. A bad gear was giving me a premature snap which was easily known it was off from the high torque needed. From that experience, I like to see both point and snap close to each other.

 

[TigerHeli]

Good advice - although with valve covers and wheel nuts (which are what I usually use torque wrenches on), you are really concerned with differential torque.

I.e. if the wheel nuts are supposed to have 76 foot-lbs having them all at 90 foot-lbs is better than having 2 at 70 and 2 at 80, and an inaccurate but repeatable wrench is likely to torque them all to the same value - which is okay, just not the intended value.

(Within reason and experience, of course - if you barely put pressure on the wheel lug and the wrench clicks, something is probably not correct.)

 

[David Nichols]

Good advice - although with valve covers and wheel nuts (which are what I usually use torque wrenches on), you are really concerned with differential torque.

I.e. if the wheel nuts are supposed to have 76 foot-lbs having them all at 90 foot-lbs is better than having 2 at 70 and 2 at 80, and an inaccurate but repeatable wrench is likely to torque them all to the same value - which is okay, just not the intended value.

(Within reason and experience, of course - if you barely put pressure on the wheel lug and the wrench clicks, something is probably not correct.)

I thoroughly agree with you. I'd add that when I have a feel for certain torques, I'm certain that I'm using a wrench with the same length. I adjust up or down from my feel. The other day I re-checked for the fun of it with a torque wrench that could reverse directions and 1/2 of them were 76 foot lbs. and the rest a bit under. I felt pretty good about that, lol.