[freddy123]

im doing a valve cover gasket change and im a little confused which way the plug seals go. ive watched several videos and have seen the seals put in two different directions.which way is right?open end with spring up or down when installing from inside of valve cover ? the sticky here shows the seal oriented so its a easy slide over plug tube.right or wrong ?

 

[Vangm25]

What way were they when you took them out?

 

[freddy123]

they were so brittle and different i couldnt tell which end was which....the seal had already conformed to the tube.ive always put the spring of the seal to the inside of whatever part i was replacing. this seems to be the opposite.

 

[abacus32]

Spring down when installed.

I start with the driver side first and run my motor oil-soaked finger around the tube seal while applying gentle downward force with my other hand.

 

[OleAvalon]

The drawing in the 2002 Factory Service Manual shows the seal being placed into the inverted valve cover such that the valley around the seal is down -- if you think of the valley making a V-shaped profile, the point of the V, the lowest part of the V, is facing the top of the valve cover. I'm guessing that the spring is in that valley EDIT - yes - if you go to the Beck/Arnley 0396590 picture (view of 1 seal) in Rock Auto 2002 Avalon spark plug tube seal, the picture is what you'd see looking down into the inverted valve cover: 2002 TOYOTA AVALON 3.0L V6 Spark Plug Tube Seal | RockAuto.

So, the spring is what grasps the tube, the same way that the circumferential spring in an axle seal grasps (forces the seal tight on) the axle.

 

[abacus32]

The information in the sticky is contradicting.

OleAvalon has it right, certainly for OEM style seals.

 

[freddy123]

ok thanks guys ....i see now . although looking at it ,the spring would grip the tube either way and i dont think it should leak either way.but i want it done right.theres probably three different youtube videos showing the "wrong" way. thanks again.

 

[OleAvalon]

looking at it ,the spring would grip the tube either way

Thought of that in the middle of the night...

I think the deciding factor is that the seal has a slightly rounded edge on the "non-valley" side and a sharp edge on the side that's visible when put in the 'right' way -- that MIGHT make the staking more effective -- the staking that you do by bending a bit of the baffle over the seal, after the seal is seated.

 

[freddy123]

possibly.....it makes it easier to slide over tubes when installing back on the head.i couldnt imagine getting that cover back on the firewall side if that seal was reversed.heck of a job with seal in the right direction.