2000 TL: 223k

Going to be ordering VC gaskets, got a bit of seepage & think they may be leaking into the coil tubes & causing my misfire CEL.

Questions: Do I need to pull the intake to pull the VCs?
If so: Do I need a intake man. gasket & will I need to pull the plate off the top of the intake to pull the manifold?

Thanks

 

Just loosen the clamps on the intake where it's connected to the throttle body, disconnect the sensors and hoses connected and you should be able to pull of the manifold with the TB connected without having to pull off the intake. I'd replace the manifold gaskets while in there although some on here would argue that isn't necessary.

I'm assuming when you say replacing the valve cover gaskets you're going to replace the spark plug seals as well?

 

Yes, I'm assuming the tube seals are the root cause of my problem. I'm also getting some light seepage from the main VC gasket, so those are getting done as well.
The main concern was whether I need to pull the intake manifold to do remove the VCs, mainly the rear.

 

The only other way I can think of to get to the valve covers is to take off the manifold chambers but that's going to be more work than taking off the manifold itself

 

Just remove the Manifold + TB and its pretty easy and painless...
I did Manifold + TB + VSA on mine ;D yours is a lot easier and lighter..

 

Absolutely no reason to replace the metal IM gasket.

 

Ended up pulling the intake, battery & top half of IM. VC gaskets were solid & came out in pieces. What I though was going to be about a 2 hour job turned into 6
Also cleaned up the EGR passages, which were nearly completely blocked up. Car seems to run a little better now.

 

Is it possible to take off front VC gasket without removing Intake manifold?

 

I don't think you'll be able to get to the middle VC bolts with the IM on there.
And, removing the IM is a good time to check/clean the EGR passages.

 

Perhaps if you find a flex joint for a Hex Nut into a ratchet to remove the front cover of the manifold. But this solution is FAR more complicated than just removing the entire manifold already.

 

its worth the relatively few minutes to remove the intake manifold for access to valve covers
Cleaning the egr path inside the manifold is best done on the workbench, and its important to the cars overall running condition

Not in any book is the info from our 650,000 MILES megamod fsttyms1 is the fact the egr cleaning needs to be done every 75,000 miles! and you have how many tens of thousands over that?

Cleaning the manifold takes time, neighbor kid can be trained to use carb cleaner and wire coat hanger- or drop it off at a machine shop- they will boil it in solvent and run the right cleaning/scraping tool thru all the passages = returning it like new!

 

Thanks Going to do the complete job this weekend

 

Is there a DIY to change the valve cover gaskets and clean the EGR? I really need to do this work soon as oil is leaking everywhere.

 

It wasn't overly difficult to do the VC gaskets. I didn't do anything with the EGR when I had mine apart.
Remove intake & intake manifold, remove coils, remove VC, swap gasket.

Little more to it than that, but the only really difficult part I remember was just getting the rear VC off. Quite a tight fit in there, IIRC. That and the gaskets came out in small pieces on mine. So it took about 3x longer than I expected.

 

have you actually done this? if so how much does it cost?

 

All depends on the machine shop but they do it to heads and blocks all the time.

Honestly, its not hard to clean yourself. All you need is some carb cleaner and an old toothbrush and a hour of your time.

 

Thanks Kris. . .will you please chime in on my question on the 200k thread about trannys

 

Well I think I finally finished this job. I did pretty much everything wrong and learned a lot.

1. I broke one of the valve cover bolts off inside the engine. Those bolts cost like $10 a piece, crazy.

2. I put the intake manifold gasket on upside down. This forced several errors and I could tell a difference with how it was running.

3. I didn't clean out the intake manifold cover. After I found out I put the gasket in upside down I noticed that the gasket was blocking (6) little ports. The intake manifold cover channels and ports were totally filled with carbon and clogged. A screwdriver and purple power worked great to clean it.

4. I recommend buying a tube seal puller. I will never attempt to get the valve cylinder gaskets ( I don't know the proper name of these but there are 6 that come in the valve cover gasket kit) out of the valve cover again without this tool. It turned 1 hour with a screwdriver into 30 seconds with the tube seal puller. I didn't realize the gaskets have metal in them and I think it locks into the valve cover overtime with the extreme heat.

5. I ripped one of the valve cylinder gaskets when I was placing the valve cover over the cylinder and into place. I recommend getting silicon grease from the plumbing department of Lowes. This is another essential item that will make this job smoother. Use it on the outside of the metal cylinder and on the inside of the valve cylinder gaskets. Line up the cylinder with the valve cylinder gaskets and slowly work the gasket onto the cylinder. They tear easy!!!

6. It took me forever to get the washers off the bolts. Use the silicone grease to get the old gaskets off the bolts and to get the new gaskets on the bolt. Takes strength and the ability to endure some pain to get these off.

The reason I started this project is because I had an oil leak and it was dripping on the O2 sensor. It appears now that it was the rear middle valve cylinder gasket that failed. The front middle ignition coil gasket failed so I purchased and installed a new ignition coil. I also have to buy a new bolt. One of the bolts on the rear valve cover, towards the left of the valve cover was some kind of security head bolt that some idiot put on when they were working on the car. Now that I am finished the car runs perfect! What a difference this made.

I still haven't taken of the EGR though. Is that pretty easy? Anything have to come off for access?

 

So I checked the spark plugs on my rear valve cover and they are covered in a thick oil residue. I know for sure that one of the o rings was messed up because I could see it lipped over the tube cylinder. The other 2 o rings looked good prior to removal. What could make oil get into the other 2 tube cylinders? Could the tube cylinders be too low? Can I raise them?

I think the issue I'm having boils down to a lack of clearance. I loosened the suspension bar on the back of the engine. Now I'm trying to remove the ignition coil wire. Any body know how to get that out of the way? I don't want to proceed this time until I'm comfortable with the clearance.

 

I need to change my valve cover gasket and spark plug tube seals as well. Did anyone come across a good write up on this?

 

https://acurazine.com/forums/2g-tl-p...askets-969936/ Here you go, this was a weekend project of mine a couple of weeks ago.

To do this properly it's best to clean all the intake and EGR ports and the car will run like new afterwards. Worth the extra time to make sure everything is clean.
As for the tube seals, make sure they're evenly pressed in tight and push as hard as possible if you're doing it by hand and make sure when you're re-installing the valve cover make sure the tube seals line up perfectly and don't pinch on the spark plug tubes themselves. And if you're feeling bold that would be a good time to check the valve adjustments.