3rz valve cover torque specs

any thoughts. there are 10 bolts on aluminum cover. haynes says in ch2 that there was specs... no specs. and internet has lots of ideas. what say you?

just hand tight evenly and keep an eye on it?

 

I just checked my 1999 FSM and it does not mention the cylinder head cover to the cylinder head torque. There is a "cylinder head rear cover" to cylinder head that is listed at 10ft/lb. With a setting that low you really need to be using an inch/lb wrench.

I broke 3 of those bolts when I reinstalled my cover the last time. I suggest just replacing all of them if you can plan ahead. They are cheap and it's way easier to have extras then have to pull the whole cover back off to remove the broken stud.

 

I can see why this is something that is difficult to give direction to. you have a rubber gasket and a rubber grommet in the screws. it's truly difficult to be sure that you are evenly tightening all around because of the softness of the tightening. tighten too much and the grommet starts to expand too much while the torque remains similar. I'm just gonna eye it and not tighten too much and hope that the rubber gasket does it's job. it's truly a " feel it" and hope for the best kinda thing. but I'm open to hear others opinions definitely

 

My advice here is to use a nut driver and go as tight as you can with your hands, that'll be plenty but not enough leverage to accidentally break it

 

https://youtu.be/K4tzBU4NDpE

here is a video of what is happening on my rig

 

so paetersen, do I just ignore the screw grommets buldging and just got for it? thanks

 

Just be very light. I broke the head off a bolt with an inch/lbs torque wrench. I was so pissed at the TW that I tossed it. Thankfully it was on a vehicle that was going to the junk yard.

 

that is me in the video, haha, they just deformed so easily and weren't even that tight. strange right? anyway, Ill try again in the morning.. just want to get this thing done already, ha

 

yeah, that's how it feels. didn't feel right as I was tightening down. I'll try again tomorrow and check out different brands. I can wait on tightening down the valve cover and keep putting the rest together. thanks!!! might even try roofing screw grommets if they fit. they are sturdier I think

 

roofing grommets were the answer

 

I guess we've lost our instinct for tightening bolts over the years. Done quite a bit of work on vehicles over the last 45 years and don't believe I've ever used a torque wrench on anything other than head bolts
and have never had an issue with over or under tightening anything.
Just progressively tighten the bolts with approx equal rotations on each until they are snug and you will be fine.
I'll bet there's many more valve cover leaks caused by over-tightening than under-tightening.