First time valve cover gasket repair

Hi all. First time posting. I have an 09 4cyl 5speed regular cab that as had a slow leak out of the valve cover gasket for about the last 30,000 miles. I am going to fix it this week and wanted to know what else I should be looking for or replacing while in there. I have 280,000 miles on the truck currently and its in really great shape and I'd like to keep it that way. I will do the PCV also as I saw it is easy to do during the VC repair. Any suggestions or things I should look for would be much appreciated. Thanks!

 

Throw some plugs in since they'll be right there.

Check the ignition coils closely for cracks or damage before they go back in. At 280k, if you can afford it, maybe just replace them

 

Spark plug tube seals, FIPG103 for the hard gasket corners where it goes over the cam humps or similar like the half moons seals in the back if that 4 cyl has them, the rubber bonded aluminum washers for the valve cover bolts, PCV valve.

 

Good thinking on the plugs not sure when the last time I swapped them was. Spark plug tube seals comes with the valve cover gasket I think so I should have that on the way too. I have some Rockauto gift cards so I can swing some NGK coils. Any source or part # for the aluminum washers Key-Rei?

 

The washer/seal combo key-rei is talking about are sometimes called grommets. Some valve cover gasket sets include them. People like to trash on fel-pro but some of their kits have them

 

Your truck may or may not have them but they're a good idea if you do have them, you'ed probably have to get them from a dealer if the kit doesn't include them, that said if they're not too dried out or crushed flat they can be reused.

 

Great, there is a dealer not too far from me. I'll pick up some of that sealant if they have it tomorrow as well. I've had good luck with Fel-Pro Gaskets on my old dodge flathead 6's but its a 70 year difference in technology. I do plan to go with a Fel-Pro. Thanks for all the input so far everyone I appreciate it. Installing a 600W inverter this week as well so I can knock out both projects at the same time.

 

Indeed they do. Did this job a few months ago on the kid's Yaris. They were included.



I've used all manner of Felpro gaskets over the years without issue.

 

Man I hope mine is that clean inside. I bough the truck from a dealer (they only had it two weeks) with 230,000 on it and it was clear whoever owned it previously took exceptional care of it. Regular oil changes with 0w-20 full synthetic since I've had it (had to survive a couple North Dakota winters). I'll update when I get the Rockauto kit to see if it has the grommets or not

 

This is a 1.5 1NZ engine from a '10 Yaris. I bought it 4 years ago with 126k miles on it. When I popped the valve cover last fall I was really pleased to see how clean it was. I have no service from it's 1st 8 years of life. The last 4 years I've run Valvoline Full Synthetic Maxlife 5w30.

There was nearly zero varnish under the cover and the timing chain was still tight.

 

I'm not against them, use em from time to time. The bright blue is nice and stands out for the customer to see when they pop the hood.

 

You could easily use 5w30 in that engine. Toyota back spec'd the 2.7 for 0w20. But it started life on 5w30. Valvoline Full Synthetic Maxlife has additional detergents and a nice shot of moly for high mileage engines. I run it in the Yaris and my Tacoma.

 

Definitely spring for an OEM PVC valve. I only paid about $10 for mine.

 

When I pulled the intake manifold off of the 3MZ V6 in my BIL's '04 Sienna to change the plugs the new gasket was blue. The valve cover gasket for the Yaris was black though.

 

I was thinking of going to a bit thicker oil so I appreciate this comment. Most of my experience is with Dodge flathead 6's and traditionally as they get to high mileage you bump up the visc a skosh to account for some wear inside the cylinders letting some of the thinner oil through. I had planned to change to at minimum 5w 20 as initially I thought maybe the 0w was too thin which was why I was leaking at the valve cover. I also get some chatter but that's usually when I let the oil level get below 3/4.

 

0w20 and 5w20 are both 20 weight oils at operating temperature. No real difference.

My '09 2.7 was spec'd for 5w30. My '13 2.7 called for 0w20. I ran 5w30 in both

 

Gasket, coils, PCV and the toyota gasket stuff ordered and picked up plugs from the local parts store. Should be here tomorrow. Also got my circuit breaker, 80 amp fuse and 00 battery cable for my inverter. My goodness that hurt my wallet but want to knock it out all at once to limit my downtime. I'll do some more oil research before I swap but I will see what happens after I fix my gasket first. My theory was the initial thinness ( 0w ) was the issue as opposed to the high end 20w because I didn't notice it until I swapped from the 5w for the cold I know there isnt a huge difference there, just a working theory. Very possible it was just the gasket going bad anyways.

 

Another BITOG fan, I see. Valvoline ML Full Syn is good stuff. Nice ad pack for sure

 

I used to visit that site frequently. But it's gotten to the point where I rarely go there. Lots of great info, but way too dweebs looking to hammer people for oil related questions.......on an oil site. Strange.

 

Oof I feel that. I joined a virago forum for my motorcycle and one of the first responses I got was bashing me for something I did and offered no constructive criticism whatsoever. Immediately left that one. I had never heard of BITOG until now so thanks for another resource.