Valve cover leak, how bad is it?

So I'm not sure if this is a serious problem or what to do about it.
But there seems to be a valve cover leak.

A guy noticed it doing my oil change maybe 2 years ago. Maybe its spread a little bit since then, but not by much.

Should I be concerned? Is there something I should do about it?

 

Thats not your engine block, looks like you have a valve cover leak... common issue and not a big deal.

 

Thanks I'll change some stuff so its accurate.

Should I be concerned with this, is there anything I should do about it?

 

You can change the gasket or try tighten the bolts first as gaskets shrink over time.

 

Mine leaks in the same spot. 2010 with 124k just cleaned it up and see how long it takes to come back

 

--My 2006 looks like new

 

I had a Jeep that leaked like that. I changed the valve cover gasket, and it came back. I don’t think it was ever a real problem.

 

If you want to change it, it's not that big of a job really. It's a rubber gasket that sits in a groove. Don't even have to scrape off any old gasket material.

Had my valve covers off to install the exhaust cam gears that come with the UCON tuner.

Although, if mine were leaking just a little, I probably wouldn't bother pulling the Supercharger off to change the valve cover gasket.

 

Also, as was stated above, I'd start by re-torgueing the valve cover bolts. See if that takes care of it.

 

That doesn't look that bad yet.. if you can smell oil dripping on the exhaust manifolds and making a stinky smell then I would think about re-sealing them..

 

As others have said the slight weeping you have observed should be monitored, but not worried over.

A caution however should you chose to re-torque the fasteners:

Note: Toyota incorrectly uses the Imperial units ft·lbf and in·lbf the specify torque values. This is incorrect as these are both units of work [distance times force] not torque [force times radius (distance)]¹. The proper Imperial units of torque are the lbf·ft and lbf·in; these are the units I will use in my discussion.

The torque specs for the bolts and nuts (shown below) are just 80 and 89 lb·in--so make sure you use an appropriate torque wrench, most likely a 1/4" drive unit which typically have ranges of 20 to 200 lbf·in. Here are the specs for the right and left covers:

head cover--RH (7.4 lbf·ft = 88.5 lbf·in)


head cover--LH


It should also be noted that the sealing gasket is a formed (not flat) seal seated in a channel at the perimeter of the cover, and that when torqued as described the cylinder head cover and cylinder head are in full metal to metal contact--i.e. the seal is compressed fully into the channel and further tightening of the fasteners will not further compress the seal.

Bottomline: Checking the fastener torque is worth a shot however unless they are loose it is unlikely the weeping will be lessened--the real fix is a new gasket...

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¹ - Toyota's use of ft·lbf and in·lbf is also contradictory to the metric unit N·m unit (force times distance) also specified. Most makers no longer use these commonly used but nonetheless incorrect units for torque, I was somewhat surprised to find Toyota continues to do so.

Some readily available examples:

2003 Suzuki Burgman 400:


2006 Honda Silver Wing 600:


2004 Ford 4.6L:

 

my 08 had this, I tightened the bolt and it's been good ever since.

 

Maybe start using high milaege oil to swell up the seals a bit, they dry out and shrink with age.

 

Thread revival.

I just noticed the same on my 2011 dcsb 4.0L w/ 178k mi.






I suppose I'll start by checking the torque on those bolts when I change the spark plugs in 2k miles (at 180k).