Valve Cover Issues... Options

[tech_cruz787]

Sooo, spring break is next week and I was hoping that today I would fix MOST of my 171k miles 95 ST's oil leaking issues so I could head down to South Florida for a couple of days and actually enjoy myself... I went ahead and dropped the Number 2 oil pan, as I was changing my oil and filter as well today, and replaced the felpro gasket that was almost nonexistent. So, hopefully that takes care of a lot of the griminess from the bottom oil pan.

Next I wanted to take care of my valve cover gasket, the 4 stem seals, and the 4 grommets for the valve nuts, since just about everything has been spewing out at least a little bit of oil.

The complications started after I snapped my PCV valve that I had just replaced last oil change. Since it snapped I had no choice but to break the PCV grommet that the PCV valve connects to. I thankfully had an extra PCV valve. But the rest of the PCV grommet fell inside of the baffle part of the valve cover. I had to chisel it til it broke into small enough pieces so I could rattle them out. So, hopefully I can drive safely enough to Auto Zone and pray that they have that connector grommet.

Then I came to realize how difficult it is to remove the original stem seals. -___- After attempting to wiggle at least one off with a number of different pliers, I couldn't. I don't believe that I had/currently have the proper tools or technique. I changed the valve cover gasket, but still saw that some oil was seeping out of the bottom right corner, even after putting the suggested RTV there (Dont know what more I should do for that?).

The stem seals are a bit important to get to since I have been getting some white smoke from the tail pipe when the car has been sitting for over 12 or so hours and I have read that replacing this might be a solution. If anyone has any suggestions for these forsaken things I would appreciate it.

[Galcobar]

7AFE.

Try a pipe wrench or a chain wrench to twist the tubes, breaking the sealant. And of course you have to remove the spark plugs first. It amazes me how precise you have to be when tapping the tubes back into place -- within less than a millimetre -- I prefer the 5SFE's threaded tubes.

The spark plug tubes are sealed with high-temp mid-strength threadlocker Threebond 1324 -- Loctite blue in high-temp form is the equivalent. Some people whose automotive knowledge I respect swear Toyota's black Form In Place Gasket (FIPG) is a superior choice for sealing the tubes.

Oil pan doesn't have a gasket, you want to seal it using FIPG; reassemble within five minutes of application and torque to 4.9 N-m or 3.6 lb-ft.
s.

The valve cover doesn't need FIPG everywhere. If you have a properly fitting gasket (dealership parts are worth it sometimes) a dab at the corners of the half-moons should be sufficient. Make sure you're not over-torquing it (5.7 ft-lb or 7.8 N-m) or fully tightening one side first (should take several passes) -- either can deform the gasket.

Now after all of that -- none of this should address your exhaust issue. These all deal with oil leaks; oil in the exhaust shows up blue. White smoke is indicative of coolant getting into your combustion chamber. That usually means the head gasket failed.