2UZ-FE Valve Cover Gasket

[RicardoJM]

My 1999 LX470 has got an oil leak from the PCV valve and back of the valve cover gasket. Today I replaced the passenger side. I got a SureShot sprayer and went a bit crazy with cleaning and had to take a couple of hour break to clear my head, so the drivers side will need to get done on another day.

There are a bunch of video's out there that cover the process of doing this work and I watched a few of them before digging in. There really wasn't one that stood out as being head and shoulders above the rest; but considering the nature of the work it really is quite straightforward.

My notes on the things I did were:

1. Remove engine cover; 2 10mm cap nuts , 2 10mm bolts
2. Remove Air Box; 1 10mm bolt (most of you will have two, I lost one years ago), 2 10mm hose clamps and 4 vacuum hoses
3. Disconnect the 4 coil pack electrical connectors
4. Remove the vacuum hose from the top of the valve cover (this is one of the 4 that connects to the air box)
5. Remove the small vacuum hose from the top of the intake, tuck it behind the power steering reservoir
6. Promptly break the two clips that hold the wiring harness, these are brittle plastic and were on their way out. This is the big loom that has the connectors for the fuel injectors and coil packs that runs along the top of the valve cover. Upon re-installation, zip ties were used to lock the loom in the remaining cradle of the clip.
7. Remove two 10mm bolts for the ECU harness. Big bolt is firewall, small bolt is the head. This could be an optional step, but it helped in making room to get to the rear valve cover bolt on the top side of the engine and later was helpful in getting the wires out of the way for installing the valve cover.
8. Unclip the small wire towards the front of the engine and under the lower valve cover bolt. This was done again to be able to move the wires out of the way.
9. Remove the 4 coil packs; 10 mm bolt (torque 66 inch pounds or 5.5. ft lbs.)
10. Remove the 9 valve cover bolts (torque 74 inch pounds or 7 ft. lbs, tighten in a star pattern, step the torque up in increments, snug, 55 inch pounds then final 74 inch pounds)
11. Remove the valve cover.
12. Remove the half moons at the rear of the head.
13. Clean the valve cover and replace the seals (more on technique and tools later)
14. Clean the valve cover bolts and replace the washers
15. Clean the half moons
16. Clean the head surface where the valve cover goes. Pay attention to the half moon slots and front corners where FIPG is needed.
17. Disconnect the fuel injectors and two electrical connectors near the top of the VC.
18. Tape the connectors to the loom and bungee the loom harness up; one pull it towards the steering wheel, one pull it towards the passenger. This raises the wires up and out of the way of the head, which makes it much easier to put the valve cover back in place as you don't have to fight wires or connectors during that process.
19. FIPG the half moons and install them, you will know you did a a good job of cleaning them if you have to do a double take to tell which side goes to the valves and which goes to the firewall.
20. Install the new valve cover gasket into the valve cover and then install the valve cover.
21. Start working backwards on the list to put everything back together.

A technical write up would not be complete without pictures and while they are not step-by-step, here are a few for those needing motivation to wrench and or looking to do this work on their 2UZ-FE.

The parts to be installed. These are not from Mr. T, but I think they will be just fine for this purpose.

The old parts out and the tools used so far on the table. Note the air box is under the table.

A close up view of the removed parts and the pry bar. That pry bar was very handy for un-seating the valve cover and popping out the half moons. Take care with it, because of its size it can mess things up. Gently and slowly use its leverage to break the parts free.

The next three photos are all about replacing the seals. In the first one, you should be able to see the tabs bent up. The second is the tools used. The small screw driver was used to bend up the tabs. This small screw driver has a bent head, a very slight bend (see third picture) but it was perfect for walking the tabs up. Most of the other people use needle nose pliers to bend the tabs, but for me this worked swell. The big screw driver made short work of removing the old seals. Tap it in at the edge and it bends the old seal inward enough that it can just be popped out. The small punch was used to bend the tabs after the new seals were installed.

The last two pictures in this post are the of the wire loom bungeed up and out of the way. It is really hard to tell from the pictures, but there was a ton of room under there which made installing the half moons, FIPG and valve cover way easy.

 

[RicardoJM]

Ok, the I did the drivers side today. My notes are longer, which means I removed more things, but all in all it is as straightforward as the passenger side.

1. Disconnect the battery, I did not do this on the passenger side. That was a test for all you that read that post - and we all failed the test. I can't stress enough - this should always be step 1.
2. Remove the PCV hose
3. Disconnect the 1st 2 coil packs
4. Disconnect evap vacuum hose (the one that leaves from the green cap) from the intake side behind the engine hook and tick it in by the fuse box
5. Disconnect evap vacuum hose from where it leaves the round area (you'll know it when you see it) and tuck hose on the top of the intake
6. Disconnect the fuel line bracket from the valve cover, I didn't remove it here, but did a bit later
7. Disconnect the back 2 coil packs
8. Remove the small bracket at the from head near the front of the valve cover; 2 10 mm nuts
9. Remove 2 10mm nuts from the fender to free up a bracket holding the engine harness, alternatively you could just slide the clips off the bracket but with the age and brittleness of the plastic brackets - it is just easier to remove the nuts that hold the bracket.
10. Remove the front three coil packs
11. Remove AC bracket bolt from the firewall (short 10mm bolt) and another AC line bracket bolt on the passenger side (long 10 mm bolt)
12. With both of the two brackets freed up, the AC line can be slid out of the way so that the back coil pack can be removed
13. Remove the last coil pack
14. Remove the fuel filter bracket bolts; 2 10mm - again to help with clearance
15. Remove the 9 valve cover bolts. I used 1/4" drive for the front one by the oil dip stick
16. Remove the valve cover
17. With the valve cover removed, in short order the PCV valve was out. I cleaned it up and it rattles like it should so I reused it. The valve cover gasket was shredded and torn upon removal. This happens quite a bit. Just pick out all the pieces so they don't bounce around in there.
18. Clean the valve cover and install the new seals. I used a different process for the install than what I did on the passenger side, more on that later.
19. Install the new PCV grommet, I also put the PCV valve back in but later determined it would be better to install it after the valve cover is on the head.
20. I removed a round clip the holds a ground wire next to the #2 coil pack wire, this let me remove the ground wire from the engine hook and set it to rest over on the drivers side
21. Removed the half moons, this time I used channel locks with the jaws wrapped in tape, worked great.
22. Cleaned the half moons, block, replaced the washers on the valve cover bolts
23. Disconnected the front three fuel injectors; again it helps with clearance
24. Bungeed the harness up out of the way, it really does make it much easier to put the valve cover in place
25. As the clearance looked tighter than on the passenger side (primarily because of the oil dip stick) I did a test fit before installing the half moons and applying FIPG and installing the valve cover
26. Then basically work backwards up the list to finish up

For the seal install, I found a 32mm socket worked great for putting them in and my brass drift made quick work of bending the tabs back down. Way faster than tapping them with a small punch. This is the obligatory photo of the parts removed and the socket/brass drift used for the seals.

FIPG (heck RTV of any kind) is messy to work with. If you get little bit on you fingers, it ends up on everything you touch. I have started making Special Service Tool (SST) sheets that make it real easy to clean the fingers after you touch the FIPG.

Finally, a couple of photos of the notes. Most of you guys won't need these, but for me the system works and insures I don't miss anything. I won't win any awards for penmanship, but my truck always starts back up.

 

[rover67]

Awesome Ricardo I always love your tech articles!

 

[nattybumppo]

So great to see a Ricardo-style write up. Man, you are thorough! Brings back good memories.

 

[cbmontgo]

Thanks, Ricardo. I need to do this on my 80 at some point.

 

[RicardoJM]

Thanks, Ricardo. I need to do this on my 80 at some point.

Carson, I have good news and bad news. The bad news is the details will be different because your 80 likely has the six cylinder engine. The good news is there are half as many valve covers on your engine.

I suspect the steps and process are very similar though.

 

[cbmontgo]

Carson, I have good news and bad news. The bad news is the details will be different because your 80 likely has the six cylinder engine. The good news is there are half as many valve covers on your engine.

I suspect the steps and process are very similar though.

LOL yeah, for sure. This great write up just reminds me that I need to get to work on the 80. I’d hope that the 6 will be a bit easier. Hope you are doing well, man.