Hi guys,

I have an issue with a leaky valve cover on the passenger side of my engine. 2000 V8. Oil recently started dripping off the rear of the cover and down on my exhaust pipe causing smoke. I went and bought an aftermarket gasket as a temporary measure and installed it. Still leaking. All my valve cover bolts are torqued to 53 inch pounds. I used toyota fipg on the front corners. Any ideas on what I should try? My Toyota gaskets should be here in a week.

Thanks,

Ken

When you put on the FIPG, did you hand tighten and let sit for about 20-30 mins then torque down or did you tighten immediately? If the later, you may have sqeezed out all the FIPG and the leak would not have been sealed. You should let it dry a bit to let it seat itself then torque down.

When you put on the FIPG, did you hand tighten and let sit for about 20-30 mins then torgue down or did you tighten immediately? If the later, you may have sqeezed out all the FIPG and the leak would not have been sealed. You should let it dry a bit to let it seat itself then torque down.


Hi Mike,

Thanks for the reply.

I only put FIPG on the front square corners 2 places. Let it sit for 10 minutes. No problems there. My leak appears to be coming from the rear. I did notice when taking it apart that there are half moon shaped pieces welded in the back of the head. These were put in during manufacturing so they could machine the saddles for the camshafts. I hope it hasn't sprung a leak. Darn toyotas go 193,000 miles and get an oil leak. Go figure :D.

Ken

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the reply.

I only put FIPG on the front square corners 2 places. Let it sit for 10 minutes. No problems there. My leak appears to be coming from the rear. I did notice when taking it apart that there are half moon shaped pieces welded in the back of the head. These were put in during manufacturing so they could machine the saddles for the camshafts. I hope it hasn't sprung a leak. Darn toyotas go 193,000 miles and get an oil leak. Go figure :D.

Ken

Hmmm.... hopefully, the toyota gaskets will seal it right up and it's nothing worse.

Mike,

I did get some input from mustang67408 (Victor) about the problem. I did not realize that the 2 semi circular pieces in the rear of the head were removeable and held in place with FIPG. I need to take them out and redo the gasketing.

Also, I did some other reading on FIPG and all the toyota manuals say to not let it sit for more than 3 minutes before use, otherwise you have to clean it off and start again. Did you get your information from another source?

Thanks,

Ken

Mike,

I did get some input from mustang67408 (Victor) about the problem. I did not realize that the 2 semi circular pieces in the rear of the head were removeable and held in place with FIPG. I need to take them out and redo the gasketing.

Also, I did some other reading on FIPG and all the toyota manuals say to not let it sit for more than 3 minutes before use, otherwise you have to clean it off and start again. Did you get your information from another source?

Thanks,

Ken

I got it from the techs from MarlinCrawler.com. Weather it be FIPG or Grey RTV.

V/C gaskets sent.
I like the Toyota BLACK FIPG and the GRAY Permatex, they both work equally well. I usually dont let either set for more than 5 minutes, then after installation and tightening down, let it dry for another 20-30 minutes before starting the engine.

Hi Guys,

All fixed.

Confession: It wasn't a valve cover gasket after all. It wasn't those half moon things in the back of the head. It was a kinked vent tube on the transmission top.

Last week I replaced the starter contacts in my truck. During the work my son was getting the bolts off the back of the motor holding the starter on. He moved this vent tube out of the way kinking it. When this tube is blocked, the air in the transmission heats up and pushed atf out of the dipstick tube in a small dribble. Since the dipstick tube runs underneath the valve cover in the back, I mistook the oily tube as a landing zone for oil coming off the valve cover.

Now when looking at this tube, it appears to have a plastic clip on the end. Does anyone know what this connects to? I can't see anything back there with my mirror so I just laid the tube straight up the center of the transmission hoping the set in the rubber will keep in pointed up.

Ken :clown:

I just looked at mine and I dont see a clip. I see a white piece of plastic in the end of the hose. That is just the vent end so nothing is supposed to be able to enter there. The hose is clamped in on the top of the trans, and it just lays there like you said.

Thanks Victor !

both of my sides are leaking as well. i did notice that most of my bolts were loose, some hand loose. i have re-tightened to 53 inch pounds and well see if this fixes it. however, i do have 187k miles on my 2002 v8 tundra so it might be time for new gaskets. as for sealant, some people swear by toyota fipg black.