Truck was running a little rough before valve cover gasket replacement. Replaced gaskets and it ran rougher than before. Found a burned out spark plug coil and replaced coils, plugs, and wire. Runs smoothly now, but there's very, very low power, probably tops out at 35 mph. What gives?
View 19 RepliesOwn a 2000 Camry XLE 6-cyl. Both valve cover gaskets are leaking. Rear one leaks onto the manifold and causes stench. Have been quoted $350. to replace because the job is complicated. Have any of you done this on your own, and if so, would you recommend it or go to a qualified mechanic?
View 9 RepliesOk I have a p1316 code so I was told to change valve cover gaskets so I did. Now starts for 4 sec and dies, what is going on....
View 2 RepliesI have a 98 Subaru Legacy Outback with 133K miles. It was leaking from the power steering pump and valve cover gaskets. My husband replaced the passenger-side valve cover gasket (which involved removing the air box) and the power steering pump (which required removing the alternator). When we put the car back together and reconnected the battery, it no longer starts! It "clicks" once but won't turn-over. The car does not have an alarm system (but it was an option on this model). We've tried jumping it. The battery is about 14 months old. The alternator is about 10 months old and the starter was replaced about 10 months ago too. We've double checked the wires that were disconnected and don't think we've missed anything.
View 3 RepliesI took it to the stealership to get the alternator and some vac. lines replaced all under an extended warranty. They informed me that both valve cover gaskets and right side cam adjuster gaskets are leaking. By no means am I a mechanic or close to but I am trying to get this stuff done as cheap as possible so I am going to try to tackle this myself.
View 3 RepliesSo, weird smell that I thought was burning plastic or rubber is actually hot oil leaking from the valve cover and tensioner gaskets.
My car is nearly 8 years old (2003), and has about 70K. Should I go ahead and buy a timing belt kit and replace all that stuff at the same time?
I have a 2006 Infiniti G35 base sedan. The dealer noticed oil on the engine and said that I needed to replace both valve covers and gaskets -- My question: Why is it necessary to replace the valve covers and not just the gaskets?
View 6 RepliesI have a 2005 hyundai santa fe and the valve cover gaskets are leaking. We were able to change the one in the front but we cant figure out what to do with the back one. Need to find a video showing what to do...
View 2 RepliesThe car: 1991 Honda Civic, 4 cyl manual Bought a month and a half ago. Past: I have been dealing with a slow coolant leak in the car that up to this point I have been unable to locate. No puddles or obvious leaks. Small amount of smoke out back, nothing like a blown head gasket, but a little more than average for a car its age.
~Ran a block tester - head gasket fine.
~Checked spark plugs - look fine, not too clean or dirty.
~There does also appear to be water in the oil from time to time, this is not constant, and I do not put water in my radiator (beyond mixing with coolant).
Today: Looking around valve cover noticed it was dirty. Also noticed some sort of sealant/caulking like material that easily came out of the seal between Valve cover and lower engine. I then began to drive the car and noticed small amount of steam coming from the hood. When I opened it up there obviously had been coolant spraying on the left side of the engine. It was difficult to locate a leak point, but appears to be coming from the seal between the valve cover and engine. I have seen it suggested else where that coolant could not leak from a bad valve gasket, but could be leaking from the intake manifold and look like it was coming from the valve cover. Should I just try to replace the intake manifold gaskets?
Changing the valve cover gasket on the 4 cylinder 2.4l. I was going to change mine's. Didn't know if there are any special tips like sealant to be used, loosening bolt sequence or tightening sequence, torque values.
View 9 RepliesI'm replacing the valve cover gasket on my 94 Honda Accord. I've heard all sorts of crazy opinions on what needs to be done while installing the gasket such as using various sealants or lubricants. Should anything be put on the gasket or should I just drop it in and screw the valve cover back on?
I'm also replacing the spark plugs while I'm at it. Is there anything else I should do while I'm in there?
My mk4 sat for a while and upon starting up was misfiring. I checked for pvc leaks and didn't see anything but went ahead and cleaned my maf sensor and decided to pull my coils. Cylinder 1 had oil on the tip and around the spark plug which to me spelled out a bad valve cover gasket. I got all the parts to do the inner and outer gaskets and replace the coil and spark plug, however we got a snowstorm and my luck a rabbit got in and ate the wiring on one of my fuel injector connectors.
So went ahead and put on the new gasket, replaced the coil and plug and bought a new Fuel Injector Connector and spliced in onto the Injector "Pigtail'. I double checked everything was reattached properly and let the gasket sealant dry for 24 hours. I went to start it tonight and after trying to turnover it completely cuts out, wont even start up. I'm extremely frustrated at this point and am thinking the rabbit must have gotten to something else unless I did something wrong in the process of repairing.
I have some serious work that needs to be done on my car. The catalytic converter needs replacing, and the valve cover gasket and cam adjuster seals need to be replaced. This work falls under their respective warranties. However, I'm wondering if I should have the water pump and timing belt done at the same time as I have 77000+ miles on my car. Is there anything else that would be good to do at the same time as this work. I would be going back to the VW service center for these repairs. Would it save me any money to do this all together?
View 4 RepliesI'm looking at replacing the valve cover gaskets on my 02 f-250, it's a 7.3L.
Looking at them on line there are many different brands. What have you used on your 7.3L, and which has worked the best for you?
Ran fine, did the head gaskets ,egr delete, oil cooler and 12mm dummy plugs. Primed the fuel system, oil pressure looks good on the guage , spins fine but doesn't seem to be making any attempt at starting . Gave it a shot of quick start and it never so much as kicked. Everything looks good, nothing leaking and nothing obvious. To top it off we are without power after Hurricane Mathew left his mark.
View 14 RepliesOkay, 2000 Tundra (185,000 miles) starts out with usual pressure. After driving a ways pressure drops down to dangerously low and stays there (not detectable when driving, other than gauge). Mechanics measure same pressure drop using alternate pressure gauge at engine. They assumed oil pump, which would mean pulling engine, but were advised bad oil pump is very unlikely on that Tundra (and I don't think the symptoms quite suggest that), and also advised that oil suction tube could be clogged, also necessitating pulling engine, but oil has been kept fairly clean. Car also sits for long periods.
View 4 RepliesWe own a 2000 Toyota Tundra--90,000 miles--obviously not used hard. When we turn on the ignition, we hear a ticking sound--sounds like it might be coming from underneath car passenger side. The sound seems to disappear as we drive it. What it might be? Toyota service person told us it might be exhaust manifold and estimated maybe 2K to fix it.
View 1 RepliesI have a Toyota Tundra 2000 SR5 V8 4.7L with about 100k miles on it. Today the starter did not disengage after I turned the ignition off. I did not disconnect the battery in time and now the battery is completely dead (no charge even to the door locks). About two months ago I replaced a three-year-old battery after I could not start the truck and measured only about 9 volts on the battery with a multimeter. Now I realize that a starter already going bad was probably affecting the first battery.
Questions: Does it sound right that a starter that does not disengage will kill a battery pretty quickly? For a starter that does not disengage, are we looking at the starter or the solenoid or the relay or not enough information yet to know? Does this model Tundra have an integrated starter and solenoid or separate? Where is the starter? Is there any recommended order of replacement/troubleshooting (for example, start with the relay, or it's probably the solenoid so start there).
This is regarding a strange occurrence in my wife's 2004 Toyota Sienna. We took her van on a 7,000 cross-country journey in June and July of this year, right in the middle of the heat wave. I used synthetic oil, 5W-30 as recommended by Toyota, and everything seemed to be fine. The problem came after I had the oil changed by Jiffy Lube in Denver, CO before my 1700 mile trip home to Washington, DC. Jiffy Lube costs a bundle when you use synthetic so I had them put in petroleum-based 5W-30 oil, knowing I would change it when I got home. During trip home (850 miles/day) I passed through temperatures as high as 110 degrees. When I got back and went to change the oil I noticed what looked like sand in the valve cover area where oil is added. I was able to scrape some out of it and rubbed it between my fingers, and it had the consistency of grit. My question is what is it, and should I be concerned? I changed the oil, and again used synthetic. Did the heat cause the petroleum based oil to boil and then crystallize like sugar? What can I do to get rid of it?
View 5 RepliesAfter taking my 2001 Toyota Tacoma into my Toyota dealer for a routine oil change they informed me that I had a leaky valve cover gasket and that it needed to be replaced. The repair would have been expensive, and since it was just a leak I decided to not make the repair. I have been driving with the "leak" since May of 2013 and have put about 29,000 miles on the truck. I have never had to add oil. There is no oil spot on the concrete where I park the car and I do not smell burning oil when the truck is running. If this thing is leaking, what the heck is leaking out of it? And if I haven't had to add oil or any other fluids do I even need to replace it?
View 14 RepliesI have a 2003 Toyota Camry with 210,000km on it. Today I popped the hood, noticed the coolant was slightly low in the over flow reservoir so I looked around the engine bay. Now I know generally coolant does not go up that far and it's just oil... But this has got my head turning. There's a crusty coolant residue drip that looks to start at the valve cover. At first I thought maybe the water pump was leaking, and the pulley was spinning it farther up, or spraying back from a rad leak when driving. but the fact it's crusty and A clear line that looks like a drip that's a slow leak and has crusted over time makes me wonder.
I mean generally coolant wouldn't come out of the valve cover unless it was right full of coolant, causing enough pressure to push it out... Am I wrong ? Once I get to the shop on Monday I'm going to pressurize the cooling system and pull the spark plugs and the valve cover to look at the head, The highest spot I see the drip start is the valve cover, only thing I could think of is the intake leaking, and traveling over there but even then, it doesn't make sense to me. The thermostat housing is about 2.5" under so it can't be that... It's such a small leak, the reservoir is only down about maybe half an inch and the oil looks clean as can be.... There's some pictures below that you can somewhat see it.