3vzfe rear rocker cover gasket

[tomee]

hey guys,

our 96 camry has a rear rocker cover gasket leak.
ive already replaced the front cover, but now the rear ones leaking.

how hard of a job is it for the rear cover? looks like i have to take off the intake manifold just to get to it.
anyone done one on these motors?

how hard of a job is it? any special things i need for this?


any help appreciated
thanks

[Tripper]

since you have to take the inlet manifold of to change the rear plugs in them, im guessing you will need to remove the plugs to get the rocker cover off. so whilst it is off change the plugs they do use platnuims so it only needs to be done every 50,000 kms or more, will hurt the hip pocket buying them, $20 a plug or there abouts

[Gavatron]

Not too bad. Upper manifold has to come off. From memory there are 2 supportsd that go from the the back of the rear head to the back of the manifold. Whole bunch of vac lines too.

Upper manifold has allen key bolts on it where it bolts to the lower manifold, so you need allen key/hex socket. Other than that, just the usual tools (3/8 set, 1/4 set, maybe some 1/2 stuff for the manifold bolts)


since you have to take the inlet manifold of to change the rear plugs in them, im guessing you will need to remove the plugs to get the rocker cover off. so whilst it is off change the plugs they do use platnuims so it only needs to be done every 50,000 kms or more, will hurt the hip pocket buying them, $20 a plug or there abouts

Don't have to remove manifold to do rear spark plugs. Don't have to take spark plugs out to do cam cover gasket.

But yes, I would be doing them at the same time :D

[tomee]

thanks Gavatron.

tripper i did the rear bank spark plugs about 40k ago and didnt have to remove anything

[Tripper]

Perhaps im thinking of a later model camry

[Jason Broadhurst]

Or a Magna V6 Tripper.

[Gavatron]

Perhaps im thinking of a later model camry

Late ones can be done without removing manifold also...:rotflol:

[tomee]

one more thing i forgot to ask, do i need to get torque specs for anything once i put it back together?

[tomee]

also dont you need to drain the coolant as the pipes head into the throttle body?

[Greg Rust]

I would just pull those hoses off as there isn't likely to be much coolant in there and plug them with a fastener.

[tomee]

ok ive got everything out, except the damn cover!
the plastic conduit that holds the wiring loom is stopping me from taking the cover off!!!
grrr
ive tried stretching the loom and moving the metal pipe behind it, but theres not enough of a gap
http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee213/tomee7/IMG_0820.jpg
http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee213/tomee7/IMG_0821.jpg

anyone thats done this before, any tips?

[Gavatron]

If you unbolt some of the loom over the timing cover, you can sort of pivot the whole lot up and squeeze the cover out. It is cuntish though.

[tomee]

yeah ive done that gavatron, fukn only budges jsut that little bit more

what a cunt, i can lift the whole cover on the passenger side, but the drivers side still gets stucks under the loom.

btw can you reuse the plenum to intake manifold gasket again? or should i get a new one?

[Greg Rust]

You could resuse the gasket if it is still intact and not showing any cracks, I would give it a wipe with some metho to remove any oil residue and give it a really light smear of either RTV silicon or Permatex sealant,

[tomee]

finally got the cover off and manged to change the gasket

i tightened them in a cross pattern and checked all were pretty snug.
after i put the plenum back on i noticed the back part of teh cover looked like the bolts got tightened more than the front 4, how much of an effect will this have with leaks again?
they bolts werent tightened very much.

[Greg Rust]

Pretty sure that those bolts have a compression limiter built into the fastener shank which basically means that once they stop then they are tight and the gasket is suitably compressed.