Creepy ... I was going to ask this same exact question just a little while ago

I do know the Spark Plug DIY will get you 75% there, but as I've never attempted this before, I didn't want to guess and end up doing more damage.

Seems like a dumb thing to have done at a shop since the gaskets are $10 a piece! Hopefully there is one, or someone can draw one up ...

 

1.Air box out
2.intake tube removed
3. Trottle body off. 3 12mm bolts. 2 on top and one 12mm nut on bottom. then 3 wire connections(acc motor, TCM, and TPS sensor) and 2 hoses for cooling and the trottle cable.
4. Y-pipe off. 6 12mm bolts. 2 are nuts at the bottom corners of the y-pipe. 1 10mm bolt on top for a vac. line and another on the back of the y-pipe for the EGR shit.
5. Timing cover....4 allen head machine screws
6. plug wires and coil packs. 3 10mm bolts. 1 for each coil pack.
7. may have to remove the bolts that hold your wiring harness in that area. You will find them.
8. Find the screws that hold you valve cover on. Remove them.
9. clean area and replace seals.
10. Put you shit back together.

 

First off what is the Y-Pipe? Is that the air intake chamber. If not don't you need to take off the air intake chamber to get to the valve gasket covers?

I attempted to get in there and if you've never done this before this is quite a job! I got in pretty deep, got the throttle body removed and was getting worried about being able to get everything back together.

After getting the throttle body off I wasn't sure where to go from there, are the valve gasket covers the same thing as the "Cylinder head Covers" referred to in the manual? And if so should I be taking off both cylinder heads and replacing two seperate gaskets?

I don't see how you can get to the No.1 cylinder head cover without removing the air intake chamber.

 

We commonly call the Y pipe as the exhaust but what you're referring to is the air intake connector and intake chamber. There's the air intake connector as it's called between the throttle body and chamber. You will need to remove the chamber to replace the intake side because there are a couple 10mm bolts underneath and would also make replacement rather difficult(despite the extra work needed to remove stuff). They are called "cylinder head gaskets" in the FSM and it is definitely a good idea to replace the exhaust side as well. That side is rather simple, just remember the bolts are only supposed to be torqued to 75in/lbs. You'll have to remove 5 12mm bolts and 2 12mm nuts to remove the air chamber. Make sure to disconnect all the vacuum and EVAP lines especially for the ACIS.

They are two seperate gaskets,
11214-46011
CYLINDER HEAD COVER GASKET, EXHAUST SIDE

11213-46030
CYLINDER HEAD COVER GASKET, INTAKE SIDE

 

Ok so the no. 2 cylinder head cover in the manual is the exhaust and no.1 the intake? And when lexus says replace valve cover gasket(found engine oil leak), no way to know which cylinder cover its coming from so I guess should do both.

I was afraid to be taking all those hoses off as someone mentioned the system would need to be bleeded after. Im not sure if air is getting into somewhere its not supposed to.

Actually I guess its probably leaking on the exhaust side and that's what's causing the exhaust smell, oils probably leaking onto the exhaust manifold.

 

Ok so the no. 2 cylinder head cover in the manual is the exhaust and no.1 the intake? And when lexus says replace valve cover gasket(found engine oil leak), no way to know which cylinder cover its coming from so I guess should do both.

I was afraid to be taking all those hoses off as someone mentioned the system would need to be bleeded after. Im not sure if air is getting into somewhere its not supposed to.

Yes, #1 cylinder head cover is intake side, #2 is exhaust side. There's no bleeding of anything when replacing these gaskets, well at least nothing I've heard of. Most of the lines are vacuum lines anyway.

You can try cleaning the area up with some brake parts cleaner and keep an eye on it to see which side is leaking. You don't nessesarily have to replace both if you know which one is leaking.

 

I highly recommend that you take this to a shop. Would hate to see this go sour due to your lack of experience.

 

I highly recommend that you take this to a shop. What hate to see this go sour due to your lack of experience.

AGREED:jawDrop:

 

Thanks Jason. And I hear ya rl-gT and tsopranoMB. But they wanna charge me $540. The gaskets cost me 25 bucks.

Either way Im feeling more comfortable with it now, as I know I can disconnect the hoses without an issue. I got all the way down to the cylinder covers, so I just need to take out the 6 our so bolts, take the cover off and put the new gasket in(after cleaning the cover w/break cleaner and put some sealent down.)

 

I had the same issue when I was 20. Didnt know much about cars but was willing to learn.

Was hesitant to do my own timing belt so I paid a shop $1000 to do it.

Ive learnt alot from working at Toyota as a mechanic and now Im ready to do my own rebuild.

Pay the $$. If you fuck it up it will cost you WAY MORE than $540 to get it fixed.

 

Yea, but it's not exactly a very simple job, that's why most of the cost is labor. Better to have piece of mind sometimes and have the pros do it if you are not very comfortable and fully aware of what you're doing.

I see you already know about the dabs of sealant recommended for the corners, that's good.

 

Thats another thing that was on the lexus list is the timing belt, not touchen that one with a 10ft pole, ill pay the $690 for that. The gasket though I feel like I can handle it. All the instructions on here, the manual and live professional video footage on youtube it seems fairly straight forward.

 

Funny thing is you'd probably need a 10ft pole to break that crank bolt off....LMAO

540 for those thing!!! HOLY CRAP...i am definitely in the wrong business.

PLEASE make sure you connect all your hoses properly when you are reinstalling. Take pics of everything, a lose hose can cause so many headaches and make your car run like crap. Its not difficult at all...probably the hardest thing is getting that water hose disconnect off the TB when you are removing the Y-Pipe. You just need to pay attention when you are disassembling and reassembling.

Also, make sure you DO NOT over tighten the bolts for the camshaft covers, Aluminum is soft and will bend rather easily. You can easily screw up the threads and oil will for sure leak from that bolt as it will not be tight. If you don't have a torque wrench that will torque in the measurement listed in the manual, go hand tight, then a 1/4 more. That should be sufficient. They don't have to be super tight.

DO NOT touch the camshafts at all, don't try to move them, don't hold them with a rag....NOTHING. Take the covers off and clean any sealant that maybe on there. I don't think i put any sealant on mine and they have been fine. The gaskets themselves are pretty thick. If you do put some I'd put it on the corners near the front of the engine. That's all.

Good luck.

 

I still don't know exactly where the y-pipe is, is there a photo of this somewhere? I know its part of the exhaust but I haven't seen this term in the manual or instructions to take this off. Or the camshaft covers, no instructions for taking that off. My first attempt I got down to taking the throttle body off and it appeared I could access the no. 2 cylinder head cover to replace the gasket. I had stopped at that point because I had questions and the damn rain.

 

I still don't know exactly where the y-pipe is, is there a photo of this somewhere? I know its part of the exhaust but I haven't seen this term in the manual or instructions to take this off. Or the camshaft covers, no instructions for taking that off. My first attempt I got down to taking the throttle body off and it appeared I could access the no. 2 cylinder head cover to replace the gasket. I had stopped at that point because I had questions and the damn rain.

The FSM doesn't break the engine down into each component assembly/dissassembly but rather shows it as sections of the engine(if that makes sense). All instructions are there, just not exactly in particular jobs, such as just removing and replacement of these covers. So you have to reference certain pages, the ones you want are EM-19, EM-26, EM-37, etc. It's broken up into major jobs, mainly in the EM or engine section.

And no, you do not need to remove the Y intake pipe to replace the exhaust valve cover gasket, just the intake side. You will have to remove the throttle body though, obviously.

 

No offense but you need to be very careful on what you are doing. As others have stated, if you don't know the basic terminology of your engine, you can seriously damage and 540 will seem cheap compared to the expenses that could arise.

But here, pop your hood, look at your intake and follow it up to the throttle body, after that you will see it split into to 2 pipes that feed into the manifold that feeds into the head. Well those two pipes form a "Y" that's what we are talking about.

You see the Y?

 

Ok so its the blatantly obvious metal pipes between the throttle body and chamber or as Jason referred to below as the air intake pipes(misread his post before) I don't believe i need that off to get to the exhaust cylinder cover.

 

What is this little black pipe in the photo that has no hose on it? There is one on the other side of the engine as well. Or is it not supposed to have a hose on it possibly which I doubt. Looks like its leaking something. And if it is supposed to have a hose where is it supposed to connect to?
I definately did not take anything off of those.
thanks

 

Those barbs aren't used in the IS300. There's one on the intake side too which is the other side(it just passes through). It was carried over to our car.

 

Barbs? So they don't do anything and are not supposed to be covered up.

 

Correct. You can read more about it below if you want.

http://my.is/forums/f115/what-these-vacuum-barbs-342113/
http://my.is/forums/f115/is300-newb-mysterious-hose-barb-432702/
http://my.is/forums/f87/missing-vac-hose-446643/
http://my.is/forums/f114/vaccum-line-pic-292075/

 

Ok so I finally completed this, at least on the exhaust side. One issue, I got everything all back together and the rubber hose going from the airbox to the no. 2 cylinder head cover cracked apart on one end when trying to put it back on the cylinder head cover side. Damnit. I was finally all done. What is this hose called exactly so I can grab a new one? thanks

Think I found it, PCV hose.

Only thing I was unsure of was tightening the bolts on the valve cover, I see the 75in lbft but my torque wrench wasn't clicking and it seemed to be getting awful tight, either was some of those bolts were loose to begin with(especially hard to reach ones in back) so way better than what it was.

And is there anyway to remove the engine wiring out of the way, that was difficult to work around.

 

You can get the PCV hose at the link below, the part number is inside.> 2002 IS300: OEM Engine & Fuel (PCV VALVE) Replacement Parts

As far as tightening and your re-installation, i hope you made sure to dab silicone on the corners and go from the inside out, in a criss-cross pattern. I realize 75in/lbs is hardly much at all, you'll have to use a ¼" torque wrench and Harbor Freight has em less than $15(goes from 20 to 200 in/lbs). It's crucial it is done to the right torque to avoid future leaks.

You DO NOT want to overtighten these bolts. So in your position, I'd either redo the whole job over again once you have the right tool(smaller torque wrench), or i guess you can keep an eye on it and it might be ok. ALWAYS remember to tighten to spec on engine components especially as you may have pinched or crushed the gasket. 75in/lbs isn't that tight but they all have to be torqued the SAME.

You need one of these and $15 isn't going to break the bank. click link Harbor Freight>1/4" Torque Wrench - 20-200 in. lbs.

Always use the proper tools for the job. A ⅜" torque wrench usually won't work for this job. IIRC a lot of auto stores will have these tools free for rent, so that's another possibility to keep in mind.

Edit: BTW, if i were you, I'd probably pop the top timing belt cover and verify oil HAS NOT gotten anywhere on the timing belt and seals are good. Otherwise if the belt is soaked, then it needs replaced asap.

 

Ya the torque wrench I have is ft/lbs so I guess on that wrench 75 in/lbs would be like 6 ft/lbs..don't think it even goes below 10. I just went by feel. I may have them to tight but I don't think I overdid it too much. I'll probably have to redo it. Near impossible to get to the right front bolt due to the engine wiring that I couldn't entirely get out of the way. Also the two back ones.

Is the exhaust type smell more likely to be a leak on the exhaust side valve cover or intake side?

Also I did notice a bunch of oily gunk on outside of timing belt case. I was going to get that replaced anyhow.

 

I need to replace the valve cover gaskets - since I will have this much torn apart, is there anything else I should do while I'm there? I did pickup new spark plugs, but is there anything else?

thanks,
JD

 

If you're going to do a valve cover job, then i would also clean out your throttle body, throttle plate and the intake chamber as much as you can. There's a rectangular plate held on by two philips screws on the top, underneath is bunch of tiny holes. Clean this all out as it will probably be dirty, it's an air assist that feeds air into the fuel rail and gives proper vaporization right before combustion(mine was real dirty at 30k). At 90k miles the plugs are due, so if you're close now's the time(SK16R-P11 iridium). I would definitely advise grabbing a ¼" torque wrench, see link above for $14.99 at Harbor Freight(if you don't have one). Make sure to tighten to spec, dab the corners with silicone, and tighten in criss cross fashion from the inside out. Hope this helps, good luck!

Edit: Actually during this job it's also a good idea to replace the PCV valve if it's never been changes, which is a couple bucks. It's mounted on the exhaust cover and is not very easy to access. Part number is... 1220446031
VENTILATION VALVE SUB-ASSEMBLY

 

Don't forget to put that thin metal gasket back on between the ypipe and the chamber like I forgot too..lol. I put the whole thing back together and realized I forgot it. What a b%tch that was.

Jason when you put the valve cover gaskets in do you just press them in the best you can? They didn't seem to wanna stay in there that well, especially in the half circle section on the end. I just pressed them in using the flat side of a flathead screwdriver.

 

Yea, you just want to fit the gasket into place as best as possible. I heard it's a good idea to coat the new gasket in some coolant before installing, but not too sure about that. Be careful with a screwdriver because you can damage the seal very easily. Did you dab some sealant on the corners as recommended?

 

Yup I put some RTV Sealent on the corners. I wasn't going to do the intake side but just went for it, the gasket was all loose and falling off when I took off the valve cover, it looks like thats likely where the majority of the leaking was from, so glad I did that side too. That back bottom nut on the ypipe I felt was the biggest pain, a wrench socket fell into the abyss trying to get it back on. Now just have to have a new timing belt put on and replace camshaft seals(Ill leave that for the pro's). Thanks for all the help bro!

 

So the car won the battle today - wasn't feeling well enough to fight with anymore.

I had most of it torn down, but there was one 10mm bolt on the firewall side of the Y intake - it is on the bottom, driver side of the EGR Shift bolt. How do I get to that. The lines/wires it's holding are to short to let me move it much.

-JD

 

A swivel adapter on the socket didn't help? They shouldn't be on there too tight.

 

Ya that nut is a b*tch. I think its a 12mm nut, not a 10mm bolt if I remember correct. Either way only way I could get in there is with a long thin 12mm ratchet wrench. A socket wrench was too bulky to get in there.

 

Has anyone used non-Toyota/Lexus valve cover gaskets from an auto parts store? Have you had any issues with the auto parts store gaskets?

 

OEM is cheap and reliable, why would you consider this option?


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