After using the Scion for so long it was inevitable that some stuff would start going wrong. Besides the normal routine of going through tires, we had to change out the struts, brakes, alternator and ball joints. As of lately the engine seems to use a little oil, nothing serious, but something that you have to keep an eye on lest we run out of oil. It seemed like the engine was just normally using the oil since there was never any oil on the ground nor a cloud around or behind the vehicle.
At this time just for the hell of it I looked over the engine and seen that there is oil residue on the top end of the engine, classic sign of a bad valve cover gasket. It isn't severe enough that there's oil on the ground or oil leaking out so badly that its landing on hot surfaces and burning off creating the smoke screen that is part of having bad oil leaks. With that I wanted to address the bad valve cover gasket now while its still benign. After getting the gasket, which is a rubber piece that fits into a groove around the edges of the valve cover, I went ahead and got to work disassembling everything. From the looks of things this was going to be a pretty easy job. First I pulled the cover from the top of the engine. Afterward I removed the four coil packs. Upon removing these I found that the plug boots had oil on them, sign that the gasket was indeed bad. This engine is one of those types where the plugs are recessed in the top of the cylinder head instead of coming out from the sides so the oil pan gasket incorporates material that goes around these tunnels where the plugs go. With the coil packs off I got the cavities around the spark plugs cleaned of oil by stuffing a rag into the cavities to soak up the oil. From there it was 8 bolts between me and removing the valve cover from the engine. There were a couple of hoses and plugs to a couple of sensors that had to come free in order to clear things from the valve cover but this was nothing, getting the valve cover off was very effortless, more so than some of the older cars in fact. Looking at the old gasket I seen that it was indeed bad. While it was intact it was very brittle, not able to be bent in any way without cracking and breaking. This brittle nature would easily allow some oil to seep by as the rubber was hardened and not able to contour to any imperfections in the surfaces that it came in contact with, so obviously it had to go. From here I cleaned the groove in the valve cover to get oil residue from the metal prior to seating the new gasket in place. What I did do to assist in making sure the new gasket stayed where it needed to be as I set the valve cover back down I applied some gasket maker in a few spots, just putting a slight amount to act as a glue to ensure that the gasket it held in place completely around the valve cover. I didn't want to get the cover set down then find out the gasket popped free in one small area and is now pinched or otherwise distorted when I secure the valve cover. This way, the gasket maker will help keep everything straight and won't hurt anything. Other than the idea that it might cause the gasket to stick if I have to remove the valve cover in the future this move allowed me to guarantee that the gasket is in place properly. With the new gasket in place the valve cover was quickly re-seated and bolted back down and everything was reassembled quickly in reverse order, not leaving a single bolt behind. The car started back up quickly with no signs of leakage and should probably run better as there is no oil around the spark plugs and plug boots. With that, the Scion is ready to roll again, until something else inevitably craps out on us and it needs replacing.
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