Overlooking the oil, cracking the covers
I knew it had been longer than normal since I changed the oil on the Tacoma but I didn’t realize just how long. I looked at my maintenance log and saw the last time I changed the oil on the truck was in mid-August at 142,000 miles and change. I am currently well north of 151,000 miles.
Holy shit. I have never let any vehicle of mine go 9000 miles between oil changes, typically 5k is the upper limit. The van also hasn’t had it’s oil changed since the western PA road trip so it is overdue as well. The plan is for me to change the oil on both vehicles tomorrow during the day while I am home for pool deck painting project.
Staying in the auto maintenance field, I think I have decided to take a crack at replacing my valve cover gaskets on my Tacoma. The valve covers on my truck have been leaking for years and are probably the prime reason my alternator failed last year.
I remember getting a quote for replacing them a long time ago and it was ridiculous, something like $500 supposedly because of all the labor involved. F that.
Well for whatever reason, yesterday I got to looking into what is involved to replace the gaskets. With my IAC and spark plug/wire adventures I already had a decent amount of experience ripping into the engine a bit.
I found this video on youtube that did a good job of outlining what is involved to do the repair. It has a LOT of stuff that has to come off to get to the gaskets but nothing that is outside of the range of a hack mechanic like myself. It seems the most important thing will be organizing the parts/bolts that are removed so you make sure they go back in where they belong.
The video author said an experienced mechanic can do the job in about an hour. He estimated a novice could do it in two, which means it will probably take me 3-4 based on my track record.
The parts only add up to $35, I’ll deal with a couple hours of greasy frustration to save $475.
The guy that made the video had 357,000 miles on his 3.4L engine. Wow. Although the exterior of my truck looks like shit from years in the blazing Florida sun, inside and mechanically it is holding up pretty well.