Plagued with Valve Cover leaks, Any Ideas?

[teedoff00]

Ok, so ever since I installed my rebuilt R154 my car seems to be slowly falling apart... You guys think it's going through a mid-life crisis? ha ha. My turbo appears to have blown a seal, as it smokes, mostly blueish, sometimes more gray depending on light level. It gets more intense the more boost I run, and it smokes like crazy when I let of the throttle. So I guess I need a rebuild. Then the latest thorn in my side is my leaky valve covers...

I redid the valve cover gaskets for a 3rd time when the transmission was out for repair.

1st time, I installed new gaskets (victor reinz) with SupraSport valve cover bolts (maybe these are the issue?). Torqued to 12 in-lbs. Leaked, not much but enough to get everything covered in oil eventually.

2nd time, I installed new gaskets with a bit of FIPG on the corners, areas I thought it might leak, reused the SupraSport allen head bolts with new stock washers with rubber insert, I also loc-tite'ed the bolts in. Torqued them to 12 in-lbs. Leaked after after a while, enough to make me want to try a third time.

3rd time, I installed new gaskets with new rubber insert washers. I put FIPG on the whole gasket, pretty good coat, not excessive but all areas had it. Re-installed SupraSport allen bolts, torqued them to 12 in-lbs. Currently leaking worse than ever before.

I can't get a handle on why these things won't stop leaking. Valve covers look to be straight, tabs don't look bent. I have been tighting the valve cover bolts by hand with an allen wrench to slow the leak in between redoing the gaskets. I don't know what else to try, stock bolts? Washers on top of the rubber inserted washers to "spread" the torque out better? Ditch the FIPG? I know the TSRM recommends a little in the corners or something.

What can I try? Any tips? I wish the head was grooved and that the gaskets fit into the head and the valve cover, would have been a much better design IMO.

Thanks for any help and thanks for reading this massive post!

Trevor

 

[HommerSimpson]

find a strait flat tabble... or like kitchen counter... lay valve cover on it and see if it lays flat.... also you have a seal were the spark plug vally cover thing is.... the big alen things.... they can leak.. ....

 

[teedoff00]

yeah like I said, it straight as can be when I place it on my flat cement floor or anything "straight". As to the big allen bolts, they aren't the problem, the oil leaks most right out the right cover onto the exhaust manifold. Just more smoke... didn't know the supra came with it's own smoke machine when I bought it... ha ha.

Thanks for the reply, keep them coming!

 

[lewis15498]

I would wager on one of three things

1. Your missing your spark plug valley cover aka valve cover #3
2. Your valve covers are warped.
3. Your pressurizing the crankcase

To elaborate on #3, you said you were blowing smoke and blew a turbo seal. I blew the seal on the comressor side bad, the boost i was producing was finding its way down the jtube, and into the crank case, which causes oil to get blown out of the pcv ports, leaking all over your valve covers, and pumping oil back into the intake. This was a major player in the demise of my engine so it might be something to look into. Duct tape a plastic bottle in your engine bay and put a couple pieces of hose and put it on the pcv ports and then feed them into the bottle. Make sure you have plenty of oil and then take it for a spin. If you start to fill the bottle up with oil, this could be your problem. Neglected it will get worse and worse untill you run low on oil and destroy your motor, or dump oil out onto the top of the engine until the point where it runs onto the exhaust manifold and catches fire , or both. Not a fun experience and you can bet your ass im buying a fire exstinguisher for the supra when i get it running again. I learned the hard way, you dont have too!
Good luck

 

[teedoff00]

I am missing the galley cover, not sure how that will help but thought I would state it. As to pressurizing the crankcase, it would make sense, but I do run a in-line air filter/oil catch can plumbed like this

which is how JDub told me would work best. So I am not sure if a blown turbo seal can still pressurized the crankcase enough, with the pcv setup I am now running. I can visually see where the oil leaks out of the valve covers. I would try tightening the bolts more but I don't want to warp the covers and they seem to wind themselves back out or self-loosen rather easily.

I wouldn't have thought the covers would have leaked this time around because of the coating of FIPG, but they are. BTW the turbo still runs great, and didn't smoke when my tranny took a dive in May. I just re-installed it at the end of July and the turbo started smoking then.

Thanks again for the replies, and helping work through this.

 

[jdub]

The seal for the center galley plugs are moulded on the center cover. If you removed it, the hex plugs need a washer on them to seal like Hommer said.

Sounds like your covers might be warped. If the bolts are not holding tight, use an internal star lock washer between the bolt head and the grommet. The torque spec for the cam cover bolts is 22 in/lbs, not 12 in/lbs

 

[lewis15498]

The galley cover also acts as a gasket, sealing the casting plugs (the 4 upper large allen plugs. Without the gasket, oil leaks from these filling your galley with oil.

read this thread, its been covered before
http://www.supramania.com/forums/showthread.php?t=102791&highlight=spark+plug+galley+oil

 

[mkIIIman089]

I would start by torqing them to the proper spec (22in/lbs), with Toyota gaskets, and use RTV on the Toyota prescribed areas. Make sure to use some sort of lock washer on the bolts.

If it is the valve covers that are leaking, the missing center galley cover will have nothing to do with it.

 

[jdub]

Am I hearing an echo? LOL...

 

[mkIIIman089]

Yea, I know... "Like jdub said"

 

[teedoff00]

It's not leaking into the galley, just onto the exhaust manifold. I didn't remove it, it was gone when I got the motor. I had my machinist replace with gaskets when I got my motor rebuilt. I will get some more gaskets, and try again with some lock washers, and will definately torque to 22 inch/pounds this time...:nono: Don't know how i missed that, I just hope I missed it before and this fixes it.

Thanks guys!

 

[bfr1992t]

The washers and gasket crush down. They need to be retightened periodically, quite a few times early on. Only put FIPG in the corners of the front cam cap like Toyota outlines in the manual. I rarely do that and do not have leaks in that area. I use philips head screws, stock gaskets, and stock crush washers and never have a problem. Most that put hex head screws on overtighten them.

 

[teedoff00]

It looks like I have been under-tightening them... So hopefully with some lock washers and the right torque, my leak will go away for good...