Question About Head/valve Gaskets

[andrecat112]

what is the difference between a head gasket and a valve cover gasket?

which one will be the cause of visible oil leak on the front of the engine?

are gaskets for sell on ebay any reliable than ones sold at the dealer?

98 es300 gaskets

[steviej]

what is the difference between a head gasket and a valve cover gasket?

which one will be the cause of visible oil leak on the front of the engine?

are gaskets for sell on ebay any reliable than ones sold at the dealer?

98 es300 gaskets

The valve cover gasket goes between the valve cover and the top of the cylinder head.

The head gasket goes between the cylinder head and the crankcase or main engine body.

Most probable suspect for front oil leak is the valve cover gasket.

I would direct your gasket brand question to Toysrme, as he is probably the most knowledgable of non-OEM gaskets.

steviej

[juno_reaction]

I have a question for that too. I have an oil leak in what appears to be towards the back of the engine. The said leak causes me to loose about a quart of oil a month! its quite irritating as you can probably assume, and it seems to be getting worse! Yesturday, for example, I went and got my oil changed, and this morning, when it was somewhat cool, I back up from the garage only to find a rather large puddle of oil on the floor. Its so annoying to smell that burning oil in the morning or when I get out of the car. What could be the cause of this?

[Toysrme]

Most likely the rear valve cover gasket.

I bought the ebay gasket set for mine. The smaller gaskets were fine, but all the larger ones were weaping oil for the most part within fairly short order. :\

Honestly... Go to a Toyota dealer & buy the real full gasket kit for the enigine. Then use ultra black RTV anywhere an anerobic gasket is required. Like the cam bearing caps that the valve cover gasket rides on.

All the gasket kits you find online are generally very low end. Like Fel-Pro mess, just worse & imported.

[rockit_mon]

Most likely the rear valve cover gasket.

I bought the ebay gasket set for mine. The smaller gaskets were fine, but all the larger ones were weaping oil for the most part within fairly short order. :\

Honestly... Go to a Toyota dealer & buy the real full gasket kit for the enigine. Then use ultra black RTV anywhere an anerobic gasket is required. Like the cam bearing caps that the valve cover gasket rides on.

All the gasket kits you find online are generally very low end. Like Fel-Pro mess, just worse & imported.

Glad to know the difference and location between the head gasket and valve cover gaskets. In my case, the valve cover gaskets are leaking. Not much, but enough to be an annoyance with smoke and coughing for the first ten minutes of driving. With that said, how many valve cover gaskets are there? Notwithstanding a rip-off Lexus dealer/mechanic, what is a reasonable total price for the replacement of all of them with an experienced mechanic? I love my 96 ES300 and want to drive it into the ground. It only has 112k and drives better than most new cars.

[1995_ES300]

I dont know...I picked up some fel-pro gaskets for the front, rear, and oil pan (all were slightly leaking to some extent) about a year ago...and they worked perfectly ever since. No more leaks or burning oil smells.

[Eric Cheung]

I dont know...I picked up some fel-pro gaskets for the front, rear, and oil pan (all were slightly leaking to some extent) about a year ago...and they worked perfectly ever since. No more leaks or burning oil smells.

Did you changed the rear gasket yourself? Was it a lot of work in doing that?

[1995_ES300]

Well I tried to, but when I finally got the manifold off, and I saw that I needed to remove more stuff to disconnect what was on top of the rear valve cover, I gave up. You need a lot of time, and it is alot of work.

When I eventually took it into the shop to have them replace the seal, it was in there for a good 4-5 hours.

It was one of the few things I gave up on trying to repair on my car.

[Eric Cheung]

Well I tried to, but when I finally got the manifold off, and I saw that I needed to remove more stuff to disconnect what was on top of the rear valve cover, I gave up. You need a lot of time, and it is alot of work.

When I eventually took it into the shop to have them replace the seal, it was in there for a good 4-5 hours.

It was one of the few things I gave up on trying to repair on my car.

I see. I think I'll take my car to the shop if I want to change to rear valve cover gasket then.

It was leaking, but after reading the posts on PCV valve I cleaned the PCV valve and wiped off the oil leaked from the rear valve cover. Now I'll see whether cleaning the PCV will stop the leak. If not, I'll have the shop to change rear valve cover gasket for me.