Truck is blowing out smoke but my compression&combustion test came back good

i’m not sure what picture you’re exactly talking about, but I went ahead and took a picture of my exhaust for you. Is this not an OEM exhaust?

 

Sure but that's only a part of your exhaust. I'm speaking of the one you posted that had a non-oem roundish looking CAT with a oxygen sensor in place.

 

Y'all are so gentle, reminds me of when I was new here. Good times

 

You were a young pup then, now you’re a heathen like the rest of us.

 

Get it right, it's Heatheren (Hee-there-in.)

 

Is that some new pronoun?

 

I ain’t good at coal miner talk

 

is this what you were talking about? This is the rest of my exhaust….if this is different from what you saw, you might be confusing me with somebody else. Either that or I was using a picture from Google images for reference to something else. (You might be talking about a picture I got from Google images when I was asking about every rear main seal leak)

 

I hate to ask this, please don’t crucify me. But which one of these is the torque spec for the upstream O2 sensors?

 

Upstream is often called "air/fuel ratio sensor".

I don't see any sensors in that list, but I'm partially blind.

Speaking of seeing. It looks like someone spooged on your crossmember. What sensor is that zip-tied to it near the spooge mark?

 

That's the speedo sensor that plugs into the output shaft housing. But you already knew that, didn't you

 

Which way do I put the spark plug tubes into the cover? Mine look different than every YouTube video that I’ve seen so far. It’s a little bit concerning, but what do I know… also, which one of these nuts should I use for my downstream O2 sensors. I went to every store in the area that sells hardware and not for the life of me track down the correct flang Style bolt. So now I am left with either putting the originals back on or putting on one of the two packets. They are all the same size, but the two packets are labeled as “Prevailing torque lock nut”, “ hex nuts”. The original one is pretty beat up, but at least that one has the built in washer

 

Inspect the old before you install the new.

Raised part of the coil pack seal points inward toward the engine, like you see here, and this thread is linked from the 'how to do your valve cover gaskets' post offered up prior: https://www.tundras.com/threads/wha...-gen-tundra-today.2558/page-1294#post-2692231

Avoid scoring/scratching the inside walls where the gasket mounts to, between the fat red lines here, the honed surface. And you'll need to clean out any dirt/debris before installing.

A large socket, with the "butt" side sitting on the round gasket with a small hammer may help tap it into place. I used some wooden curtain-rod dowel (I think?) on mine, when I helped another member recently I think I used a 32mm socket which fit the outer ring nicely.

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Note the raised portion in the center of the seal, pointing inward here:

​

 

So it looks like my valve cover gaskets have been replaced before. From the looks of it they didn’t do a very good job, they used aftermarket gaskets which were blue (fel-pro.) but what is concerning to me is on one of the tubes. The metal was bent back quite a bit, and mained. I wasn’t able to bend it back in place. Also, on this same tube it cause the gasket to sort of bubble up in two spots (see picture below) I know it’s not ideal, but how much of a risk is it putting it in like this? Im honestly not in the position to wait around for a new one in the mail, and given how the area around it looks, my guess is even if I did try to do it over it would still bubble up. I’m hoping that this won’t affect the performance of my truck




quick question, I need to let the RTV sealant set for at least 24 hours before driving my truck correct?

 

Is it normal for there to be this eveerrrrr so slightly small gap all the way around the valve cover after installing? The part behind the bolt has me concerned. (Im 100% positive i installed it correctly, everything lined up perfectly, the spark plug tubes are lined up correct, i torqued it down to the correct spec, and I double checked to make sure i put the cover gasket on the right way)… I looked at the other side and it’s so caked up with goop& dirt I can’t see anything

 

Doesn’t look normal

 

I think that gap is just a slight defect in the edge of the cover, very normal. You have a fairly wide, soft, pliable, new gasket and it's sitting on flat machined surfaces, so I think you're good to go. Give it a test run and check for leaks.

 

Well this is concerning, the left valve cover is caked up in soot. The other side didn’t look like this at all… with Synthetic oil changes religiously at 5k miles, im a bit shocked it looks this bad… and yet again i see the previous person to do the VC gaskets did some shotty work, the metal is all knicked up around the tubes.

would I be right to assume that it’s all caked up due to a clogged Pcv valve? Or is something else causing this?

 

yep...bad pcv flow. I would not run the cover as is. Either clean it up real good, making sure its nice and clean under those baffles or just get a new one.

 

My driver side looked like this. Most driver side covers I’ve see look like that to a degree.

 

OP's cover is the result of 5K mile oil changes.

I've advocated for years a 5K yard oil change interval. Oil is cheap, valve cover gaskets are too.







lol...

 

what do you think about the metal being all butchered up on the tubes? Should I be worried about it affecting my truck? Also did you see my post up above how one of my tube gaskets has the small 2 bubbles on it?

looks like whoever replaced these last was in a rush

 

If it seals it seals. You’ll know soon enough. As long as the top flat section is good, you’re probably good. But yeah, exactly what I recommended you to avoid, I see the last hamfist in there couldn’t be bothered.

Meanwhile, if you find it doesn’t seal, buy one from a junkyard, used.

Also, replace the PCV valve while in there. And Brakleen will make quick work of the crust. Mine were way worse. And truck only has like 70k miles. @hagrid is correct. Short trips, cheap oil, and changing based on miles (versus time) will totally do that.

 

Im pretty PO’d right now. Look at these 2 holes, with cuts into them that are probably going to make my cover leak. I’d like to have a stern conversation with the last person who worked on these…

correct me if I’m wrong here, but thats exactly where you DONT want any knicks or scratches.

 

Here's some that appear to be unmolested...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1955489629...NfavSQs9yumnjYubw&gPromoCode=6343343501&gQT=2

https://www.ebay.com/itm/3565350545...wmcvasldj07q8inU8&gPromoCode=6343343501&gQT=2

 

knock the burr down with a de-burring whip or abrasive stone. It’ll be fine.

 

Im starting to really doubt myself. I just looked at the back of my RTV sealant and it said to wait an hour after application before torquing bolts to spec. I torqued the bolts down within 15 minutes thinking that since Toyotas sealant recommends to do it that way (with there FIPG).

I did read the directions on the back of my ultra black sealant, but im been having an information overload since tackling this project.

I guess my question is, will my truck be okay, or did I screw up???…
the directions on mine does say to wait 24 hours to let it cure so I will be waiting a full day until I crank the truck back up

 

It’ll likely be fine. Toyota’s FIPG I think said to give no set time, but give an hour before starting the engine, or up to four hours? I forget. I let mine sit for like 2hr, then moved the truck into the garage. If you think the dealer service garage is waiting 4 hours to move a customer car out, then bless your heart

That gouge on that one vertical wall isn’t great, but it’s also not the end of the world. The flat is still
Intact and will probably seal just fine against anything passing by. This isn’t a high-pressure area or anything.

 

I’ll be cranking my truck up at around 5 p.m today. (About 30 minutes after the full “24 hour”:set time: for the RTV)

New O2 sensors
New spark plugs
New PCV valve
New valve cover gaskets
Deep cleaned the throttle bottle
Sprayed down the MAF with CrC maf spray

I’ll be doing a coolant flush sometime in the next few days.

here’s to hoping that some how when I crank up ive cured the smoke issue. Fingers crossed