5VZ FE - Is the beck/arnley valve cover gasket kit from rockauto good enough?

I know a lot of people recommend Toyota OEM parts only for pretty much anything on these trucks but was just curious if anyone had any issues with the beck/arnley valve cover gasket kit? Or if they possibly even source their parts from the OEM factories?

I would prefer to just buy it as the entire set as opposed to having to order the gaskets/grommets/spark plug tube seals separately from toyota and spend a bunch more money.

The only other complete set on rockauto is made by Apex but I hear they are more of a budget brand and not as good as beck/arnley.

 

Personally I would order the Fel-Pro
FEL-PRO VS50422R Permadry Rubber; Includes Spark Plug Tube Seals; Valve Cover Grommets Not Included Info
and then also the grommet kit from Fel-Pro
FEL-PROES72422 Set
Not sure what year your truck is, so I just typed in 2000. But all 5VZFE should be the same.

 

Beck Arnley, Victor Reinz and others make shit products in general when it comes to gaskets. Don't do it.

In general, use OEM where you can, or you'll be doing this job again in 3-5 years. The reason OEM costs 2x-3x as much is because it lasts 4x-5x longer. You're paying less $$ to do the labor 2x-3x as much in the same time you'd do it once with OEM. And to that point, you're actually paying more to use aftermarket, both in labor, and you're buying the product 2x-3x as much across multiple installs.

Fel-Pro is one of the only other brands I'd trust, personally. But I've done the CV gaskets and spark plug tubes while in there. And I've helped forum members with theirs. It's not a job I'd want to do more than once every 8-10 years. And that's coming from someone that's done it for himself and others three times in the last 4-5 years.

Remember, you'll need quality FIPG to do the job right, this isn't just a "install new rubber pieces and it's done" job. If you're not familiar with the process, LMK and I'll link you up with a post that has all the install tips and info you'll need.

 

I might just go with Fel-Pro because I'm pretty sure they get the gasket from the OEM factory that makes Toyota gen ones. I used a felpro valve cover gasket kit on a family member's Corolla recently and it was literally identical to the dealer part and even had the toyota part number stamped on it and was made in Japan. Only $10 at Oreily auto parts compared to like $50 at the dealer.

And yes, I plan to order some toyota fipg. Might do the oil pan gasket at the same time so the tube doesn't go to waste for just the tiny amount I'll need around the cam plugs/half circle seals.

The felpro set will run me $35 on rockauto and toyota charges like $40 for each valve cover gasket (two are required on the v6) not even counting the cost of the grommets/spark plug seals.

Anything else you recommend replacing while the intake manifold is off? (besides throttle body gasket/IAC gasket and spark plugs)

 

Fel-pro in the valve cover kit will be blue in color. Definitely not same as OEM.

 

To chime in here, I used the FEL-PRO kit from RockAuto as well. The gasket for me works great but the tube seals haven't treated me well. One is partially letting oil through so I am going to have to redo the job. For the tube seals I would go OEM all the way. At that point though, I would be tempted to just order the two gaskets as well and be set for another 10 years. It is easy to change but sucks to have to do a job twice, one of the few parts I got aftermarket on my truck. When I did mine the original tube seals were still solid, it was just the gasket that was leaking.

"The felpro set will run me $35 on rockauto and toyota charges like $40 for each valve cover gasket (two are required on the v6) not even counting the cost of the grommets/spark plug seals." <-- This is the part that sucks though and makes it very tempting to just get the Fel-Pro kit.

 

This is just flatly not true.

As long as you're cognizant of the fact you should never buy directly at the parts counter, because you'll get far cheaper prices using the Toyota Parts Program website to initate your order for pickup at local participating dealerships, you can get pretty damn close to aftermarket pricing on OEM parts.

Yes, MSRP on each gasket may be $40, and your local dealer is going to charge you full MSRP if you're ignorant enough not to know better than walk up to their counter to order. But, for example, here's a screencap from my order, for my V8. Using the parts numbers and process supplied HERE, and ordering via the TPP website, through a dealer in Birmingham AL where I got free shipping and paid no tax. I could've just as easily picked up locally, but I would've needed to pay tax, and I wasn't in a rush.

You've put zero information about your truck in the 'Vehicle One-Line Description" of your user profile, so I have no idea what year or cab type or drivetrain you're dealing with, so I can't look up your parts easily. But I'm super skeptical the numbers you're throwing around are remotely accurate, and I suspect I can probably find how you can buy genuine parts for 30-50% cheaper. The info on how to do it is in a sticky thread here on the forum.

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This is a very true point and its silly this slipped my mind, my apologies. When you go to the general Toyota parts website, the price will not accurately reflect what the specific dealer pages will have it at. Once you visit the dealer pages, usually they are greatly discounted.

If you are able to get the gaskets for around what Shifty paid for his, it would be a no brainer to me to go OEM all the way. The OEM parts for these trucks are just have that much better guaranteed quality.

A go-to dealer for me if its not an urgent rush has been Serra Toyota, have always had the best prices for me and there is no tax charged.

 

Just be careful w/Serra to always choose the Birmingham AL website. Their Decatur AL location's parts department, if the same manager is working there today as was in 2022/23/24, you can't trust them to do the right thing when/if they make mistakes.

 

Feb 2021, 60,000 miles ago... Mechanic used FelPro valve cover gaskets on my 2000 Tundra 4.7. Changed plugs and a couple other miscellaneous things. Does not leak oil and runs like new. That said, it ran like new before changing the plugs which were original.

If I was replacing gaskets on a vehicle with 50k miles and intended to keep it another 200k miles, I would consider demanding OEM, maybe... However, when repairing a vehicle with a quarter million miles on it, I'm fine will whatever my mechanic decides.



.

 

My felpro gaskets are still good 6 years later. That or oem is all I'll do.

 

Autolite spark plugs in your Tundra - YGBSM!

 

Just saw that too. WTF? Find another mechanic.

 

60k miles so far.... runs perfect and same gas mileage. I'll let ya know if there's any problems in the next 100k miles if I keep the truck that long.

By the way, what horrible occurrence should I be looking forward to with the Autolite double platinum?

 

Valve Cover Gasket:
11213-62020

Cam Plugs:
11188-62010

Spark Plug Tube Seals:
11193-70010

How much does your dealership charge for these parts then?

Local or online, I see the valve cover gaskets range from $38-45 through the parts network. I haven't even asked what walk-in retail pricing is but I'm assuming $150-200 for each one.

 

https://autoparts.worldtoyota.com/order/cart

 

Didn't realize name was important? It can vary. But, with no Toyota Parts Program sales currently going on, so pricing as-is?

Valve cover gasket is $35 (link)
Camshaft housing plugs are $13/ea (link)
Spark plug tube seas are $3.44/ea (link)

With an active sale going on, like there was when I ordered by V8 VC gaskets above for $19/ea, the prices I just listed be closer to $28, $10, $2.75, though possibly cheaper if it's a 25% off sale, or a smidge higher if it's 15% off (it varies).

As-is, with that pricing, **IF** you order from that specific dealer and you're outside the state of Alabama, no tax, and shipping is free if the order exceeds $75, total to your door would be $116 for everything, assuming my QTY on parts is right.

BUT

If you can wait until the next sale, if we use an avg discount of 20% (typical range being 15-25%), you'd be looking closer to $92, that's with [no] tax and [free] shipping, for all new OEM cam/plugtube/cover gaskets.

​

 

I'd only add ... Fel-Pro has been, at least up until recently, a great brand that doesn't usually use "chubber" (cheap chinese rubber) in their products. I wouldn't trust V. Reinz, Beck-Arnley or the others, who potentially don't manufacture their own parts.

This is the Fel-Pro kit for the 5VZ-FE that includes the cover gaskets and seals. You're looking at $38.99 plus tax, plus ship, unless you can find it locally for less. So let's call it $45-50 out the door. That's within 10-20% of buying OEM parts at the next sale.

You could make the mistake of ordering it on fleaBay or scAmazon and saving a few bucks, but you literally have no way of knowing if you're getting authentic parts. Knockoffs are rampant at both. Is the gamble worth it on something like a vehicle, when you're talking about such slim margins of a few bucks on something that'd cost a few thousand to replace? I don't personally think so, but I also don't like to gamble.

 

As you can see, @shifty` and I provided you with 2 different dealerships and they were within $10-ish of each other. Shipped to your door. I've used worldtoyota.com for several repairs and I feel like the prices are fair, plus you know your getting quality OEM parts.

 

Got it, thank you. I'll definitely order from them. Its nice to find a no-tax dealer here in California. I'll probably get ball joints first in separate orders to get free shipping and stay under the $200 limit and then order the valve cover gaskets once they do a sale.

 

$200 limit, FYI: That's $200 in shipping/freight. So as long as your shipping cost doesn't exceed $200, it's free.

So, like, if you were buying an entire front suspension sub-assembly for a RAV4 or something, you're highly unlikely to hit that amount. Even people who've ordered a new driveshaft assembly get free shipping, it usually comes out under $100 for a full driveshaft, so ....

 

Thank you for clarifying. I was about to make a bunch of separate orders lol. It didn't deduct the shipping cost until the last step in the checkout process so thats what confused me.

 

Also, I ended up just biting the bullet and ordering OEM parts but for those that decide to go with Fel-Pro, Home Depot actually sells almost any fel pro gasket online even cheaper than Rockauto pricing with free shipping, just copy and paste the part number from RockAuto into home depot's search bar and it will pop up.

If you are a veteran/active duty and if you have a ShopMyExchange account, you can click on the marketplace section on the top right, then click the link to be redirected to the Home Depot exchange website where you can buy everything for %10 off, free shipping, and no sales tax in all 50 states on TOP of the already cheaper price. That's how I bought my last Fel Pro gasket for a family member's car. Arrived in 2 days too. Their distribution center seems to dispatch orders quicker than Rockauto.

 

Same is true with discounts when sales pop up. Doesn’t show until checkout page. It confuses people, fully.

Again, if you can wait until Labor Day, I suspect a sale is coming, maybe eke out another 15% from that specific dealer or any other SE USA dealers. Your call.

 

Home Depot doesn’t sell auto parts. Just like WalMart, it’s my understanding they allow a 3rd party to sell through their platform, and just like with scAmazon, that puts you at risk of getting counterfeit or grey market parts.

 

I was just about to say this. Don't buy from there.

 

Do you really think people are counterfeiting fel-pro gaskets though? As cheap as they are already?

Next thing you know, we're gonna have warnings about counterfeit SuperTech oil filters.

 

Yes. A buck here, a buck there. It all adds up to some guy in Fuckmylifeistan.

Just don't ever put one on your truck and you don't need to worry about it.

 

Yes. Absolutely. It's enough of a problem with organized crime, it's rampant.

Think about it.

Fel-Pro is selling that gasket kit for $30-40. They're using quality materials to protect their brand/reputation. Let's consider maybe it's costing them (if we factor in price of equipment, molds, packaging, transportation, distribution, fulfillment, etc.) maybe $15-18/ea to get that product out and to market. A lot of that cost is going to be with sourcing quality materials to create a long-lasting product, and the QA/quality control that's required to ensure the product sent to market is good. Lets say at the end of the day you have a potential profit margin of $10-14/ea.

Enter organized crime. With resources in Mainland China, you can quickly and easily use that product to make a mold, find the shittiest or semi-passable rubber on the planet, make a visually identical knockoff product, no QA/quality control, put it in a plastic bag with a replica sticker and ship it in bulk to the USA for $2-3/ea, then sell it for 10%-20% less than MSRP "on sale" through an outlet like scAmazon, fleaBay, WallyMart, Sears, or Home Despot, which allows 3rd party sellers, and won't verify the authenticity of your product. You're setup to make double the profit Fel-Pro is by cutting corners on knockoffs.

This happens all the time. Sometimes it's blatantly stealing, like what happened with the TRD Pro grille you'll see on a lot of 1st gens. Other times, it's exactly what I just described. And the packaging, the product, it looks damn near identical.

I've had it happen with car parts. Appliance parts. Small engine parts. Even technology! I helped OBD Link take down one vendor on scAmazon who was selling clones of their MX+ product a couple of years back for like 5% less.

We've had at least one person on this forum get counterfeit spark plugs that broke apart, one chunk went right into their engine cylinder.

It's gotten so bad, legislators have been pushing through legislation, like the INFORM act, to try to protect consumers from fakes, and punish vendors for allowing fakes to enter the supply chain.

I know you're skeptical, but yes, it's very real. It's a very big problem. You probably have counterfeit products you're using right now, which are either factory 2nds, grey market, or just straight-up knockoffs. Be careful where you buy things. Use vendors with verified supply chains. In the automotive world, Summit Racing, Rock Auto, they can be trusted and offer some of the best pricing I've seen over the last 20-30 years.

NEVER buy auto/appliance parts from anyone who allows 3rd party vendors to sell, ESPECIALLY if it's direct-to-consumer. And with scAmazon, you're not safe, period. Even if you order directly from the 'brand page store' scAmazon takes you too, they'll still give you the cheapest vendor option when you click 'add to cart'. But beyond that, be aware, there are ample people who will swap counterfeit/aftermarket product into legit OEM packaging, and return it to scAmazon.

EDIT: And always verify if someone allows 3rd party sellers/fulfillers! Never trust a brand name, like, just because it's on HomeDepot.com or Lowes.com and those stores are local, so it's gotta be legit, right? Nope. Use basic logic, like, have you ever seen Tundra valve cover gaskets or brake pads in Home Depot or Lowes? If not, that should be enough of a red flag to stop and say, "Dang ... are they actually fulfilling this, or is it a 3rd party?!"

There's soooo much shady shit that happens, now we trust the invisibility of the internet for the vast majority of our purchases.

Lifelong Wix lover here. I won't use anything except OEM on my truck. Not only is it cheaper, but Toyota specifically designed it as what they know will produce the exact longevity these engines were known for. Why would you ever expect another vendor/manufacturer to know what's better for the engine in your truck than the original manufacturer who designed the engine

I get brand loyalty. My wife works in marketing. I get it, it's nice to buy into HYPE. Don't buy into it, dude. OEM is always going to be the best fit. Trust the people who designed the thing to give you the best replacement parts for that thing.

Unless it's a Jeep, then go aftermarket!

 

Well said. But I do buy my YZZD3 filters from Wallyworld along with the oil. In store. Actually, they didn't have the Yota ones in stock so I think I got a mobil 1 to go with the mobil 1 oil.