Hey all. I bought this truck a few weeks back. No history on the truck so I thought I'd do the whole tbelt thing. I found out later it's a non-interference engine but I like prevention more than cure and I had already bought the kit. I'm right in the middle of it now. It was going really well...too well, so much room to work. Then I got to the tensioner. One of the bolt heads was rounded off. FUBAR rounded off. The belt looked fine so I thought about just replacing the water pump and buttoning it back up. Screw that, I already bought the kit. And a cam seal is leaking a bit. And I fabbed up this cool tool to hold the cam gears and crank pulley/harmonic damper. And the sun was out and its supposed to rain like hell tomorrow. Lets do this
So I drilled several strategically placed holes and got the bolt out and removed the tensioner. +1 for persistence and brittle cast iron. Smooth sailing now. Then I got to the cam seals. wtf? Is there a secret? I've read several 5VZ–FE tbelt writeups. Nobody mentions cam seals except to say its a good idea to change them. I searched the FSM on pdf and found nothing. I've done tbelts on other engines and the seals usually come out pretty easy. I called a buddy who knows a bit about Toyotas and he thinks that on the 3.4 you have to remove the cam/valve covers to get the seals out. Surely not. I'm hoping he is thinking about the rear caps/seals. Or its just been a long time since he worked on a car and he is just wrong. A large source of my income depends on me having a functional truck. I have mouths to feed.
Long story short... help me get those seals out please.

 

Really? How?

Anyway...there's a tool.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lisle-58430-...-/290985955147

 

Okay well... easy comparatively I saw a on that tool last night. Now that is easy. I'm guessing by your response that the cam covers don't need to be removed. Appreciate the response.

 

Technically no. They don't need to be removed. But it makes things easier if you do.

 

I'm sure pulling the engine makes the whole tbelt job easier O'Reillys is supposed to have that tool in by 5 today so I'll give that a go and see what happens.
As long as I have your attention... can I pull the right side cam cover w/o removing the intake plenum/upper manifold?
Also I am replacing a bad power steering pump. I suspect it's bad because a PO used PS fluid instead of transmission fluid. Any thoughts on how to get all the PS fluid out of the rack before installing the new pump and fluid? I suppose I could leave the return line off and bleed it out?

 

I've done them a couple of ways.

The cheap and easy way is to drill a small hole into the seal, then screw a wood screw in a turn or 2 and use a pair of pliers/vice grips to pull (or wiggle) the seal out. Then use a section (4-6") of PVC pipe that's about the same diameter as the seal and lightly tap the seal into place, grease/oil both the inside (along the cam) and the outside (that fits against the head) of the seal before install.

The expensive way is to pick up a seal kit like this one from Amazon:
It comes with various adapters to quickly and easily pull the seal and install it.

 

The Lisle tool didn't work. The hook part just bent. Maybe somebody superglued these seals in
That's a good tip on the screw but that was the second thing I tried. The screw pulled back out through the seal. I just watched a video where the guy did something similar. He drilled a pilot hole through the seal in between the sealing surfaces and then drove a wood screw in until it bottomed out and the threads began to push the seal out. The screw tip was ground flat, I'm guessing to keep it from walking as its turned. I don't know if there's a thrust plate to bottom out on here though. I'm not sure it would work anyway. That seal is in there tighter than any seal needs to be.
If I did a lot of seal replacements I'd spring for a special tool kit. I'd want the one this guy is using:

 

FWIW I got the seal out w/ a screwdriver. No harm done. Removing the cam cover was not necessary.
Thanks

 

FYI never trust a Pittsburgh torque wrench.

 

Those Chinese slave labor goods will burn ya.

Only thing worse than Chinese tools might be any Chinese food product.

 

Yep, I gotta take my share of the blame tho... I bought the wrench and I knew I was way past 14ftlb on that water pump bolt. I put the bolt that broke off on my metric size/thread gauge and it appears to be m8 1.50. I didn't know bolts were even made in that size.

 

I just wanted to come back and close this out. I bought a bolt extractor but that was a NG. I took everything apart and got the broken bolt out by hand. It was an m8 1.25, not a 1.50 like I thought. The dealer wanted $8 for a replacement (guess thats what they're called stealerships) and they would have to order it and I'd have to cut it down to 25mm. I bought a bolt at HD. Also ordered a Toyota t-stat online. Big difference between that and the Stant I had planned to use. Sturdier and better fit.
Lessons learned... Cam seals bark is worse than their bite. Harbor Freight sells some decent tools but torque wrenches aren't one of them. Don't expect much from bolt extractors/ezy-outs. Home made tools for removing harmonic balancers and cam gears work just fine and for 10 bux you can't beat it. And finally... putting the t-belt on would be a lot easier with 3 hands
Thanks to all who responded.

 

One last post. The new OEM tstat was defective. Stuck closed.