I know that this subject has been BEATEN to death here on Yotatech and other forums on the web. I am just going to inteject a little of my experience on removing the PCV valve on my 94' Yota 4Runner with 102K miles. I read all the horror stories here about rerouting it and replacing it. So one I bought one a couple of weeks ago and tried every one of the methods explained on here about replacing it, with no luck at all. I got as far as getting the hose off with the long pliers but could'nt get the PCV to move at all, so I put the hose back on,(what a pita) and I threw the PCV my in my middle console and stared at it for the last few weeks until the other day when I noticed an oil leak under my Runner, it was coming from the valve cover. Now it was go time, I had to do something about the oil leak and I had to replace the PCV and in my opinion this was the easiest route. Many of you may want to go this route and many of you may not, I pulled the intake plenum, I was dreading it and I thought it was going to be tough and take all day to do it, so I grabbed a 30 pack and started wrenching on it, it took me about an hour and a half to pull the intake plenum, clean all the crud under there, replace the PCV, valve cover gaskets and intake gasket and put it back together. Was it worth it...? Oh yeah, runs waaaay smoother, better throttle response and I'm getting better gas mileage and the top of my engine looks like new. So if you're in doubt on which route to take, just pull it, in the long run you'll be glad you did.

RBMC

 

Did you encounter in problems at all?? Any hints or time saving tricks?

 

I only really encountered a couple of small problems, not remembering to take the gas cap off to relieve pressure in the fuel line, spraying the bottom connecting hose nut on the EGR with WD40 ahead of time(depends on how rusted it is, mine was'nt that rusty so it broke right loose) and putting the PCV hose back on when you turn the plenum back over to it back on, I put it on half way so it would stay and then used pliers to push it back the rest of the way when I had the plenum back in place. Also don't forget mark all the hoses before you start, so you know where they go when you're putting it back together, most of them are self explanitory where they go. Other than that before you can suck down a six pack you should be done.

 

Took me a day to do, but I took my time. I took a dozen or so digital pictures of all hoses and various setups including kick down cable. I replaced the PVC, PVC Grommet, hose, both valve cover gaskets and intake plenum gasket. You need to drain the coolant.

Going back together you need the torque sequence for the valve covers and torque specs for intake plenum.

 

I didn't drain the coolant and only a little bit leaked out, also left the throttle body attached to the plenum to save time and the gasket. I didn't torque the valve cover gaskets but I did torque the plenum bolts @ 29 ft. lbs.