and you'll find that it's easiest to rotate the cylinders to TDC if you remove all 4 of the spark plugs, so there is no compression working against you...

luck.

 

Quick question, does the car need to be in first gear when I'm doing this?

 

Neutral. Otherwise you won't be able to manually turn the crankshaft to each cylinder. ETCG's 19mm (I think) box end wrench on the power steering pulley works great.

 

Got it, thanks!!


Another quick question about replacing the gaskets. Here's my situation:

My oil temperature sensor was bad and so the car was leaking oil badly. I got that replaced, and then later I replaced the spark plugs. The spark plugs had oil on them when I pulled them out. It's been a few weeks now since then, and I checked the plug wires for oil today. No oil.

Can I make do with just replacing the valve cover gasket or should I change out all the other gaskets as well?


Thanks!!

 

Oil temperature sending unit and leak grommets are not connected as they should not have removed that cover to replace it. Yes, you should replace the grommets, rubber washers under the nuts if you are replacing the valve cover gasket and are experiencing oil leaking into the plug tubes. I recommend following the torquing procedure when putting it back together to keep even pressure around the new gasket seal. And don't forget the rtv for the seems on the block and corners.

 

Just me but you can just replace the cover gasket and the upper seals and hope for the best. If oil returns in the tubes, well you'll have to go back in and do the lower seals.

I did this on the 97 SE just after getting the car last fall - just replaced the upper seals. ~9 months later and still no oil in the tubes

 

Thanks again for the replies, everyone! I'll report back once I've done the valve adjustment.