Lunachk

I'm apparently leaking from both my oil pan gasket & valve cover gasket. Can these simply be torqued down more, or are the gaskets pretty much shot now and need to be replaced?
Would anyone know the torque specs on a '98 Camry, so I don't go through this again?
Thanks!
Mary

Daniel M. Dreifus

The only way to fully seal them is to replace the gaskets. Just snugging down the bolts may help slightly. They do harden with age.
The oil pan uses FIPG (form in place gasket) that comes in a tube. Surfaces have to be completely clean and dry first, but then it forms a long lasting flexible seal. Trick is to apply close to the edge at the rear of the pan to avoid leakage.
For the valve cover gasket, you also apply the FIPG at several points where the curved cam bearings meet the flat portion of the head to avoid dripping from those areas.
For the four cylinder, Haynes give the valve cover torque as 29 ft. lbs., but the correct figure should be 17 ft. lbs. 29 is for the threaded portion of the spark plug tubes going into the head, not the valve cover nuts.