Change your PCV valve

Often overlooked with general maintenance. An OEM costs $11 and takes 5 minutes to change. A clogged one can cause oil leaks, increased sludge and damaged gaskets

 

How many miles did you have on your Runner before you found it necessary to change the valve? @morfdq

 

I did it early at 80k miles, we are heading out West to Moab in September then to Florida and will return home in March (Chicagoland area) so I am trying to do a little maintenance every weekend. Did the PCV, serpentine belt, cleaned the throttle body, coolant drain and fill, and cleaned the MAF sensor. I follow a toyota mechanic on youtube and he recommends PCV valve at 90k.

 

Yup, it's a maintenance item. Albeit a long maintenance item.i think i did mine at 150k.

 

It’s not general maintenance.

 

Thats why its often overlooked

 

Thank goodness that YT nobody told everyone about this no maintenance item. No one knew what a PCV was before that.

 

It’s $11 and takes 5 minutes. I may just start swapping it every 50k miles. A lot cheaper than fixing leaks.

 

Had one bad from the factory on my 2010 Tacoma. I cleaned it and it never gave me issues after until 150kish miles when the truck was totaled. $11 could go towards a meal instead of unnecessary maintenance.

 

Puff of smoke every startup since new and I kept driving thinking it would go away but it never did.

https://youtu.be/R2FvraJisp4?si=YpuNTEDvmlmIVhEs

 

You do you. We travel a lot, in 45 years of driving I’ve never been on a tow truck.

 

185K and never been changed. Not a drop of oil anywhere.
I think this falls into the same category as the VVTi filters. Waste of money to change those.

 

That’s awesome. I’m glad they last that long. It’s not just leaks it’s sludge and poor gas mileage. I’ll listen to a Toyota mechanic for my advice

 

This could rapidly devolve into the old oil change interval debate. Anyway, I highly doubt an engine that's had 5000 mile synthetic oil changes all of it's life is developing a sludge problem, and my gas mileage is more than likely due to I'm driving a 6500 lb. brick with AWD.

 

Yeah. Like I said $11 doesn’t break me and 5 minutes of my time. I also change my coolant at 50k and oil every 5k. I honestly don’t care what people say. All I know is the only time my vehicles have been to a shop was for an alignment

 

I don't have a strong opinion either way, but my skepticism alarm goes off when this guy gets a kickback for every valve he sells through his link.
Of course he's gonna tell 4Runner owners it needs to be replaced and here's a convenient link!

Edit to add for the audience: There's a new YouTube channel where a dude has affiliate links for every single item he recommends.

 

I didn’t even know there was a link but most definitely suspect. It looks dirty therefore replace it even though it’s functional.

 

Jiffy Lube customers would know.

 

I was a tech for 14 years. Most car leaks start with a failed pcv. Most never change the pcv, only the gasket. Once they replace a few gaskets, seals, etc… they will finally take it to a tech to replace that $11 part and charge them a minimum 1 hour labor fee.

I change mine every 50k. Best to not have to worry about it. You may get lucky and never get leaks, you only get a valve cover gasket leak, or you may build enough pressure to blow the rear main seal. It is not the only cause of these failures but very common.

 

Just noticed the valve cover leaking on my daughter's Honda Accord at 80k miles. Ordered a new PCV from Honda for $46. In the meantime, cleaned the one in there now. Didn't realize Honda says every 30-60k on the PCV . Will check in a week to see if it's still leaking but have new valve cover gaskets ready to go just in case it doesnt. I'm hoping the new PCV slows the leak enough to put the job off until the fall. Not hard, just front want to do it in the Texas summer.

Will put the pcv on the list for the 4Runner as well.

 

I've changed the Accord oil every 5k miles with synthetic since new and it was still a bit clogged

 

Can you not clean PCV instead of replacing?

Not familiar with the design of PCV valve on 4Runner, but I always cleaned out PCV with alcohol-based solvent (e.g., brake cleaner, electric connector cleaner) when necessary. Long time ago had a BMW that had to get it cleaned every oil change, but that is extreme example.

Generally, cleaning PCV is very important on any engine that has a bit of blow-by as this is how they end up getting clogged. I do not think 1GR-FE is prone to blow-by.

 

For the 4runner, yes you can clean it. However, it is super cheap. Since you gone through the trouble of removing it, might as well just replace it.

 

How often does Toyota and the stealerships recommend replacing it?

 

Daily.

 

Car care nut is solid I'd take his advice too.
I've had PCV's fail on other cars. They are usually are a pain to get to. Hidden under the intake manifold or near the firewall. There is really no argument for not changing it at 100k... It's so cheap and easy to do on these rigs.

Preventative maintenance like this is often overlooked so thanks @morfdq for the heads up. I'd agree that it's likely unnecessary if you're the type of guy to trade cars every 5 years, or you don't plan on putting a ton of mileage on your rig. But I certainly want mine to last as long as possible.

 

They don’t. I asked them 3 weeks ago and was told you would get a dash warning light. But, I don’t believe it would come on at/near failure but much later when problems may have already occurred

 

You're very welcome and since you mentioned TCCN, his shop is 5 minutes from my house. He is a very cool guy

 

Im the OP. Thank you for chiming in. People on this site crack me up, they want to fight about everything. I honestly dont care, it is a cheap part and takes 5 minutes to change. Like you said, people keep chaning gaskets when the underlying problem is the PCV valve. Id rather do preventive maintenance and keep my rig running great.