Engine cover gasket/Seal 1987 Van

[Cirrus]

Hello, I just picked up a 1987 4wd Auto LE Saturday. I posted a little about it in the Van blog last night. I have a lot to go through on the van but my first and most important is stopping exhaust from getting in the cabin area. I noticed the engine cover gasket has about a 6 inch broken area so I am focusing on that as the problem now. I have stuffed a bit of old towel in there as a temp fix but..... try as I might in the forum search I cant find any posts about it and I cant find part numbers online. Has anybody used an after market "trunk Gasket" from pep boys or any of the others? Anybody know where I might locate this part?
Thanks,
John

[skibum]

I can't help you with the gasket, but I'll offer an alternative to consider.

Seeing that you are in southern CA, I'm assuming that you are driving with the windows down. There seems to be an "envelope" around these vans that allows the exhaust to follow along. I had the same issue with both of my '87's. I had the one we use out here in CA checked for smog and it failed, so I had a California catalytic converter installed and the problem is solved.

I didn't read your blog post, but unless your exhaust manifold was broke off and the exhaust was coming out in the engine compartment, I wouldn't really target the engine cover gasket as the cause.

Good luck.

[timsrv]

It's Toyota part #5843-587001 "Packing, Engine Main". It lists for $120.85, but the discount parts sites (like www.1stToyotaParts.com show it for around $85). The last one I purchased was in Jan 2011 & I was told it was the last one available in existance. I usually don't put much stock in claims that "it's the last one" because I've heard that more than once and then "miraculously" another one becomes available later. However, every time I've been told that for things in this category (window seals, door seals, etc) it's been true. Please post back to let us know if you can still get this. Thanks. Tim

[foreverly]

You'd think with all the old toyota's around that someone would start manufacturing the rubber pieces. Maybe I'll start a new business. :)>:

I'll be my first customer - I'm after two front door bottom window seals.

You might be able to find something similar at one of these classic car rubber companies :

http://www.metrommp.com/
http://www.steelerubber.com/
http://www.soffseal.com/store/Main.aspx?html=home

Unfortunately, I couldn't find my window seals but if I do some measuring I can probably find something that will fit & stop water leaking into the doors.

[Cirrus]

Hey thanks for all the replies guys..... I think it may be "back flow" but I am not sure. I paid a lot of attention today to how I had my windows positioned.... no side middle windows open today which I had open yesterday and there did not seem to be any fumes and I didn't get really spaced out and dizzy : ) I am going to keep an eye on it. I checked the exhaust manifold at the engine and it looks ok. I think I will scarf in a small replacement piece from pep boys thats made for trunks for the engine cover, not cheap though ($25). I have lots of other questions but I think I should search for them first so as not to pollute the board with already answered ?'s. Thanks again!

[djshimon]

I had this problem so I had a muffler shop weld an elbow on the end of my muffler- so it exhausted to the side of the van instead of straight back. It was coming in the tailgate door when I had any window open. Fixed it for me.

[skibum]

I had a similar situation, the last time I had a muffler replaced. The guy "45'd" the pipe to the back driver's corner and that did minimize the exhaust coming back at me. The replacement cat cleaned up the exhaust, without any power loss that I can notice, and it's been real nice since then.

[Cirrus]

Thanks for tip guys.... I will have that done when I replace the cat.