Toyota Avalon and Camry 1MZ plug and valve cover job
admin | November 3, 2008Even though I swore at a young age never to be seen in, much less own a generic import sedan, here we are.
I bought this 95 Avalon at auction with the nose totalled. While it was meant to be a winter beater, it has grown on me simply based on it’s ease of repair. This job required few tools, none of which were unusual. This was a welcome break from the maddening array of crap required to do a similar job on my SHOs.
So the local shop must have told you that this job costs $600+ because ‘That whole durned intake thingy has to come off’. He is right, the intake has to come off. However, if you do the job yourself you can take that $600 you saved and buy something fun for yourself or the missus.
First, get the Chilton’s book for this car ( and any other car you may own ) and a set of Gearwrenches with the floppy folding heads. These wrenches are the best ever, replace socket sets and save time and effort getting into weirdly located nuts and bolts. When you dish out your $129 for the wrench set, comfort you wife by telling her you are saving $600 on the job and you will have the proper tools to do future jobs. Be careful though, if you use that reasoning with the missus, she will in fact ask you to do other car related jobs. You have been warned.
This page will show pretty much step by step directions, but you must use common sense and look for wires, plugs or other things to disconnect in case I miss them. I have included many pictures called ‘reference pictures’. These will show how things look before you tear them apart, so you have a guide to put them back together. Use common sense. I am not responsible if you break something or hurt yourself or others.






I must say this is a great article i enjoyed reading it keep the good work
Great job. Exactly what I was looking for. Great pics and tips!
You did a helluva job there, fella! Great pics and a good article. Keep up the good work.
Great just Great.
Wow, the ‘big boy’ publishers could sure take a lesson here. How to do it illustrated, on the most common problem of this otherwise excellent engine. Kudos!
Thank you so much! This was extremely helpful!!!!!!
This is simply and excellent guide. Now I’m really looking forward to take off my valve covers on my 1999 Avalon.
Great DIY! Could you do one for the timing belt now!!!?
Fantastic! Thank you. The repair manuals are so unhelpful when it comes to the tricky nuances of getting to these impossible to reach places.
Excellent, this is what I was looking for as well. Just got a ’95 and same condition as the pics show. Thank ya.