How to Replace Head Gasket 1997-2001 Toyota Camry 5S-FE Part 1 

This video is so good that when I removed a nut or bolt, I put it on a piece of paper, circled it, and labeled it with the timing from the video. That way I had a reference point for context. There's enough little parts that I couldn't possibly have kept them straight. I'm really glad I used that trick so I thought I'd pass it on.

A full list of the tools used would make this hands down the greatest and most thorough video on RU-vid.

I just wanted to say thank you for making these 2 videos on the head gasket change for a Toyota Camry. I used your videos to successfully change the head gasket on my 1992 Camry (has the same 5S-FE motor). Most I had done in the past was an oil change or two. This made the head gasket job easy! Thanks again! You saved me a couple thousand dollars!

This might be one of the best audio and camera work of a car video😂 Thanks

Head removal--It's the mother of all diy fixes. Nice video!!!

And here's me, thinking....Head gasket? No problem, I can take care of that. No problem........ Until I seen this video. Excellent video that makes me re think of tackling this on my own.

Super professional videos. Very impressive, Sir. Everything is explained step by step and the video quality is top notch. Am grateful for your efforts in producing this two part series, especially considering it's tough to find decent You Tube content related to exhaust manifold gasket and valve seal replacement for the 5sfe Toyota Camry. Am currently working on my late 90's model due to codes P1130 + P0171 and your help is greatly appreciated. Thanks so much for taking the time to document your work in detail! You're truly an excellent professional automotive mechanic. Best Regards,

rarely do you find a real pro doing the job with such good video and editing. Wow. I have done this job with the 1ssfe 1,8 engine and I will now tackle the 2.2 which seems a bit more complicated. Thank you. I rarely subscribe to youtube but this guy is a total pro and so fast and he wears gloves! My oh my.

dude this video is awesome. got me through a tough week of fixing my girlfriends camry engine and we both appreciate you tons bro.

Toyotas are one of the easiest cars to repair. 👍👍

Thanks for this pair of videos! Was able to follow to a T and finish the job. It was a bit of a slog, but it saved me at least $1500!

A few really important things to know that he doesn't cover too well or at all in these videos: 1. Removing the camshaft in the right way - remove the cam bearings IN PASSES, not unlike how you'd take off the head bolts. Don't just take one bearing off all the way. That may bend you camshaft. 2. Remove your head bolts and re-apply them IN THE RIGHT ORDER or you will warp your head, forcing you to redo this entire job. Also remember to use new head bolts 3. Good sealing techniques - if you don't apply your seals the right way, that includes cam seals, valve stem seals, etc they will leak and you might as well not have done it at all. Look up how to do them correctly 4. Speaking of valve stem seals, you don't need a special tool for the valve keepers. Just a deep socket, vice grip pliers, and an extended magnet tool for removal, plus a piece of cardboard + vice grips + socket for installation 5. You might as well do your timing belt/water pump/crank seal at the same time, since they're right there. 6. Be sure to clean properly your mating surfaces between the head and block, and make sure they are smooth & TOTALLY FLAT down to 2/1000ths of an inch, minimum. Otherwise your head gasket will fail.

Also every detail that you mentioned just as you went was super helpful you are gifted at teaching and instruction you Gould easily be an instructor and should if your not

Great video ! Im working on the same car today unfortantly i took all the hardness off instead of the manifold because it seemed easier right now im assembling everything back together

These video were wonderful and your very nice to put this out for us all to learn, I want to thank you very much sir God bless!

Good video - it explains why my Camry needing a gasket change is still a corpse resting in a paddock !

Sure makes me miss the good ol days when you could remove almost anything on an engine while sitting in the engine compartment with the engine

This is saving my entire life rn man, I’m beyond great ful

Are you a mechanic? You have a lot of very nice tools.

Thank you MINI! I like the video show very much so I thumb up and subscribed your channel.

You are so damn thorough and it really paid off. Thank you subscribed and 👍

You helped me take my mini cooper head off a long time ago and now my 97 Camry what are the odds lol I knew your voice was familiar then I saw your name lol

This is amazing! love to see all the details and inner working of my engine. I will need at least a day or two maybe longer because my engine 382,000 miles on it. I will need to take my time and clean the engine and inspect everything

Your videos are the best

Thanks a ton for these videos!

This is amazing. Helped with my 95 celica gt a lot. Same engine but older and much dirtier lol

Excellent Video. Thank you for your time! My Camry 4 overheated, I replaced the radiator,thermostat, water pump, timing belt. Started up and got smoke out the tailpipe. Did a compression check and got 210 on 1 & 2, but only 140 out of 3 & 4. SO blown head gasket ;( AM going to try some stop leak, if no go, then will repalce the head gasket., Wish me luck.

that aircat is really putting in work. Guess that'll be my next pickup for work.

Fine educational video.

Great vid!

very..very good video i loved it

nice tools. thanks i have this car and plan to drive it into the ground, so this job i will have to do eventually.

Best car ever.

Awesome video! Working with my 18 yo son on his, 200k miles, body pretty beaten up. Just trying to get another year or so out of it. Do we have to remove cams or can they stay in place?

nice vid lovr to work on the camry myself easy money jobs.

excellent good job !

Exelent video!!! But before disconect the alternator disconect the batery firt.

hey mod mini great vid,question: to you, what can cause a blown hg?(for all vehicles, or at least cars that you owned in the past or people you know)

high out put recommendations for this engine? ik it has huge potential also can the engine ground be used to also ground a subwoofer

Step one: disassemble entire car lol good luck

Its been years since this was posted, but out of curiosity which impact gun are you using and what were any attachments? Speaking in terms of brands Also what is the name of the tool you used to blow the carbon and water out of the engine head? Im new 😅 trying to get the right tools for the job

Hi, excellent video and way of explaining, after doing this my engine has a noisy sound like valves with a lot of valve lash, any recommendation or idea ? Thanks.

What about locking the timing tensioner pulley at 45 deg BTDC especially on older 4th gen camrys? My timing belt slipped because I didnt lock the tensioner there

Bless your soul.

Very interesting video! I was wondering where you got hold of that repair manual you showed pictures of. For example when you pulled a picture up of the two marks on the pulley you marked after removing the top of the head. Is it on the web somewhere? All my camry came with was instructions on how to tow it and change tires and such..

Sorry , if I missed , but have you secured split gear with screw on the exhaust cam before removal?

this video so good 1k like

good lord big job

Excellent vid, thanks. I have a question: I have a '98 Camry that striped the timing belt. After striping, the motor turned over on the starter just fine. Toyota mechanics tell me that this is a clearance motor. However, now the motor locks solid when No. 1 & 4 pistons near TDC, and when pistons 2 & 3 near TDC. With the exhaust manifold off it appears that the exhaust valves are ok. Any suggestions? I don't want to pull the head off unnecisarily but it seems the only option as I'm miffed to what the problem might be??

When you rotated the engine to get the bearing cap mark to align with the pulley. Do remember what degree it showed on the crank pulley. Because im showing right at the 15 degree mark. Or does that matter? I figured when the marks line up it would be at zero.

How fast were some of y’all able to get this done ?

I came across this as I'm contemplating replacing the head on my 99 camry with a burned valve. The EGR system stuck open and fouled the valves after awhile. Of course the exhaust is usually the first one to go. It has 365k so I can't complain. However, it has a new sticker, and the body should be good until the sticker runs out. I hate to junk it when the rest of the car is perfectly serviceable.

Great video really helped me out with my 94. I do have a question, on the 94 2.2l the distributor is hooked up to the head. Do you have a step by step approach or a link that would recommend on how to remove (do I need to mark anything for timing, etc.)

5:23 How did you get a ratchet into that space? My ratchet hits the body and the Power control pipe. I tried using a 14 mm wrench but I think I round out the bolt.

Hey Mod Mini I have a question. I have a 98 camry and it is leaking oil. At 4:20 in this video you are taking off I think a wiring harness from where my camry is actually leaking oil. Not the wires, but the black rubber piece. I was wondering if you could help m e figure out how to fix this.

good job, question. i have changed timing belt and after couple weeks my car start losing the cooling liquid, but there are no leaking. is that might be the head gasket need to be changed? thank u

How long did it take you more or less to remove the head...? Thanks

my 97 v6 just started overheating (after around 10min driving the temp gauge rises into the red then past) and smoke becomes visible in front of the passenger side..do you think this might be a head gasket issue? I'm going to take it to shop in the next couple days

hi please quick question i had toyota camry 2000 the head gasket is not good and the spark plug wires ar really stock pls wht do u think i can do to remove the sparks plug wires thanks,

I would put the fasteners on magnetic tray or compartmentalized box ; this will save guess work during reassembly and lost fasteners/tools. I often see forgotten tools or bolts on the fenders or on the heater inlets:)(

Hi, mini mod, I forgot to install the head bolt washers. Would I have to remove the head bolts again or is it okay as it is

I have a question, when you were turning the crank shaft for TDC does it matter if it’s on the exhaust or compression stroke ? Can I just set all the marks? Guy who made this video or anyone can answer thank u

The long bracket mentioned around 9:25 was a pain in the butt for me (No hoist). Make sure you put it back, without it the engine wants to twist itself out of the car.

I replaced head gasket , timing belt , water pump and other gasket following this procedure , started up my car and exhaust seems to be leaking alot, I test drove the car and dump the throttle and car Doesn't move , also got code p0340 camshaft position sensor a circuit bank 1 or single sensor

I have a 96 camry that has 272000 miles with oil leaks having trouble finding the all. valve cover ,dist., pcv boot have all been replaced, missed something.

Have you ever heard of the game "Car Mechanic Simulator 15" how would you compare it?

That intake manifold is A PAIN to get off.

Hello, I somehow dont have the cams aligned correct. the exhaust cam has 3 dots on the gear. any chance you know which one is the one I should align with the intake cam? or even better, how many degrees out of phase should the intake and exhaust cam lobes be? thanks

hey bro great video. question, how did you film This? go pro on a helmet? thanks

This is one of the easiest cars to work on but they have tons of problems

Was your water and oil mixed when you had a bad gasket ?

12:11-12:49: im going to take the timing belt cover off. There should be 5 bolts Well whoever did this job before forgot to put a bolt in. I took out four bolts. (Counts bolt holes) 1 2 3 4 yep ones missing I only took out 3. 🤔😂😂😂

Looked like some of it would have been easier if you took the valve cover off first??

i try to pull wires but still stuck, do u know any means of removing the wires like any thing i can use, in pulling them out thanks for ur reply,

never heard this man's compressor run once

My brothers Camry(98) the motor looks like that (tilted) and I figured his motor mount was toast but looking at yours it’s the same. This is normal? The engine is completely tilted. It looks ridiculous.

you should invest in a couple of sets of Ratchet wrenches be a lot easier

how do you keep track of all the bolts and nuts?

I have the same yeat as this one Toyota Camry 2001 2.2 Liter engine I change plugs wires and coils and fuel injectors and I buy a new Fuel Pressure regulators but my car still misfires and it dripped colants in the passenger side engine p0300 p0301 p0302 p0303 .but if this the head gaskets then it should give me a sign of a White smoke But I did not see any .

Prep until 12:40 to rotate the crank pulley.

so is blue devil a good product to use for a temporary fix? and how long does it usually last

A lot of commenters say this video makes the hd gasket change easy, and I guess it does if you don't mind going deep into a tough DIY job. But there's soooo much shit that has to be removed on all 4 sides and the top of this engine just to get to the head, wouldn't it make more sense to pull the engine and take care of several other things too, like timing belt stuff and valve job, r&r the head, new gas filter, clean the injectors, etc. ya know? I can't see doing all this work in the video only to find out cyl 4 has low compression or the gas filter is clogged, or the timing belt needs change in 6 mos, or whatever. I do get that sometimes there's a money or time issue, but if not, why not go full tilt on this bad boy?

I had to use two bottles of k seal, but, I fixed mine for $26 bucks. 55,000 miles later. . .

how many total hours did it take to remove the head ??? and did you just replace the head gasket ???

My car is trowing white smoked when I turn it on when it's cold only but when it get hot it doesn't throw no more smoked what could it be is it the head gasket?

Help, the camshaft pulley keeps turning when I am loosening the bolt. I put a vise grip on the pulley but it's still turning. Please answer as soon as possible thank you

You should have removed the valve cover earlier. It would have made removing some of the stuff behind the engine easier.

It's easy to do on cars without any rust such as this one....

Was thinking about tackling something this big haven't before but seeing all you have to take out I'm thinking not!

How much to fix a Toyota Avalon?

What caused the gasket to leak is it common on these engines??

Wow that isn't "Easy".. My valve cover gasket was replaced last year. I just replaced my thermostat and gauge .. My mechanic did. I have been having white smoke coming out of the tail pipe. One person said it could be my valves and pistons. I have had to ad more oil as well. I will have to find mechanics to help fix this as well..

At 8:57 15/16" works good for us poor boys.

I took off all the head bolts off and head gasket does not budge

just did timing and water pump after the belt snapped, sadly the overheating wasnt the water pump and is possibly this, rip, do it myself or junk the car

You wearing crocs while you're working on your car?

Are these engines considered "non interference"?

i want to ask question

Damn that is no easy task. I'm pretty sure my head gasket is messed and will need to be replaced.

Do you ever go to reassemble everything and wonder "where does that go"?