Hey Scotty and all.
I bought a PCV valve (OEM from Lexus dealer parts dept.) for my 2008 Lexus RX 350. With much effort I was able to take out the old valve. I started threading the new valve in easy enough with my hand until it gave me some resistance, so I started using a wrench to tighten the rest of the way. But I found that the more I tightened, the harder it became. It was so hard that I was concerned that I may have cross-threaded the valve, so I unscrewed it.
Just for kicks I tried to put the old valve back in - same result. So my question is, is this normal and I should just continue to power through until the valve is seated on the valve cover surface, or is something else going on here I'm not aware of?
If you need more information please let me know; I'm a little stumped here.
Thanks very much!
Omar
Can you tell by looking at the old one how far it was threaded in? They don't thread in all the way to the part you put the wrench on, at least none of mine ever have. Chances are that you had it in as far as it will go
The old one was flush to the valve cover (at least that's how I remember it; now that you ask you put a doubt in my mind 🙂 ). But yeah, pretty sure it was flush.
This PCV valve appears to have a tapered thread, ie, pipe thread. The farther in it is is threaded the tighter and more sealed it is.
UPDATE: There was no problem at all. I thought the PCV valve needed to be flush with the valve cover - it doesn't. There will be some thread visible; it doesn't go in all the way. I thought I remembered the original valve flush with the valve cover, but I guess I was mistaken. Anyway, crisis averted - thanks all!