Before I get snapped at, I've looked this up extensively on here and elsewhere. My valve cover gasket is leaking badly. I tried to replace it but, CAN NOT get the damn cover to clear everything when I try to remove it.

Any tips, help, and or guidance would be much appreciated!

 

Did you disconnect the kickdown, cruise and accelerator cable from the throttle body? There's really nothing else in the way.

 

Disconnect all wires coming to the throttle body. Disconnect two PCV valves, at the intake manifold and air filter box. Unscrew all bolts. The bolts near the fire wall are hard to see and you may need an elbow socket adapter to get to it. Move the two clamps from the thermostat housing onto the hose, away from the valve cover. Strike with a rubber mallet if necessary.

 

When I tried to do this before I got it loose. It just seemed to keep getting snagged. I removed all throttle cables and the PVC hoses it still was stuck.
I didn't disconnect the coolant hoses at the time because the smaller hose seemed to be dry rotted/fused to the front of the block and I didn't have a replacement if I broke it.
Now i'm guess I need to go all out on this by removing every little thing that could possibly get in the way.

 

Please post photos. I am going to attempt this, and these jobs are always said to be "simple" on the forums, but there's ALWAYS something that goes wrong for a beginner. Like not knowing how to remove the cables.

 

The cables just pop off of the throttle body. It is super simple.

Valve cover is nothing more than a bunch of bolts. Remove bolts, clean it real good, put in new gasket and torque down the bolts in the order specified in the FSM.

I would, however, recommend you replace your front and rear ccv valves and grommets whole the valve cover is removed from the vehicle. New breather hoses would be a good idea too if yours are looking crappy.

 

On my 2001, once all cables etc were remove there were two places the valve cover barely got hung up on.

One > on the drivers side rear at the nut that holds the ground strap.
Two > at the large coolant hose on the passenger side front

I was intending on flushing coolant anyway so I drained and removed the hose. That gave me enough room that I could wiggle by the nut in the rear. I ended up removing the nut in the rear anyway to make reinstall easier.

 

my only suggestion is moving the valve cover until it hits something. see what it is hitting and then remove that item. seems pretty straight forward to me..

 

Hahahaa... exactly.