Q: Is it expensive to replace the valve seals?

The usual symptom for bad valve stem seals is bluish white smoke out of the exhaust pipe when the engine is started cold. The smoke usually clears after a minute and doesn’t return again until the car is shut off for a while and then restarted. This is because the tired stem seals are allowing oil in the cylinder head to run down the valve stems into the intake and exhaust ports while the engine is stationary. When you re-start the engine the oil burns off quickly. Changing the seals is a pretty big deal. The parts themselves are not very expensive, but the job is complicated and takes a long time so the labor costs get pretty high. If you’re not sure that it’s valve stem seals that you need, or if you want to have the job done, you can contact Your Mechanic to have a technician come out to your home or office to check out your Toyota and let you know what it’s going to take to fix it.