New Owner

[fixkick]

Okay, valve cover is off and I see no evidence of sealant having been used on rear-most cam cap (no squeeze-out at all). Looking at the FSM it says to loosen cam caps in sequence and retighten in sequence. Since I’m just removing rearmost cap and not all caps and cam should I be concerned about re-adjusting valve lash? Anything else?

Once again, thanks for all the help. I couldn’t have made it this far without it! There are just so many idiosyncrasies in this vehicle that only first-hand experience can know.

those cam cap clearances are very close " .002"
and caps fit tight , super  tight at cap bosses. no play there.
the problem with cam/caps, is the valve spring bias. pushing cam/caps up, and taking off 1 cap is a tad risky.
lash will not change.
you are correct the caps are torque staged,
how to correct this IDK. and inspections here caps not off is super hard. (you looked for rtv witness, marks there,beads left over in  gap)
idiosyncratic is it on this read cap ,, pure G16B technology.

hard to call this,  how much work to stop a leak.
finding leaks is not easy, even using  IR light and dye check.

good luck to you on this problem...