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replace valve cover gaskets

39K views 18 replies 13 participants last post by  bkfawcett 
#1 ·
About 4 months ago I replaced the passenger (easy) side on my son's 2002, 6 cylinder xterra. The driver's side wasn't leaking at that time. Now it's leaking oil and I was wondering if this was something I should take on. There's a lot of stuff on top of that valve cover; the upper intake manifold, cruise and acceleration cables, etc. I'm not a real mechanic but I get a lot of satisfaction from doing my own brakes, fluids, you know minor stuff. I was pretty proud of myself for replacing the easy side valve cover gasket. I just don't want to get in over my head and really have this fear of the unknown. I have the Haynes manual, but that just says take this off and that off like I already know what I'm doing. I'm tempted to try but I'm a little skeeered I might be biting off more than I can chew. Any advice would be appreciated.
 
#2 ·
Try tightening the bolts first, that is the only problem for some.
 
#3 ·
Yup^ my screws had made a complete rotation loose
 
#4 ·
Well I'll try it but the gasket I replaced on the passenger side was hardened. It came out whole because the rim of the pan had little points that were bent over to hold it in place, and you could see a couple of little cracks in it where oil was leaking out. So I'm not sure it would be compressible enough to squash and fill a crack in the gasket. Plus if I tighten too much couldn't it warp the rim of the pan?
I will try that though. I wish I'd posted earlier when my son was here with the vehicle. I think I can get to those lower screws fairly easily, and that would be awesome to fix it that way.
 
#5 ·
Don't tighten them down too tight, you'll have to use your judgement. You could at least go to the specified torque.
 
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#6 ·
Mfkcbk,

also have a 02 Xterra V6. A few months back, I notice what seemed to be a valve cover leaking and tightented the screws holding it down. Seemed to stop, but now I have a very small oil leak / drop at the area of the rear oil pan, starter bolted to trans area. I hear that it could be from the valve cover..did you have this area leaking prior to replacing your valve cover gasket?
 
#7 ·
Originally, the passenger side leak was not too bad. It was just smoking and stinky and I saw a small leak that was burning oil and causing smoke. Didn't think about tightening the screws, just replaced that side and it wasn't too bad. Just some wire harness needed moving.

However, the driver's side gasket is leaking real bad. My son is in college and called me yesterday because it was smoking so bad. So I made him drive home so I could look at it (same city, so not far). It is definitely the driver's side valve cover gasket leaking and it is bad. You can see oil under the vehicle and if you didn't look at the valve cover you could mistake it for an oil pan leak.

I'm going to drive over to his house this afternoon and try to tighten the screws a little and see if that works but judging from what the gasket looked like on the other side, hard and cracked, I'm not optimistic. I still think I'll have to replace the gasket or have it replaced. Still hoping for some input on the difficulty of doing that.

To answer dawgn86's question, in my limited experience, I would say that if it is burning oil and smoking then its probably still the valve cover gasket leaking because if its a bad leak, what doesn't burn will run down and look like its coming from possible the oil pan. That's what my son's vehicle is doing. If its not smoking, because ours is smoking bad, then its probably not the valve cover gasket. That's only my humble non-expert opinion.
 
#8 ·
replace the gasket

miserable job

took about 4 hours

first mistake was not waiting until the engine was completely cool before loosening the plenum screws. Stripped only one of the hex bolts but it came out with a bolt extractor the next morning.

2nd mistake was losing one of the phillip screws with the grommet that fastens the pan. The one by the distibutor and it disappeared into the abyss of the engine. Never found. Ended up using one of the screws from the plate that covers the oil filter under the truck. Its a little shorter but worked until a replacement.

The most miserable part was all the hoses that were clamped on and stuck.

Its over now though and I'm rambling....

If I can do it anyone can. Just a pain!
 
#10 ·
I didn't replace anything except the valve cover gasket and a new intake manifold gasket. The old valve cover gasket was hardened and had a crack where the oil leak was, so tightening the screws had no hope of helping. I never could get the intake manifold off completely (a couple of those short hoses near the firewall were impossible for me in the time I had) so I ended up propping it up with a piece of wood. It made it harder to do but quicker in the long run. The intake manifold gasket didn't look bad and might have gone back on fine, but I'd bought one to replace it anyway since the book recommended it.
 
#11 ·
So did you replace it?. If not it is just a pain not really difficult. Just alot to remove and remember where you removed it from. The usual Engine business. Mfkb man that sucks but that is why you spend the money to get magnetic screwdrivers and ratchet sockets ^_^ Man spoiled me cant drop that shit because you already have a magnet.
With your comment about the abyss of the engine im hoping your talking about the engine compartment not the engine. O.O
 
#12 ·
Yeah, just the engine compartment, not into the engine. I unscrewed the screws with a phillips screwdriver and the one just under the distributer fell over and down somewhere before I'd actually removed the valve cover. It just disappeared, like magic! A magnet might have helped if I could have seen it, but it must have landed in some little hidden nook. That's why I took off the splash guard underneath to see if it fell down there. Luckily those splash guard screws were 6mm and temporarily fit the one I lost until I could get replacement that was the right length.

It's all done now, and you're right, not difficult, just a pain.
 
#13 ·
If the screw was from the dist cap, it probably fell into the void behind the timing belt. There's a gap right in the center of the engine. If you drop stuff, that's where it could wind up. That's where I noticed coolant possibly leaking from the intake gasket.
 
#14 · (Edited)
I didn't replace anything except the valve cover gasket and a new intake manifold gasket. The old valve cover gasket was hardened and had a crack where the oil leak was, so tightening the screws had no hope of helping. I never could get the intake manifold off completely (a couple of those short hoses near the firewall were impossible for me in the time I had) so I ended up propping it up with a piece of wood. It made it harder to do but quicker in the long run. The intake manifold gasket didn't look bad and might have gone back on fine, but I'd bought one to replace it anyway since the book recommended it.
Yeah, those hoses on the back of the upper plenum are a real PITA. I had to take the plenum off 3 times on my 1990 pathfinder. Same engine as the xterra but a 3.0 instead of a 3.3. Probably the part I hate the most. The second hardest thing was finding the plenum gasket locally. The auto stores only sell a complete gasket kit.

edit: I recommend changing the hose clamps to the standard kind you see at the auto parts store, makes it much easier in the future, and also to put back together.
 
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