I changed my plugs today and noticed oil coming out of spark plug 1. Does anyone know what it could be? Someone told me it could be a valve cover gasket? What do you think?

 

spark plug gasket? on my old G20 it had a spark plug gasket, dunno of the VQs have it too.

 

valve cover gasket its easy to replace i ahve mine off right now.

 

More than likely it is the "O" ring gasket that are around each spark plug tube. If the oil is concentrated on the part that does not go into the cumbustion chamber, then it is the same thing that I have. I changed out my spark plugs at 120K & I am at 150K+ with no issues. I did not feel like taking apart the whole intake plenum to get to the one that had this, it is one of the ones near the fire wall. If the oil is concentrated on the part that makes the spark, then you may have other issues.

 

How much does it cost to fix?

 

1996blackmax is correct it's leaking past the spark plug tube oring. Mine was leaking pretty bad and causing the coil to miss fire. To fix you need to remove the valve cover and replace the four spark plug tube orings and the valve cover gasket. I don't remember the exact cost for parts but it was somewhere around $25.

Front cover should be easy to fix, but the back cover is a PITA to remove/replace. You have to remove the uppper intake manifold to get to the valve cover. Doesn't sound that bad, except there are a couple of hoses and bolts connected to the bottom of the upper intake manifold that you can't see and are very difficult to reach (at least for me).

 

Bobk when you say the spark plug tobe o rings are you refering to the Valve Oil Seal. I only ask this b/c the valve oil ring doesn't it need a special tool to remove?

 

Also, where's a cheap place to get engine gaskets?

 

According to my old order email they were listed as "1327631U10 VALVE COVER GASKET " obviously they aren't valve cover gaskets but I'm unsure of their "real name", I call them spark plut tube seals because that's what they do. I don't see where I said there was any special tools needed, just time and patience.

However in addition to the valve cover gasket and the spark plug tube seals you'll also need an upper intake manifold gasket if the problem is the back valve cover.

Here's the parts I ordered:
Part # Description Qantity
--------------------------------------------------------------
1327031U02 VALVE COVER GASKET 1
1327631U10 VALVE COVER GASKET 3
1403238U00 INDUCTION MANIFOLD GASKET 1

As far as prices try www.jerryromenissan.com or Conicelli Nissan at http://www.trademotion.com/partlocat...40&catalogid=0

Jerry Rome offers a discount (approx 20%) to maxima.org members, try searching here or emailing them for a discount code.

 

I have an extra spark plug seal if you would like try that. You could try this before the valve cover gasket. Let me know, hopefully i can help you out.

 

Thanks for the info. I'm getting my sparkplugs in the shipped to me sometime this week. Hopefully I don't have any oil but if I do I will let you know 1997blackmaxima.

Also seeing that this thread was started by someone who went to Umass. I just wanted to say Umass is the S**T. SOUTHWEST. Graduated 2003

 

anybody who is are will do this, please take pics..

 

I just changed my sparkplugs over the weekend. Took me just a little under an hour. Didn't find any oil on the spark plugs. Lucked out.

 

Reason why I will wait a little longer to do this.