valve cover gaskets?
 

I tried the search and I didn't have any success.

I have a couple of questions.
First one is: does it matter what gaskets I get and where I get them? I looked on Ebay and AutoZone and such. Prices seem to be pretty close.
Second: I still can't decide if I should do a DIY or take it to a shop. I mean the front one is easy, but the rear... different story. A shop here in town offered to do the rear for $195 labor and whatever the parts cost.

What do you all think?
I am mostly scared to mess with the intake plenum because of the few bolts/nuts in the back that are hard to reach. In the same time I am picky about how its done and I may get a little annoying to the guy in the shop with my demands.

thanks to all who respond!

I did my front and rear this past summer...I just got the gaskets from autozone. (Make sure you get the rtv sealant too)

The front one is pretty easy to do...not a big deal...maybe an hour or two(clean everything up really well). The rear is a big pain...I'd say $195 sounds pretty good for the amount of work/know-how that is needed. Also, since I was taking off the intake manifold to get to the rear, i went ahead and replaced the knock sensor and intake manifold gasket as well(wasnt needed, but might as well since I had it off)

....if its your daily driver...then pay the $195...otherwise have fun

diy ftmw. i just did mine and found out that one of the previous owners overheated the engine :( it's a good learning eperience and you can do a few extra things (cleaning etc) that might pop into your head during the job.

The flat rate hours for replacing both gaskets is 3, so $195 sounds reasonable. If saving $195 is not worth a day's work, or you don't enjoy repair jobs, then I'd let a shop do it. DIY also allows you to spend as much time cleaning all the parts as you want to. Either label all the vacuum/coolant hoses, or at least count them, so you know you've got them all back on at the end.

If you buy the Felpro valve cover gasket set from Autozone, be careful with the spark plug tube seals. Some people say they don't fit right. I had the same experience with a Carquest gasket set. You might also want to replace the UIM gasket, EGR guide tube gasket, and IACV gasket since they're cheap. It's also easier to replace the PCV valve with the UIM off.

they must've installed them inside out :laugh: i got a full felpro set and no issues and only cost me $50.

The Carquest spark plug tube seals had a different design than OEM. They had a garter spring around the inner lip, and the inner lip was flat. The OEM seals have no springs and a beveled edge on the inner lip. The inner diameter of the Carquest seals was not big enough to slide over the tube, and didn't seem to be designed to press fit on top of the tube either, because that way the valve cover wouldn't seat on the head and the garter spring would be pointless. It didn't occur to me to flip them over and try it that way, because that would've looked completely different than the OEM seals. I just pulled them out and put the old seals back in, and bought OEM seals for the rear cover.

it is my daily driver. I like and can do almost everything on most cars. I used to work at a shop some years ago. My issue as I said is the UIM and its bolts on the back.

How long does it take for the rear cover alone? I can do them at different times

Definitely DIY.

Remove Intake
Remove all hoses and sensor connections from Upper IM
Remove four bolts on front of UIM
Remove all brackets from UIM
Remove the brackets on the back of the IM
Remove the bolts holding the EGR to the back of the IM
Pull off UIM
Remove 10 bolts holding the rear valve cover onto the engine
Replace Gasket
Reverse

You probably know your Maxima somewhat decently by now if you've done any work on it. It shouldn't take you more than 1.5 hours to get the rear valve cover off.

I can get to mine in about 20 minutes.

One word of advice, do NOT re-install the brackets on the back (the ones that connect to the UIM and something else (forget what since I haven't had mine on for so long).

Not really that difficult to reinstall them, and oh yeah, they are there for a reason. I have seen an upper intake that was cracked at the lower intake mounts because the braces were not installed.

They aren't required. I haven't had mine on for almost 2 years now and I've had my manifold off 10 times since then for various work. No issues.

+1 forget them pos bolts

as for the gaskets, do them yourself, its not difficult. there are only a few vacuum hoses that go to the manifold anyways, the hardest part would be the darn coolant hoses in the back (lack of space)

I just leave that one line that loops around connected until I have the manifold off the engine. The other line that goes to the little device blow the throttle body I do in the beginning.

Who wants to come and help me? :) :) Just kidding. I wish you guys were closer.

Ilyak what brackets are you talking about? The nasty positioned ones?

You guys talked me into the DIY. I hope when the time comes I can do it all in a day with no complications because it is my daily driver and I have no other car to use.

BTW I got side swiped today and the car will be going to a body shop before I do any of the gasket work.

Yes, the brackets on the back that you can barely see. There are two of them.

Just take your time, do it on a saturday, and make sure to double check everything so you don't develop leaks, etc.

I also suggest cleaning your IACV and TB when you do this. Buy new gaskets for that from your dealer. Use a little RTV on the corners, middle sections of the gasket, and check into the EGR gasket (for the upper part of the tube). I used RTV for the EGR part last week, haven't had issues.

:sprint:

Overall it's easier to just buy a full head gasket kit, they're ~$60 on eBay and contain all of the gaskets you'll need to replace.

No support brackets, no EGR, no coolant lines...my UIM comes off in 5 minutes :wall:

so are you saying that the eBay set is decent quality? I would expect 50-100k for that. in other words I don't want to have to deal with any of that for the rest of the car's life.

Thanks ya'll! You gave me courage and I think I will get someone to help me and as soon as I have time and the weather is nicer I will go ahead and do it.

It's not as bad as it sounds bro. Just take it easy. Take it slow and you'll be alright.

Get a Haynes manual just in case you need to reference anything.

Definitely get gaskets and don't re-install those brackets. That's my advice.

The set I got off of eBay was all OEM quality and fit.

I posted a link to the eBay seller the other day, check my recent posts.

I have the FSM PDF and I have a Haynes as well.

thanks again.

Spasibo!

I thought you were russian because of the ipka for like the longest time. Ti divchina? Moyu mamu zvati ipa.

If so, more power to you ;).

If you have a decent digital camera, take pictures under the hood before you start (use the flash!). That way if y ou mis-label a hose or whatever, you can always refer back to the pix.

It has saved my butt a few times...

I'm bulgarian bro. djipka is just a nickname that I got a long time ago. it actually comes from the word Jeep. And after filtering everything through Bulgarian and through children's little understanding of English I ended up with djipka.


I will be taking pictures all along the way so that I know what I have done and in case I need help from ya'll.

you thought he was a girl...:rofl:

I can see how Jeep = Djip. Gotcha.

Yes, lol. Ipka (Irka in english). That's what my dad calls my mom. lol. Her name is Irene.

Ti tozhe ruskiy?

Anyway...let's stay on gaskets lol.

hit up a regional forum - i know of plenty guys around slc

niet, ja polak :)
pa ruski paniemaje a nie gawariije.

Gothca. I understand Polish but can't speak it. We're the opposite. haha.

Anyway, DJ. Just take your time and take pics. You'll be fine.

sorry to bring this back up. I am ready to buy the gasket set from ebay but I ran into a question here.

what is the difference between these two:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/95-99...Q5fAccessories

and

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/95-99...Q5fAccessories

they are from the same seller but different price?

my engine is leaking real bad both the front and the rear valve covers for few years and its getting worst. i want to do it myself but i never work on cars before i'm afraid i mess up the engine. i don't have enough tools to take those parts off. i wish i know someone that about can help me out.

my mechanic did the whole job front and back for $240 including parts and labor

ones from the seller on ebay, one os full gasket, and other one is just head gasket, it seems like they are the SAME exact ones, but if you look closely enough, the cheaper one has less stuff. Trust me, i had to count like 5 different times and compare like 5 million times. It's like doing photohunt at a bar machine..heh.. but i got the more expensive one just in case i needed those gaskets, $20 to me is not a big difference considering daveb quoted me $272...yikes!!!

I replaced my valve cover gaskets, painted my valve covers and cleaned the inside my intake manifold. I also replaced the manifold gasket. It took me about 4 hours to do. I got the valve cover gaskets for $60 including rtv and the intake manifold gasket was $30 or $40. I got them at auto zone. You can look at my picture with the manifold off in my photo gallery. Its not as hard as it looks.

so if I am not planning on doing anything that would require the extra stuff I can just get the cheaper set and call it a day?

Yes, all you need is the head gasket set. Even then, you're going to have some stuff left over. I'd also advise to do your KS now, if it needs replacing.

I say replace it regardless. If you are anything over 80K, replace it. Preventive maintenance that'll save you time when you DO need to change it in a year or two.

I replaced the KS a couple of months ago. And mine is easy to get to as it is so I'm good. thanks though!

it's me, the stupid one again. You guys are prolly sick of my questions

I went to get RTV. I walked in the store and there are like a million different types. which one do i get? Back in the old country there were like 3 kinds.

I think I need a high-temp one, but there is a whole bunch of them. It's like every color of the rainbow. Does it matter what the color is? We used red back home in the shop.

HELP!!!

:sprint:

^^^ that's what I was thinking of getting. it is the same price as the red one but there is 2 more oz per pack

edit: I just saw that it is not the High-temp one. shouldn't I get a High-temp RTV? like this:
http://www.autozone.com/autozone/cat...dName=Permatex

yep, the ultra black or ultra grey are better sealers in oil contact, high-temp use.