Well its that time and after my oil leak ruining afew alternators i have to replace the front valve cover.

Afew questions:
1. do i have to drain my oil out my car?
2. Where is the best place to buy gaskets?
3. Is the Spark plug o-rings needed
4. What is this i read that i need egr gaskets too?
5. what do you guys recommend for cleaning up the outside of the valve cover around the gasket area?(brake cleaner? engine degreaser? ..etc)

PS Im just going to do the front for now. (i have to grow some ***** to do the rear besides i have a big 3x point event coming very soon)

Here's my to buy list:

Black RTV
Gaskets
Brake cleaner
small wire brush

The front is simple. If memory serves it doesn't even have a gasket, just RTV. Degrease the motor before you start and get as much gunk off as possible and let it dry. Remove all the bolts and pry off the cover. Use a razor blade and scrap off the remaining RTV left on the head. Wipe both surfaces clean and apply the RTV to the cover, and bolt it back on. Make sure you dont over tighten the bolts other wise it will develop another leak.

sorry, but your memory is wrong..LOL....there are valve cover gaskets. I bought mine off ebay for around $90 shipped. Had all the gaskets, front, back, spark plug, head gaskets, basically all the gaskets of the engine. You need to put rtv as per fsm and tighten the bolts based on the diagram of the fsm.

Yup, ur right, I was thinking of the upper oil pan gaskets. They use only the curved section next to the crank. Sorry bout the brain fart. Still easy tho.

to the OP. use the search and look at my recent thread on here. Everything you need to know is there. Even the links to the eBay gasket sets are there. GL with it.

No

Ebay, Dave B, courtesyparts.com

Yes

Not for the front.

Acetone. Lacquer thinner. Gasket scraper.

1. No
2. I'd go with Nissan
3. No. I didn't change mine and I've been just fine.
4. You do. You will be removing the upper EGR bolts for the rear of the UIM.
5. Up to you.

thanks fellas im going to try to tackle this on my next day off!

Have fun man. It does take some time. the worst part is taking the 2 bolts on the back of the manifold off. Then the job is fairly easy. Good luck and look at djipka's thread for more info

if ur doing the front valve cover gasket, u dont have to take the manifold off

Thanks guys! i'm going to try to do this this weekend. one more question what exactly do you use to clean the gunk off the outside of the valve cover?

Brake parts cleaner works the best, IME.

The scrubber part of a sponge helps.