Hey guys...I did my plugs this weekend and encountered the same problem...the plug chamber in the back closest to driver's side had oil in it....all of the others are fine.

I loose only about a 1/4 quart of oil or less betweeen 3000mi oil changes...How urgent is it that I replace the valve covers...because I was thinking about waiting till spring when it warms and I am really busy with things right now too!!

Thanks in advance

 

well considering I have no clue how long it's been like this, I can't say how urgent it is. My car was running fine and now that I replaced my rear valve cover, cleaned all the oil out, and installed new plugs, my car isn't running that differently. Unless the oil has water in it, it really can't do too much to the coil permanently, and it wasn't touching the actual spark plug so when I pulled that plug out, the tip was not oil fouled..the oil was sealed on top of the spark plug.

But really and truly, I don't even think that I needed to replace the VC....when I took the VC off I noticed that the seal on cylinder #5 was over the top of the metal spark plug chamber and the other ones weren't. This is what was causing oil to leak into it...If I were to have just adjusted the seal down further, it would have provided an oil tight fit...however, I also noticed that the material the new Valve cover (I bought the 6th gen one) was much more rubbery. The seals on the valve cover on my car almost felt like they were made of plastic, which as you know slides against smooth materials much easier than rubber. I think this is what they improved in the new VC so I think that I have less of a chance of this happening again. Anyways, good luck and I ran into some problems getting the oil out, but eventually I got enough out to where I could just pull the plug and nothing would be affected. I'll be checking it periodically just to make sure it's not like that again.

 

yea I came to that conclusion too....that the leaks is above the plug in the chamber thus no fluid is leaking through....I will definitely replace it but I think I will wait because the car is not burning oil and it is not affecting performance...side note, ran 14.5 with old plugs @ 96mph couple weeks ago and am bone stock, except KN drop in....so it was not afffecting performance as the car ran smooth, and continues to do so

thanks for the info...i will buy the 6th gen cover when i do replace then as well

 

You stated that 9-26 in/lbs wasn't that much, making it sound like that is all you have to tighten. Yet the diagram says to tighten further to 65-82 in/lbs. Did you do that also?

 

is there a way of checking to see if the valve cover is cracked or not w/o pulling the plugs?

 

That's kind of weird, because I accidentally over-tightened one of my bolts and snapped it. I had my torque wrench set to 20 lbs. but I didn't feel the click and kept tightening a little more (probably not 60 ft-lbs...) and it snapped right off...I tightened all mine to about 25 or 26 and haven't had a problem since. As a matter of fact, I just took off my upper IM today and there are no leaks whatsoever...

Well it depends on where it cracks. Like I said, with mine the seals just slipped up causing it to leak and the VC was not cracked at all. If you have an oil leak (dripping oil), that would be a good reason to check it but otherwise it's probably not cracked...

 

So, you didn't tighten as mentioned in the second section of the owner's manual? Just to 9-26 inch/lbs.

 

yep, and I'm not about to go tighten them further. Like I said I snapped one really easily and I still need to fix that. I don't want to do it to another one. I'm not so sure about those figures....

 

^^wtf........so i guess stating "POST # 21" INCLUDING ANY SPACES!

WAS ALOT MORE TIME CONSUMING THAN JUST TYPING xx,xxxK miles??!
WTF!

 

Drugs is the only possible explanation for this post.....

 

man i'm at 63k i hope when i attempt changing my plugs that i get that surprise.

 

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=512019

 

****

......

 

if i dont tell him, pat (sig mod) will

 

<sarcasm>

10char

 

i know
im not a ****...im a "bully"