illmortal

I just got my car sent here to Oregon from Florida about 3 days ago and finally starting to drive it after replacing the battery, since after 11 days of being delivered here caused the battery to finally die (even tried recharging battery but got errors, battery was not holding charge).


Anyways after starting the car, right at first the car blew out a semi-thick cloud of smoke out of the engine bay which made me freak out a bit. When I popped the hood, there's a constant light smoke coming out of a specific spot, which is located in the region where I circled in the picture. I don't know if it's an exhaust leakage of some sort or simply, by the looks of the manifold, the seals (or even head gasket) are worn and I need to replace them.


(I tried thumbing image but can't)

The only thing is... the smoke isn't coming directly from the manifold, I don't think.. it seems like it's coming from further down but behind the manifold.

What I'd like to know is... is it going to be costly to replace the seals/head gasket? I don't think I have all the proper tools to replace the seals/head gasket myself but I'd like to start there since I have oil creeping out and covering my manifold.

In all honesty... If it's going to cost a lot more than $500 I think I'm gonna just leave it alone, the car has 215,515 miles on it and I'm thinking of keeping it for this last year and sell.

But if it's within the range, I'll definitely replace it and see if I can find a detailer around town that could clean up the engine bay for me so it doesn't look so bad when I try to sell it.

JNCoRacer

iTrader: (6)

That would definitely be a rear valve over leak. The oil is leaking down onto the exhaust. I just fixed this on my car this past summer. Its not really that hard to do. The new gasket kit cost me around $50 at autozone, plus a tube of some high temp silicone (the blue stuff). I was able to change the front and rear gaskets along with the spark plug guide tube seals in around 3 hours. All it takes is a few sockets and extensions...8mm up to 14mm. Some metric wrenches might help out too.

illmortal

Dood right on! That's exactly what it is... I inspected it further and both my valve covers are leaking oil. It looks like I need to remove the intake manifold (or is that the exhaust manifold on top of the rear valve cover) and the throttle body to gain access to it.

JNCoRacer

iTrader: (6)

Just the upper intake manifold and throttle body. The hardest part of this will be the EGR tube bolts and there's two bolts on the back side of the intake manifold that are kinda tricky to get to...you can leave those two intake manifold bolts off, just in case you ever have to take it off again. Thats what I've done on all my Maxima's and I30 and I've had zero problems. There's a HOW TO in the 4th gen section on how to remove the upper intake manifold. Just search for that and go from there. And remember to sort your search results by relevancy.

illmortal

Thanks again on your input. I'll definitely take the time to search around the 4th gen. Maxima part of the forum. My only concern is if I need a torque wrench? I presume that with all gaskets/seals you need a lot of torque to keep them tight.

Daniel1120

iTrader: (1)

Quite the opposite actually. Valve cover bolts require little torque compared to most bolts. Their specs are written in INCH pounds, not FOOT pounds. Just remember to tighten bolts starting in the middle and work your way out, towards the edges, working in a cross pattern. And make two passes when tighening, just get them snugged up first, then torque them all down. You don't need a torque wrench if you have a good feel for torque, if you don't it would be a good idea to rent/borrow a torque wrench. When doing valve cover gaskets the hardest part is the intake manifold. Its only a hard job if you don't have good tools. If you plan on keeping the car for a year or more don't use gasket sets from vatozone/oreallys. OEM parts are worth the money. Be sure the gasket set comes with spark plug tube grommets. Also buy a new intake, throttle body, and idle air control valve gaskets, yes you can get away with reusing the old ones, but it can save you alot of headaches.

Pullin3RD

Thanks a lot for this useful information! I myself is getting the same problem from the top valve.. Nice.

illmortal

In the bolded part of your post, I went ahead and checked out this in ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1996-...Q5fAccessories

I assume that's exactly what I need for the valve cover set. Also you mentioned the other gaskets.. I've been searching for the other gaskets and so far no good results. I live in a small town and the nearest Infiniti Dealership is in Portland or Seattle, both being 4 hours away.


Edit: Found the IACV gasket. I guess I should also replace any hoses along the way as well.

Daniel1120

iTrader: (1)

Yes, that set has them all, unless you wanted to do cam tower orings also. If you have a closer nissan dealership you can get the parts there, just tell them you have a 96-99 maxima. Or you can always call them and see if they can mail them too you.