Turns out that my oil leak is coming from my Timing Cover and needs to replace a Timing Cover oil seal. Alternator is going bad so that needs to be replaced. Water Pump needs to be replaced. Dealer quoted $2000 est. about $1200 labor. What the best way to handle this problem?????Please Help......

 

The $2000 includes that labor.....

 

Get a second estimate from an independent shop. Dealers like to rip you a new bunghole when charging for parts and labor. Either that, or do the work yourself.

 

Definitely get a second estimate or try to do some of the repairs like the alternator and water pump yourself.

 

Yea, definatley get a second estimate, because if u give it to the dealer to fix, they are prolly just gonna give it to a third party shop to do anyways.

 

Whoa! that's pretty nasty dude! Yeah do the water pump and alternator yourself. If you don't have the tools get an independent to do it. $2000 ... my god! I'd do it for a thousand for you!

 

That is a lot but it isn't that easy for a backyard mechanic to repair a leaking timing case cover on these engines. Whatever you do, don't have an outside shop do the t-cover leak. There are very specific torque sequences for tightening the cover because it does not use a gasket. Outside shops usually don't bother to aquire this info. As for the waterpump, it runs off the timing chain and is accessed through a small cover on the timing case. It makes sens to replace that while the cover is off. It's probably not costing you much more labor there. Now, is the alt bad? You said it was going bad. Whats it doing. If you were to tackle anything youself, I would advise you to leave the waterpump and especially the timing case to the pros and try the alt. How bad is this oil leak? Is it seaping or is it pouring out? If the dealer is the one that informed you about it chances are that it may not be somthing that has to be repaired right away. Working for a dealer I know how it is. We are required to report to the customer anything we see that might need repair. Even if it is not serious.

 

Yeah, the waterpump runs off the chain, I forgot about that. It is quite a task to do this for a novice. I must disagree about the independent though (I was an independent for a while), but if you pick one, make sure you pick a good one.


The tightening torque sequence IS a very strange one, not at all intuitive. I don't like to use dealers especially for simple stuff.

For something like this, I would see how bad the leak really is. if it's bad then I would probably do it (or have it done) if not, I would make sure my oil is topped up and limp along for a while, until something else goes and replace it all at once!

 

You sig shows you have a 97 GLE. It seems pretty new, and unless you have like 100,000 miles on it, I would try calling Nissan Consumer Affairs and asking them about extending a goodwill warranty in your case. It's worth a shot, and you might get the dealer to foot a percentage of the tab if you are lucky.

Regarding the post above about independent shops not following torqueing procedures, yes that may be true, but if you find a shop which specializes in Nissans or Japanese cars in general, you can bet the mechanics will know what to do. I myself take my car to a Toyota specialist when it has problems. I always get the speech from the guy about how I should have gotten a Toyota instead of Nissan, but he is always happy to work on my car.

 

The dealers are full of pig S%%t! Get several opinions from other shops, be very careful though. Best wishes! 96se 161,260

 

Seal should be changed at the dealer. Buy the water pump at the dealer and install it somewhere else. Same thing for the ALT you could buy a rebuilt one and any good mechanick coudls install it for you. Good luck.