I took my 2003 G35 in for 90,000 mile service. Requested an oil change, spark plug replacement and tranny fluid change. I just got a call from my Stealership advisor. He said when they took off the coil packs, they discovered oil in all my spark plugs. There is an internal gasket within the valve covers that seal the sparks. All of the seals have failed. Infiniti requires replacing the valve covers to get the new seals, at around $480/cover. This is OUTRAGEOUS!

 

It's b/c the whole plenum/TB has to come off on top of a bunch of other crap. It's quite a bit of work, I think they need to replace a few of the gaskets as well.

 

not covered under warranty?

 

Just the gaskets need to be replaced. Why would they replace the valve covers?

 

Read my post. 90,000 miles is out of warranty. The gaskets are part of the valve cover and cannot be replaced without replacing the covers. I do believe this will be my last Nissan/Infiniti.

 

That sucks *****. Have you tried any independent Nissan shops??

 

That's incorrect. According to my FSM, each rocker cover has a gasket. Some is BS'ng you. Unless they are saying the covers are warped or something.

 

what is FSM?

 

Fsm = factory service manual

 

According to the Stealership advisor, each spark has a cover with gasket internal and part of the cover. The spark gaskets are not replacable, you must replace the cover. I will be visiting the crime scene soon and see for myself.

 

Hmm maybe he's right. Looking at the gaskets, they don't encompass the spark plug areas. Sucks. Old maxima gaskets went around the spark plug holes

 

what would cause that? filled too much oil?

 

Just got back from the crime scene. Sure enough! Oil is sitting around each spark plug. I talked with the tech working on my sedan. He showed me that with the coil pack off, there is an open space around the top of the spark plug tube, allowing oil in the valve cover to seep into the spark plug tube. Good thing I didn't try to change the plugs myself. The tech said when he took the coil pack off, oil was near the top of the tube. ****!!!!

 

My 4th gen Maxima with a VQ30DE had this same issue. I went to change the plugs at 60K and found 2 of them under oil. I had an extended warranty, so I had nissan replace all of the o-rings around the plug holes. It was a ton of labor. At 120k, I went to change the plugs again and found the same 2 under oil. The car ran perfect that way for a number of years, so I just changed the plugs and put it back together.

 

Even if you have to replace both valve covers and seals, this is a simple remove and put on procedure, which you can do yourself easily. The parts most likely cost less then $100. This is not the end of the world. Just tell them to put everything back and you buy the parts from somewhere else and change them yourself. Heck, your car was functioning perfectly before you took the car to the dealer, right? Nothing serious to worry about. Just change them yourself. This is a simple swap procedure