Here's the story, I noticed a couple of times after driving my 03 G Sedan, that there would be a burning smell coming from around the rotor area. Thinking that it was because I drive too rough and brake too hard, I pushed off the issue for a while and ignored it. So when iI was up for my oil change, the dealer told me that my valve cover gasket and rear main seal were bad, causing a leak which in turn caused the burning smell, by oil dripping on to the exhaust manifold or cats, something of that nature, forgot what he said. Well i just wanted to know if this was something that could happen at the miles of 130k, which is where i am now. they want $1560 to do all the work and was wondering how much it would be on average to do the valve gasket and rear main seal , if it is even that. I took it for second opinion and they said it could just be the oil pan leaking, which would make it relatively cheaper to do. I love this car and i wouldnt want to have to get rid of it if there are more problems that can occur with this engine. the history of the car is as follows: 1 previous owner, dealership serviced (30,60,90k packages + regular maintenance either early or right on time), and full service history. Ive seen G's go up to 200k which i hope to reach myself, but if the problems get worse, i may sell this and get a newer sedan. What do yall think? Thanks for reading! Hope to hear from yall soon.

PS. And if yall know of any problems with the VQ's lemme know as well. This is my first infiniti. Thanks again!

 

A rear main seal is an expensive job to do since you have to remove the transmission pretty much. Just keep an eye on you oil level and you will be fine. My rear main and oil cooler oring are currently leaking but they don't leak enough for me to change them right now. Most common to go for seals on a vq is the oil cooler oring because it sits behind the oil filter and dumb lube techs tighten the oil filter as hard they can and compress the oring. This causes it to leak so you could look at that as well. I've already change one on my qx4 which has the vq as well.

 

If you don't mind working on your car you can buy new gaskets for the valve covers for $45 and do it yourself. Don't waste your money.