When replacing these gaskets do you use any sealant on them?. Or do you put them on naked?

 

I think those rings are metal. There defiantly not o-rings. I think the rings disburse the oil coming and leaving the intake cam vtc sprocket.

 

I put mine back on dry, no sealant. The OEM's certianly had no sealant, although were spot-glued to the backing plate. I did, however, Locktite the crappy phillips-head wood screws . I don't want those things ever coming off again (while I own it).

 

I'm compelled to disagree, Bobby. I have not removed any of them to avoid damaging them, but they appear to be hard polymer seal rings. Certianly not magnetic. I may be wrong, but don't think they are metal. Unlikely to seal worth snot anyway if they were.

I thought perhaps they would be a standard spec seal ring, so I axed my son, who is a mechanical design engineer for a mining equip manufacturer, to try to find them in his system based on my measurements. Had they been a standard spec, he would have found them. He could not; speculated they were custom designed for Nissan and suggested either getting them from Infiniti or having my own seals custom-made from neoprene (at huge $). So I went to local Infiniti dealer to discuss. Well guess what? You can't buy them alone. You have to buy the entire valve timing control covers/sprockets assemblies with rings pre-installed. About $1,500 for six $0.89 seal rings. Leastwise, that's what they told me.

My response: F-that! I'll just reinstall the old & hope they last till tradin time.

 

Once I removed the outer timing cover today I got my answer to why the car was kicking a code for my intake cam sensor. The lt intake cam was sheered Off at the head. My guess is because the vtc cam sprocket locked up. The cam spun freely in the head so I removed the cam caps and they all look smooth.

 

Damn Bobby, that sounds awful. I can't totally picture what you're describing though; any chance you can post some pics?

 

I would post some pictures if I knew how to. I can't figure out how to do it from my HTC one.

 

I guess I shouldn't of said that they were metal. But I do know that they are not o-rings. And they don't do any sealing either. I believe they restrict t and disburse the oil when it's coming and leaving vtc cam sprocket.

 

How prevalent is this? Has anyone thought about petitioning Corporate for a "recall"? This is definitely a "defective" part.

 

I forgot to mention that both of these gaskets were torn. About a half inch of gasket on each one is sticking out. So I'm gonna assume that this caused the vtc cam sprocket to not get enough oil and it cease up.

 

Wrong. They are critical to containing the ECM-modulated oil pressure that causes the intake cams to advance/retard continuously. If they do not seal properly, the CVTC system will not function properly - or at all. Muchos problemas. Good info on the CVTC is hard to find, but this and this describe it somewhat on a DE & a 37VHR. Mike Kojima is a genius. Boy, could I use his help now!

 

OK guys, I'm done. Finished replacing the CVTC oil gallery gaskets this weekend, got her back in one piece (no parts left over either!) and she fired on first crank, & ran fine. No leaks, no drips, no codes - so far anyway.

FYI, pic attached is what it cost me to do ONLY the gallery gaskets, $84 bucks or so. However, while I had her open, I also replaced the water pump, rad hoses, rad cap, clamps, thermostat assembly, serp belt, coolant, oil/filter, & two new tools needed for the job. My actual/final cost for parts/tools was slightly less than $400.

I can't say enough good things about Sewell Infiniti. Their parts guy really went the extra mile to make sure I had what I needed when I needed it. Good bunch of guys, that.

Actual "working" time for me doing this job alone was 38 hrs. I know, I know, I can forget about a career as an engine tech. I'm slow, but this was my first time opening this VQ35HR and this is a complex engine. If I had to do it again (which I NEVER will!) I think I could do it in 18-20 hrs or slightly less. No possible way on earth I could ever do this job in the book time of 9-10 hrs. No way! And I been doing my own car/motorcycle work since 1969.

Oh well, like Dirty Harry said, a good man knows his limitations. Any body else wants to try it, let me know. I can maybe give you a few useful tips. So long.

 

Congrats on finishing the job!

Since the optional bits you added to the job are quite likely what others may want to do as well (me for one), is there any chance you could share the full part list/ cost /notes breakdown as you've done for just the required parts? Thanks!

 

Gladly, see attached.

 

Well, as I mentioned before, with my Elite warranty ending in just 4 days, I went ahead and hooked up a AutoMeter digital oil pressure gauge the other day. Apparently it was a good thing I did, as I have a mere 5psi at idle and 41psi at 2k rpm. It makes way more when ever it is revved up; as high as 95psi at redline, but it's definitely low at an idle. I took the car into the dealership today at they're looking in to it.

What I am suspecting is that one of the gaskets has perhaps just started to blow, with only minor leakage it this point. At low rpms, the oil pump isn't pumping much volume, so the the relative size of the leak makes an appreciable difference in oil pressure, but then at high rpms, when the pump is cranking out volumes of oil, the leak becomes relatively insignificant and oil pressure appears adequate.

Other that the low oil pressure readings, I have zero issues with the performance of the car. It has never thrown a code or exhibited any clues that anything is wrong whatsoever; it is just the damn oil pressure at idle. I find it seriously disappointing that the factory oil pressure sensor hasn't triggered a "low oil pressure" reading either.

They just took the car in, but said they will most likely not have it looked at until tomorrow. Needless to say, I will feel blessed if I can squeak a gasket service in under the last 4 days of my warranty. I report back with their findings.

**fingers VERY crossed**

BTW, I spoke with the shop foreman, and he mentioned that this dealership's policy is to not swap the gaskets alone, but to swap out the entire rear timing cover. He said the issue from their standpoint is that they don't have the proper thread-lock compound for the screws holding the plates down. Unbelievable! (but fine as long as they pay for it!)