Hi - We (my son and I) have a 2006 G35 Coupe with the nice 19" rims - (Sports Package?) and a small spoiler - no wider than trunk lid. Got the car about 9 years ago with only 55,000 kms on it. The car now has 161,000 kms on it (Vancouver, BC).

Up until recently the car has been hassle and major maintenance free (other than seat switches/replays - argh)!

Now, according to the dealer, we need new valve covers - $1,000 - yikes! And our steering rack is starting leak (I agree with this one) - OEM from Japan $900 or $1200 for a local jobber part!

None of this is good news for my son who has only been driving the car for 6 months.

Any wisdom for the valve covers? I've never had a car before where you had to replace the covers themselves, however I understand that the sparkplug hole gaskets are not serviceable - who thought of that?!?!

Thanks in advance,
Richard & Ian

 

There are plenty of options for inexpensive valve covers, check eBay, lots of companies have started making them super super cheap if you want to go that route. Rockauto has some that are more middle-range.

Pick up a rebuilt power steering rack from your local parts house, there's nothing magical about it and the technology hasn't changed in 40 years so the industry has pretty much worked the bugs out of rebuilding them.

Parts only you should expect to spend about $100 for the valve covers, and $250 for the rack and pinion.

If you're paying for a shop to do the replacement THAT is what's going to blow up the price tag, expect 4 hours for the valve covers and 3 for the rack and pinion. At the normal shop rate of $125/hr you're looking at $900ish in labor.

Those are normal dealership prices btw. I can order brand new Nissan valve covers for $220 apiece and a Nissan Value Advantage (factory rebuilt equipment) R&P for $450. Looks like they're charging you 4 hours labor for the valve cover and 4 hours for the R&P if those prices you listed included installation.

Sports cars are expensive to maintain, luxury cars are expensive to maintain. The G35 is a luxury sports car, very expensive to maintain, especially if you're paying a shop to do the work.

Personally I wouldn't bother with the valve covers until it's actually dripping, I let my first set go for YEARS before it ever actually made a drop of oil, when you get on the throttle really hard it would sometimes smell a tad like burning oil because the heat from the headers would cook off that slight oily residue, never really bothered me and I ended up doing the VC's later when it actually made a drop.

 

I just bought a 2006 G35 Coupe with 112k miles on it and the steering rack/rack and pinion leaks as well.