G35 Oil leak on top of spark plug tube

Post by **HADES01** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 11:36 am

Hello I need help finding out the name for the part located atop the spark plug tube, they call it a valve cover grommet but I've been looking for the part online and just cant find it. Infiniti sold me a 165.00 dollar kit w/shop discount, supossedly this has those parts but I would like to know if it is possible to buy just the grommet and not the whole kit. The spark plug where the leaking is at the is #1 spark plug. My engine accelaration feels somewhat interrupted at times and fuel consumption has gone up considerably. Also I ran the computer on it and it gave me the multiple misfire codes along with som high voltage, and low voltage indicators. Any info on it, I'd highly appreciate it. Thanks. Have a good day.

Post by **g35sedanlover** » Sun May 04, 2008 7:53 am

Me as well. Please help! If I need the full kit, how do I change everything?

Post by **lomita** » Sun May 04, 2008 2:54 pm

Just discovered the same problem on our Infiniti. Wish it into the corn field.

If there is a kit to repair the problem, it must be a repetitive problem.

Two questions.

How many miles on your car?

What gaskets and seals are in the repair kit?

Post by **g35sedanlover** » Sun May 04, 2008 5:47 pm

102,000

and I have no idea. The guy who started the thread mentioned a kit. The valve cover gaskets are pretty cheep but I don't know is that is all that I need. I think their is some kind of seal around each spark plug but the manual doesn't seem to show them...

Has anyone else had this problem???

Post by **qship96** » Sun May 04, 2008 6:02 pm

If it is similar to the Q45 {I am quite sure it is}, the valve cover gaskets are 1 piece which includes the plug tubes portion.

I am shocked they are failing at such a young age on the g35's however, as on my 96Q, they were replaced for the first time at 12 years and 202,000 miles.

Post by **Q451990** » Mon May 05, 2008 5:59 am

qship96 wrote:I am shocked they are failing at such a young age on the g35's however, as on my 96Q, they were replaced for the first time at 12 years and 202,000 miles.

Yours is a very unusual exprience... Most Q's got their rocker covers resealed before 50K. Maybe they got it right by 1996!

Heath

Post by **g35sedanlover** » Mon May 05, 2008 6:40 am

I wonder if more people have the same problem and don't know it. I only noticed once I changed my plugs.

P.S. I beat on my G pretty hard

Post by **g35sedanlover** » Tue May 06, 2008 4:17 am

Any help? Are the seals in the rocker cover replaceable?

Post by **qship96** » Tue May 06, 2008 4:52 am

g35sedanlover wrote:Any help? Are the seals in the rocker cover replaceable?

yes, you just need a new valve cover gasket{one for each side of motor} part is cheap, labor is probobly 4-5 hours and you might as well replace sparkplugs while you are in there to save future duplicate labor charge

Post by **Q451990** » Tue May 06, 2008 6:23 am

qship96 wrote:yes, you just need a new valve cover gasket{one for each side of motor} part is cheap, labor is probobly 4-5 hours and you might as well replace sparkplugs while you are in there to save future duplicate labor charge

qship,

Do you have any specific G experience? The reason I ask, is that the photos on IOS's site doesn't show the spark plug tube seals with the VC gasket - like you would get on the 94-96Q. I have also heard of someone, maybe on another board, who said that they had to actually replace the entire rocker cover due to a leak in that area... that the seals weren't available separately. In any case I don't know for sure - so I would advise calling Joe or one of the guys at Infiniti of Scottsdale to get some clarification... 1-888-216-5328.

Heath

Post by **qship96** » Tue May 06, 2008 9:42 am

No specific G experience{well I did own a G, but it was a G20!} but I would be shocked to hear the valve cover gasket/spark tube gasket was much different from any other nissan product- please let us know if indeed it is.Having to replace a entire valvecover to obtain sealing of the tubes sounds crazy to me?

Post by **Q451990** » Tue May 06, 2008 7:19 pm

qship96 wrote:Having to replace a entire valvecover to obtain sealing of the tubes sounds crazy to me?

I agree... hopefully what I think I read was either bad information or I remember it incorrectly. I think the valve covers are plastic on the G engine, so that may have made a design change necessary. I haven't spent much time under the hood on our G yet. One of the joys of a warranty. Hopefully we'll hear more from the owners that are actually dealing with the issue.

Heath

Post by **lomita** » Thu May 08, 2008 5:02 am

The entire valve cover has to be replaced to fix the oil seal atop the spark plug tube. RTV is the other option. No guarantees on how long that will last. BTW, additionally, you will need a complete set of intake manifold gaskets and throttle body gasket in doing the job. Rock Auto has the gaskets ($50), Infinitipartsusa has the valve covers $(330). That puts you about $400 if you do it yourself. Dealer quoted $450 for the parts and labor.

Went to the dealer yesterday for a hands on examination of a new valve cover. I was very disappointed with what I saw. In my kids Subaru, you replace the individual oil seal for each spark plug tube. In the Infiniti, these seals are laminated into the inside of the valve cover with a splash shield attached to the inside of the valve cover. The whole assembly looks like something right out of mattell, it's plastic composite.

Looks like the valve covers will be needed to be changed every 20K miles with this leak problem.

Even at the dealer parts counter, everyone was shaking their heads in disbelief at the design of the valve cover with non changeable spark plug tube oil seals.

Post by **Q451990** » Thu May 08, 2008 6:25 am

Well... I'll be changing the spark plugs at 59K on the G right before the warranty expires just to look for leaks. Unless I go ahead and purchase the extended warranty.

Heath

Post by **qship96** » Thu May 08, 2008 8:43 am

I wonder if all nissan 3.5 liter v6 {maxima,altima,350z,etc} share this samelame design for the valve covers?

Post by **lomita** » Mon May 19, 2008 8:05 pm

Same engine, same valve covers, same potential problems!

Post by **Dabizzo1** » Sat May 24, 2008 2:25 am

If the valve covers are a composite, cold to hot to cold expansion and contraction rates from daily driving (especially when new) for the valve covers and the heads are different (2 totally different materials), causing small gaps for seepage. This would explain why new Infiniti's are so temperamental to the break in period...I've seen bunches of posts regarding leaks within the break in period by owners who dog their cars early...who doesn't wanna get on a new toy? Differing cyclic material memory sounds like the logical culprit...newer Nissans are essentially Renault's now...leaky frogmobiles IF UNCHECKED. Composites expand and contract less than aluminum, which could result in gaps due to inevitable deformity....material science back in the day makes me paranoid about such things. Even worsening the scenario is the max torque for the very mounting bolts themselves which should design-wise hold it all together in a perfect world...The third complication is the very seal itself...factory assembly defect or can it NOT fill the gaps due to differing thermal expansion rates. One of or all of what I've mentioned could play a part....replace the seals and self impose a new break in period for 3K miles...my early morning brainstorm. Boris

Post by **lomita** » Sat May 24, 2008 7:07 am

Our oil leak isn't occuring between the valve cover and engine head, it's between the valve cover and the rubber oil seal in the valve cover. Cheesey design. In fact, I give it a Darwin award.........

Post by **Road Ruler** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 2:11 pm

lomita wrote:
Even at the dealer parts counter, everyone was shaking their heads in disbelief at the design of the valve cover with non changeable spark plug tube oil seals.

I too have leaking seals.

There should be a factory recall these leaking, inferior parts!

Post by **joeltender** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 7:11 pm

I own a 03 max 6spd with the same issue.Didn't even realize it until the 100000k spark plug replacement.

Only one plug had any oil on it, but my mechanic told me it could be fine for quite awhile.

But as soon as the check engine light comes on get it in asap, before the catalytic converters and or o2 sensors become fouled or contaminated.

Post by **spuy767** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 6:07 pm

How would you gauge my changes of having the seals replaced under warranty on a car that is about 3 months out of warranty, but about 15k under on miles. I noticed the problem when I replaced the spark plugs because one was fouled out because of a camshaft Position sensor issue. I replaced the sensor, but I would get a misfire when the thing wasn't loaded. I start to pull the plugs, only to discover that they are Bosch Platinum +2's, a kind of crappy plug design, and if I remember correctly, Bosch doesn't even recommend them in that vehicle. Which makes me wonder, when these plugs were installed, and why, because I bought the car used, w/27k on it, so it should have never been taken anywhere but an infiniti dealership as it was still under b2b warranty when I bought it.

Post by **Q451990** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 7:56 pm

It probably depends on the relationship that you have built with your dealership. Good thing you found the Bosch crap plugs... those things have been a major problem for Q45 owners for years.

Heath

Post by **spuy767** » Sun Feb 01, 2009 3:01 am

Q451990 wrote:It probably depends on the relationship that you have built with your dealership. Good thing you found the Bosch crap plugs... those things have been a major problem for Q45 owners for years.

Heath

Yeah, the design on those plugs is abominable. There's no protrusion whatsoever on the electrode, so all it takes is the tiniest bit of carbon buildup to make it misfire. Were those things OE on Q's?
Modified by spuy767 at 9:33 AM 2/1/2009

Post by **Q451990** » Sun Feb 01, 2009 8:21 am

spuy767 wrote:Were those things OE on Q's?

Oh no... the OEM plugs are NGKs as are on all Nissan products as far as I know. Some people tried the Bosch +4s and found +3's, +2's and even +0's when they pulled them. They just couldn't stand up to the harsh environment of the Q's engine.

In any case, I would just stick with the OEM plug on any Nissan product.

Heath

Post by **Q45tech** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 5:18 am

The historical peak in long term mechanical designs appear to have been 1994-1995 just before OBDII. The steady pressure to cut costs [after the Japanese financial failures in 90-93] via electronics and the reduction in weight via agressive computer simulation began to show up after the mid 90's.

The point is people have gotten use to 10-15 year life of vehicles will be in for a shock as manufacturers have changed and removed the excesses of durability to maintain prices.

The mid 90's was as good as it had ever been and will never return in mechanics.

Companies use teams of engineers to reevaluate designs to squeeze out every extra unnecessary penny.

If only 5% buy a new car every year and up to now most of these were flipped in 3-4 years surely before 6 why make them last much longer than 10 at the limit.

There has always been a discongruity between Japan and US miles per year in engineer's mind and 19 years should be 60,000 miles not 150,000 miles.

Post by **spuy767** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 10:42 am

Q451990 wrote:
Oh no... the OEM plugs are NGKs as are on all Nissan products as far as I know. Some people tried the Bosch +4s and found +3's, +2's and even +0's when they pulled them. They just couldn't stand up to the harsh environment of the Q's engine.

In any case, I would just stick with the OEM plug on any Nissan product.

Heath

I always use OE parts. It's liek I tell people with big wheels on their cars, "What makes you think that you know better than an engineering team with a multi-m llion dollar budget what parts belong on your car."

Post by **maxnix** » Wed Feb 04, 2009 8:05 pm

spuy767 wrote: I always use OE parts. It's liek I tell people with big wheels on their cars, "What makes you think that you know better than an engineering team with a multi-m llion dollar budget what parts belong on your car."

Some fanboy magazine, no doubt.

Note these morons seldom if ever have a credible BS engineering degree.

Post by **jackg35** » Thu Feb 05, 2009 3:34 pm

u need to replace the valve cover assy. grommet is not available separately on g35.

Post by **jackg35** » Thu Feb 05, 2009 4:22 pm

ANY ONE NEED SERVICE FOR INFINITI IN OREGON JUST PM ME.

Post by **maxnix** » Fri Feb 06, 2009 2:55 pm

jackg35 wrote:ANY ONE NEED SERVICE FOR INFINITI IN OREGON JUST PM ME.

Do you work for Beaverton Infiniti?

G35 Oil leak on top of spark plug tube

G35 Oil leak on top of spark plug tube

Re: G35 Oil leak on top of spark plug tube (HADES01)

Re: G35 Oil leak on top of spark plug tube (HADES01)

Re: G35 Oil leak on top of spark plug tube (lomita)

Re: G35 Oil leak on top of spark plug tube (g35sedanlover)

Re: G35 Oil leak on top of spark plug tube (qship96)

Re: G35 Oil leak on top of spark plug tube (Q451990)

Re: G35 Oil leak on top of spark plug tube (g35sedanlover)

Re: G35 Oil leak on top of spark plug tube (g35sedanlover)

Re: G35 Oil leak on top of spark plug tube (qship96)

Re: G35 Oil leak on top of spark plug tube (Q451990)

Re: G35 Oil leak on top of spark plug tube (qship96)

Re: G35 Oil leak on top of spark plug tube (Q451990)

Re: G35 Oil leak on top of spark plug tube (lomita)

Re: G35 Oil leak on top of spark plug tube (lomita)

Re: G35 Oil leak on top of spark plug tube (qship96)

Re: G35 Oil leak on top of spark plug tube (lomita)

Re: G35 Oil leak on top of spark plug tube (Dabizzo1)

Re: G35 Oil leak on top of spark plug tube (lomita)

Re: G35 Oil leak on top of spark plug tube (HADES01)

Re: G35 Oil leak on top of spark plug tube (HADES01)

Re: (Q451990)

Re: (spuy767)

Re: (Q451990)

Re: (Q451990)

Re: (spuy767)

Re: G35 Oil leak on top of spark plug tube (HADES01)

Re: G35 Oil leak on top of spark plug tube (HADES01)

Re: G35 Oil leak on top of spark plug tube (jackg35)

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